Yamaha and XM will produce the first XM-Ready home entertainment products. Yamaha will manufacture four new receivers and several new home-theater-in-a- box (HTIB) systems with XM Connect-and-Play, a technology designed to integrate XM into a broad range of home entertainment products. The first Yamaha XM-Ready receivers will be available at retail in early April.

Through this new technology, consumers simply plug an XM Connect-and-Play home antenna into the XM-Ready Yamaha AV receiver and activate the service to receive XM's 150-plus digital radio channels. No additional accessories or installation are required. Using XM's industry-leading chipset technology as well as a new proprietary chip and signaling protocol, the XM Connect-and-Play antenna is capable of receiving XM's satellite and terrestrial signals as well as channel tuning, decoding and audio transmission. It will be the only accessory needed to get XM through an XM-Ready audio system.

"The partnership between XM and Yamaha is ushering in a new era of home entertainment innovation," said Phil Whitworth of XM. "The inclusion of XM Connect-and-Play technology in these new products continues Yamaha's tradition of ingenuity and excellence in home audio, while providing consumers with a simple way to enjoy XM's award-winning service."

"We are excited to partner with XM to be the first A/V receiver company to bring next-generation satellite radio to consumers," said Alex Sadeghian of Yamaha. "XM is the perfect complement to our already strong line of home theater products."

Yamaha's line of XM-Ready receivers include two 6.1 channel receivers, the RX-V457 and RX-V557, and two 7.1 channel receivers, the RX-V657 and RX-V757. The receivers come with all of the latest surround sound formats, with Yamaha's proprietary YPAO System featured on the RX-V657 and RX-V757, which automatically analyzes the acoustics of the user's room and adjusts various speaker parameters to provide the optimum sound at the listening position.

In addition, Yamaha will release four XM-Ready receivers from their HTR- series with features similar to RX-V series. The HTR series will be available in April for mass-channel distribution from $349.95 to $849.95. Yamaha will also introduce several XM-Ready HTIB solutions from its YHT line of products.