Excellent value. Room shaking bass. Accurate sound without excessive boom.

Cannot play extra "low" but 99% of 8 inch subs cannot play below 30 Hz anyway.

Before writing this review, I read the other 21 and the one thing everyone mainly complained about was that it loses control at high volumes. What I notice about most people is that they believe that they have to have monstrous bass for something to sound good and an 8 inch sub that lists for $149 is not going to produce bass like you get in a Honda with 2 15 inch subs. Audiophiles like myself strive for a balanced sound meaning the bass, treble, and mids are all heard clearly and evenly without bass drowning out the rest of the sound. This sub is absolutely excellent for it's size and price and you could not find a better powered subwoofer for the price. The bass is as deep throated as I've heard from a driver at this this size and even double the list price and the active servo amp design keeps the bass in control at any volume level without drowning out the rest of the sound. Any speaker turned up to past it's limits will sound like "farting noises" because the excersion of the driver is beyond it's capabilities and the voice coil former is hitting the magnet structure. This is not an excessively loud sub so if you need excessive bass or have an extra large listening room, buy two of them. Two of them will probably out do most subs under $300 anyway. But I live in an apartment so one is plenty for me.

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M & K, Cerwin Vega, Paradigm

Easy to conceal. Easy to adjust...

Once all the speakers were located properly, and the equalizer adjusted on the Amplifier...then it was fairly straight forward balancing the SW. It works much better at high volume settings...

Purchased mine here in Japan at 15,000 yen or about $142US...

Small size
Good sound considering the size

No phase controll, but I didnt miss it anyway

Used to have a passive bass (JAMO 25) and boy is this a difference! Didnt have the money for a bigger sub (of course I'd like to have a 12"-sub if I could afford it) but after trying the SW45 for 2 weeks Im glad I didnt buy a bigger one.
For my livingroom (12ft x 20ft) the small sub is more than enough to rumble the walls.
It also handles music very well, which I find pretty important.
Summary: Well spent money and impressive bass considering the size

Great for small room

Lots of tweaking before get it right

I have a newer non-surround Kenwood receiver rated around 80Watts mated to a pair of Bose 201 direct/reflect bookshelf speakers(6" and 2" drivers). Have had this setup for about a year and have been happy (sole sound because TV speaker is broke). Mostly use it for TV/Movies. Only thing missing was some boom.

A week ago, got the SW45 and it's now fixed. Haven't been able to crank the volume yet, but low to mid volume is greatly improved. Very rich and sounds clean.

However, this did take some time to accomplish. First thing I did was use the 'speaker out' on the SW45 to hook up the Bose bookshelves. Big mistake. I lost my vocals. I couldn't understand a word and I lost the SRS (fake surround) effect of the receiver. It sounded terrible. I did this because I thought if I put the SW45 on the "B" speaker, I would cut my Wattage in half. However, pulled out the Kenwood manual and saw that they use "A" and "B" in series, not discretely. No Wattage/volume lost!

I quickly changed my arrangement with the Bose on "A" and the sub on "B", twiddled the crossover and volume and now sounds great. As a matter of fact, sounds better than most of my friends expesive surround setups. My investment has been receiver ($150), speakers ($200), subwoofer ($150). So for $500, I have an awesome sounding system that rivals what my buddies payed $1500 for. So unless the two rear speakers rate high on your requirement list, this is a great budget A/V system.

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none

For the price, Rich, deep bass perfect for a compact shelf system

None, Not for use with a home theater unless two are purchased

I recently purchased this product (the YST-SW45) for use with my shelf system (Panasonic SA-AK25) in my home office which measures 12x11'. My shelf system produce frequencies as low as 50 Hz with a 75 watt maz output. I purchased this subwoofer looking to add a little extra punch to my system as well as an increased range in frequencies. The Yamaha YST-SW45 was the perfect match. It produces frequencies between 30HZ-200HZ with a cross over of 50HZ-150HZ. Over all I am very pleased with the sub. It outputs much more than I would have expected from an 8" sub. (at this price)I have it placed in a corner of my office with the sub volume placed at about half way. With this setting I am very able to turn my system up three fourths of the way before any noticable distortion occurs. I am very pleased with it and am even more pleased with its price. For a small room, 14x14 or less, do not purchase a large sub (especially with a shelf system) it is overkill. (Note: for best results because of the ported fron firing design this sub must be placed in a corner for best results) I recomend this to all users looking for a nice subwoofer for smaller rooms.

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Bose Acoustimas systems, Cerwin Vega, JBL

Easy to adjust volume and crossover on the front of the subwoofer. Puches out tight clean high bass, and dips well to the lows.

Takes some time to find the right adjustments to blend with your system. Nothing that hurts the sound!

Just recieved this sub for christmas this year. Is a great sub and makes the most out of its 55 watts RMS power. But don't be fooled by the watts, it has the capabilities to rattle my windows in my room on a good song with the volume at only 6 out of 42 on my system. I have two Aiwa bookshelf speakers for the rear, and two other bookshelfs for fronts, and of course the sub. My dad bought a JBL surround sound system about a year ago. He wanted more bass so bought a Linear Dynamics 100 watt 10" subwoofer. The first day i got the YAMAHA sub, it blew my dad's 100 watt out of the water. So don't be fooled by the 55 watts. This is the perfect sub for people looking for a great sub without the 500 dollar price tag. I am so pleased with the Yamaha company that im looking to buy a Yamaha reciever and speaker system for my room.

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Linear Dynamics 100 watt powered subwoofer

Great bass

None

I've got this sub in the bedroom. Came in the Yamaha YHT-23 package. Perfect for the small to medium room. Have sub under the bed ( great musical massage ). Works for my needs in the bedroom. I have 15" woofers in my front main speakers along with two 15" subs in my main HT system. As you can imagine this system can shake the house, literally. But as I said earlier this fills my needs in the bedroom. Great little subwoofer.

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Audio Source SW-15

Big Bass

cracks in the walls

Ausome bass. Nothing could beat it! Peace to the trees!

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Very good, low bass.

Once you turn the cut up as well as the volume, doesn't sound as good. Also, the auto-on doesn't always work with low-volume music.

I bought this for use with a computer. Although, I have only gotten to use it a few times with a computer (I'm still working on building one), I currently have it hooked up to my JVC PC-XC70 boombox, and it certainly does what it was made for. A good value, with an auto-on, auto-off. Most of its weaknesses are just minor annoyances that can be remedied by making adjustments to the subwoofer itself. (For instance, to fix the bad-sounding bass, turn down the cut and the volume control. To fix the auto-on problem, turn it on manually.) I paid $132 at Best Buy (on sale) $149.99 regularly. This probably isn't for an audiophile, but then again, I don't have an audiophile's budget. This is just right for me.

Great Value, perfect for small rooms

Probably not deep enough for large systems

This is a perfect sub for a small room. This is one of the best values out there. Yamaha makes a good sub and it is attractively designed. Performance is great for the size. I purchased it for $120 at J&R Music World.