Price Paid:  $400.00 from Norway

Summary:
I am very satisfied with this sub as a home theatre addition. But let me say this clear, IT IS NOT FOR MUSIC. If anything it distracts from the sound in music mode. I suppoe if your a bass head it would work but if you want good bass look elsewhere. It did a fairly good job in DVDA however but not stereo. There was just too much fine tuning to even get it listenable. Basically to much hassel.

But in movie mode you get bass in spades. It rocks the house. Still not the crispest bass but for the money a steal. I recomend it for home theatre. It is definetly worth the money.

Strengths:
Movies. Tons of bass. Hard to be disappointed.

Weaknesses:
Music, to much hassel to fine tune and I think it still distracts.

Price Paid:  $199.00 from Naval Exchange

Summary:
I purchased this for an amazing price, $199. I read alot about this sub, and was impressed with the critics rating. The sub out of the box doesn't give you the specs that it say you can get. 20HZ couldn't be found.. Though it did produce to about 30HZ which many other popular brands "bottom out" at. But with a little tweaking and finding the right placement this sub can drill out as much heart pounding sound as a Sunfire can.. Oh yea! 20 HZ is defitanly there.. Just listen to Mahlers 2nd Symphony DVD with Zubin Metha. Last movement about 15 minutes in.. Big fat Organ cords that are sure to make your wife very upset with you at 2 a.m. True the Sunfire can sound great if you placed it on the ceiling upside down. But the point of this comment is not to say the Yamaha is the same quality. I'm saying that it CAN produce to the level that guys in the living room who want their neighboors to hear the infamous gun shots of T2, or the Rockets ignition in Apollo 13. I have read in many articiles about the SW320 has a bit of a "lagging" it does have a little looseness to it, I will admit, but we are only talking about millisecs. And only in the precision music of classical, and I wouldn't even say it's the thud of the Bass Drum, but more in the timpani, or kettle drums. And if any one asks about it, tell them it's a new technology that Yamaha is coming out. Then they will be impressed again. LOL. If you want to know what worked for me I placed mine in the hole by my TV and Bose 601. Placed port toward the main speaker, and set volume at about 50%. Placed the HZ cutoff frequency at about 85HZ Bose doesn't have much lows I admit, but the are pretty boomy at around the 90-150 HZ so no need for the sub. Besides the mains level off with the sub really nice.

Strengths:
Good looking design, very compact for it's power and speaker size. Amazing sound for LFE. Great mid-priced Sub

Weaknesses:
Out of the Box Sound alittle disappointing, thought with the right placement can perform better then expected. Port noise at 50 - 60HZ. But can be changed with alittle speaker dampening.

Price Paid:  $319.00 from NEX

Summary:
Wow, I tell you these bose's sound fantastic. I don't know what some of the negative comments are about. I have done allot of research because I wanted to get it right the first time. I'm stationed in Italy and have attended over 40 symphonies and as many opera’s. Believe me when I say that my house sounds like a concert hall. I can hear every single instrument as if they where playing in my home. I didn’t pay much more than 1500 dollars for my system, which consists of two Bose’s 601, Bose center channel, two Bose 201’s, for the rear surround, and a powered 10’ Yamaha YAM-YSTSW320 subwoofer. My cd’s are played on a Sony play station with an optical cable running into a $500 dollar Denon receiver. I tell you I have the best of both worlds. I get my symphonic reproductions, as well as top notch home theatre that rumbles my walls, leaps my out of my seat, and has me dogging bullets and laser blast, holy moly!

Strengths:
Faithful reproduction of drums in Tchaikovsky's 1812 overture, Wow! This will also knock your shoes off with the maxtrix sound track.

Weaknesses:
Some say that it's slow, but I just witness a live performance of the Carmin Burana and ran home to make mental comparisions, no delay was found! Even when I play Bhrams organ pieces, the lows in the pipe organ seem to be on tempo.

Similar Products Used:
Boston acoustics, infinity and Polk audio.

Price Paid:  $0.00 from Gift

Summary:
The Yamaha YST SW320 is an awesome piece of kit (and my expectations are high and exacting)which represents amazing value for money.
Having read many of the reviews posted on the site I can only imagine that the negative ones have been entered by folk who don't think 'creation' particuarly impressive--- or are victims of severe sound abuse at some level or other.

I play classical, jazz, rock, hip-hop, infact there is very little I don't play and if this unit is set-up and sorted with a decent front end machine it is almost flawless.

With regard to it being slow with music ? most speakers are (especially bass units) when very high spec cables have not been employed.

Unless you can afford triple the price the Yamaha is the answer---and how!

Strengths:
subtle -- if needs be. Heart stopping on some occassions. Smooth and raw, its whatever you set it up to be.

Weaknesses:
It prevents me going to bed by gluing my Butt to the 'listening chair'.

Similar Products Used:
Tannoy big front enders, very good in a really big space. The Yam's are so compact yet deliver plenty.

Price Paid:  $500.00 from Small local store

Summary:
When using it with Yamaha 620 multi channel Amp., my feeling is generally positive - the woofer comes in only when needed. Bass is deep enough and has good control, when placed far from walls. A little bit slow for music. Has enough power for a small to medium sized room. Gives you more bang than wekaer woofers, however I doubt it provides a power of 250W. I would call it a good entry into a woofer world - smaller woofers focus on pumping the air

Strengths:
- good to very good for movies
- good control and scalability
- affordable price

Weaknesses:
- sometimes too slow
- visible difference in dynamics in comparison to effective front speakers

Similar Products Used:
B&W - smaller, cheaper, and no control
Paradigm - better, but more expensive