Price Paid:  $99.00 from yamahashoponline.com

Summary:
I'm currently a college student. So right off the bat you know that I'm a bit strapped for cash. Which is why I settled on this sub for the system in my room. I mean, it was $99 with free shipping. But it also did spec out pretty well. I needed a subwoofer because it is rather impractical to brin three way towers to college to live in a 12' by 15' cell. This exceeded my expectations to be honest. Given some time to break in, it perfoms quite well. keep the crossover set on the lower half or it sounds rather boomy if you aren't playing something like hip hop or rap. I tend to change it with the type of music I listen to. I'd highly reccomend this for anyone looking for bass augmentation, but not for all out thump. Not what it's designed for.

Strengths:
Size, variable crossover, speaker level inputs, and it's a Yamaha. It's only 50 watts, but you can bet that it'll be kicking for quite a while.

Weaknesses:
just sounding boomy if you have the crossover or volume set too high.

Similar Products Used:
none.

Price Paid:  $35.00 from s/hand

Summary:
This little subwoofer is ideal for a small room, with standmounts. Set to 80hz or lower, it's ok. It does sound boomy when set too high. I would not use this for .1 LFE, it can't handle it. I paid £35 for it. In that respect it's excellent, however overall it's pretty naff! (compared to a £800 subwoofer, which is stupid!!) At the rrp of £120, it's good. However anyone interested in a cheap AV Subwoofer- I would save up and get a £500 sub (esp if using DD/DTS)

Strengths:
Small, good for bedrooms. Adds a bit of thump/lower end to standmounts.

Weaknesses:
Can sound boomy at louder volume.

Similar Products Used:
Rel Storm :) owned.

Summary:
I wanted to use this sub, not in a home theatre setup, but to extend the lower frequency range of my hi-fi system. My main speakers are high quality bookshelf speakers on heavy stands. Their imaging and detail is great and they have a sweet and open treble and a well defined and smooth midrange (great for female voices!). They only lack in the bass department.
I wanted to use this little sub to add some bass-weight to my system (no rattling windows)and extend the low frequency response.
The little Yamaha did just that and more!
I took me a while (fiddling the controls) to perfectly blend it into my system, but when I got the setup right it really made some awesome music!
With the cut-off at 90Hz and the volume halfway the sub really brought my system and my CD's to life.
However, dont turn up the volume to high or it becomes very boomy and lacks every kind of musicality. Played at the right settings this sub really sings.
For this price this is a very good (almost excellent) little sub. For bass light hifi-systems this is a very good option to improve the overall performance.
It's been discontinued, but you should be able to find a good used one for a reasonable price. Try it, you won't be dissappointed!

Weaknesses:
Difficult to set-up/blend into your system. To boomy at high volume levels. Slow Auto-power function. "Only" 50W and 8"...

Summary:
I recently bought a Sony MHC-RXD10AV surround system, and I found that the bass was especially lacking though audio quality was quite good throughout the other frequencies. Being on a budget, I wandered down to Star Electronics which was having a sale (or so they said) at the time, and checked out the subwoofers they had in stock.

Initially, I decided to simply pick up something small and cheap and after a brief flirtation with a Sony SW 30 watt woofer (which turned out to be a piece of crap, serving only to amplify bass frequencies that the Sony system already produced in adequate quantities---then again, I spent $90 Can. for it, so I guess you get what you pay for) I returned it in favor of the SW-40, adding a cost of $110 Can. to the purchase for a total of $200. After hooking it up to the system via the singular subwoofer out port---there is a left and right channel in the back of this subwoofer unit, provided you have a preamplifier---I instantly noticed a huge improvement. It definately pays for itself in what you can hear.

The walls quivered and groaned, as though they were living membranes. My parents complained. Most importantly, there was suddenly a new dimension to what I was hearing---from horses thundering across the battlefield in Braveheart, to the added effect of drums on the variety of alternative albums that I listen to.

Fiddling around with the controls, I eventually left the cutoff somewhere around the 1/2 to 2/3, depending on what I'm listening to. The one bad thing is that you need to utilize the whole unit's 55 watts to really get the effect that you're looking for---my volume's always on max, as a result, though without any audible distortion provided that your cutoff isn't too high or low from the midrange.

This is my first subwoofer, and I'm quite pleased with it, and though I wish that it could produce more power, it does well enough for a measely $200 Can. If you're looking for something that'll shake your house into pieces of straw, then this isn't the unit for you; however, if you're on a budget and want something that'll cheaply improve the bass of a minisystem to an acceptable level, then I say check it out. Really, you can't go wrong with Yamaha.

Summary:
First, allow me to admit that I am not an audophile. However, I do own a 60" Hitachi projection TV that has been crying for a subwoofer to augment its modest internal sound system. I simply plugged this Yamaha into the Hitachi's auxillary jack and popped in my test movies: Top Gun and Forrest Gump (the Vietnam battle scene). Overall impression: absolutely excellent!! And this was with the volume and cross-over controls at 2/3! At full throttle, the room rumbled beyond my wildest expectations. (N64 games also sound great!) For an 8" powered subwoofer that cost me $141 (sale) at Best Buy, I think I got a tremendous bang for my buck!!