Price Paid:  $250.00 from Paul Green HiFi

Summary:
This subwoofer has been used in a multitude of setups, ranging from home theatre and dedicated music systems to computer speaker systems.

In Home Theatre, it often lacked the absolute power given by other subs when played at medium-high volumes in medium-large rooms. Distortion is often slightly noticeable on powerful 'thumps', although generally, this isn't an issue as distortion in subwoofers is far less noticeable than in full-range systems. Generally, the subwoofer handles movies pretty well at normal to around medium volume levels, and will be far more than enough in smaller rooms.

For music, this subwoofer has been tested in small(ish) and very large rooms with bookshelf and floorstanding speakers. With bookshelf speakers, it performs well, smooth bass and enough power to pack some punch at higher volumes. At times it can be a bit slow, struggling to keep up with faster more detailed bass lines. Other than that, no major gripes.

In large rooms with larger speakers, this subwoofer does next to nothing other than 'flap' constantly. The port tends to rattle at higher volumes, and overall the subwoofer doesn't go deep enough to make this worthwhile. The maximum volume output also makes it rather limited in room size. This is a little unfair however, as it is quite a small subwoofer.

For computer speakers, this was absolutely fantastic. It was used along with a pair of very compact active bookshelf speakers, which had no desperate need for support from a subwoofer, but could have done with a little more bass at times. This subwoofer performed absolutely fantastically as computer speakers generally do not need to be particularly powerful. Having said that, this sub goes way louder than would ever be needed for computer use, and the crossover frequency seam is not particularly noticeable. I had the crossover frequency set to around 60 Hz, and it packs a huge punch when used like this.

Strengths:
Relatively powerful for it's size
Very small
Will support small speakers very well
Great for small rooms
Cheap
Variable crossover seems to work very well
Movie and Music modes
Relatively well built
No background noise/fan/hum
Active

Weaknesses:
Can bit a *bit* slow at times
Not massively musical
Not great in medium sized rooms
Next to useless in larger rooms
Medicore design
Port 'rattling' at very high volumes

Similar Products Used:
Assorted budget subwoofers

Price Paid:  $149.00 from Best Buy

Summary:
I used the secret menu on my Pioneer VSX 711 S receiver to set "Front-Center-Surround" to "Large" and then set the Subwoofer selection to "Plus" (meaning that it will also send sub frequencies to Sub-out AND to Front speakers). Used Bose AM600 (unpowered acoustimass from Sams' club). The sound is great when you play recently released music and movies. The lowest frequencies reproduced from YST105 were around 38 to 40 Hz.(hooked up a digital tone generator to the sub).

Strengths:
1. Price 2. Good for Home theater use and post 1980 music.

Weaknesses:
1. For melodious 50's, it gives BOOMing effect which u may not appreciate for > 15 ~ 20 minutes.

Similar Products Used:
None.

Price Paid:  $150.00 from Best Buy

Summary:
I really like this sub alot. For the price I think its very good. I have it connected as the back surround channel on a pioneer vsxd811s receiver. Bose acoustimas 3 system in front, bose center channel, yamaha bookshlef speakers as the rear surround. What a difference in movies. I bought this sub mainly for movie watching and it fills the bas in quite nicely in a medium size room. You have to take the time to adjust the controls, but once that is done, just sit back and enjoy. The first time I had it on my wife looked out the front window for the thunderstorm which was on the tv :) Great buy and a great price.

Strengths:
Small, easy to place anywhere. Adjustment controls easy to use.

Weaknesses:
None that I have found so far.

Similar Products Used:
None

Price Paid:  $106.00 from etronics

Summary:
This subwoofer is superior to all 8" 10" and 12" subs that my wife and I listen to at Best Buy, Circuit City and hh gregg. If your looking for tight reponsive bass sound this is your baby. Action packed movies will rumble the floors and vibrate the windows with without the baffle sound of larger subs. There is very little to no disortion. The small size and design is superb. If your a person looking for alot of base, get two of these babys for under $260.00. They will rock your world and you won't believe your ears, the power wave across the floor, walls rumbling and windows vibrating. Yes we have two. I will finish with this. Don't waste your money on large clumsy subs that have the baffling tunnel effect. I highly recommend Yamaha SW 105 with its small size and superior design.

Strengths:
Small size. Control knobs on the front. Very little to no distortion. Superior design. Tight base sound. Great with movies and music.

Weaknesses:
nothing

Similar Products Used:
bose

Price Paid:  $126.00 from Best buy

Summary:
Don't be fooled. If you are on a budget and need a good sub. . this is the one for you. It has an adjustable frequency knob that allows you to fit it in with the rest of your sound system. I am impressed by the way it fills in the sound on my system. I listed to Jazz, Reggae and R&B. .and it is awesome. for 130 bucks or so you can't beat it.

Strengths:
Nice bass. adjustable controls (volume & frequency cutoff). Small size.

Weaknesses:
sometimes the power save mode doesnt come on as quickly as it should. . during movies you may miss some bass tones if it dropped into power save mode. . You can manually turn it off if you like...I do during movie watching.

Similar Products Used:
CSW, POLK, Infinity