power, ability to reproduce different kind of bass correctly

placement sensitive with respect to bass reflex port position. time delay in circuity. need careful tuning to be a great performer

If you think your Yahama SW800 was sloppy in music, you MUST READ thwas review! The review was very long so please be patient. I have been an audiophile for more than 8 years and the SW800 was the first sub woofer I purchased. My main loudspeakers are the Testament of the Australian brand "AER". The speakers perform very good in music except frequency below 40Hz and those exaggerated Low Frequency Effect (LFE) in movies. The YST-SW800 caught my attention because of the Japanese magazine "Hi-Vi 2002 yearly reference" ranked it the first! (ranked higher than subwoofer like the Linn Simik and the Velodyne HGS-18!?) I have listened to the following subs at various stores and show rooms: 1. Yamaha YST-SW320 (USD200, Yamaha Active Servo Technology) 2. NHT SW-10 (USD580, bass reflex) 3. Velodyne VLF800 (USD580, bass reflex with passive radiator) 4. Velodyne SPL1000 (USD1140, seal box design!) The most impressive one was the SPL1000 (of course it's the most expensive on the list). The VLF sounded a little bit fat when compare to SPL. Interestingly the NHT was first quite impressive coz of its fast response. But after a while I found it "fastness" comes from its higher frequency component. (From odd harmonic distortion?) It's sounded under powered too. I listen to SW320 in a 600sq ft show room. It's movie performance was great (though with a sense of underpowered). But for music?K.. it's boomy not matter how I adjust the high-cut and level. In another occasion I test the SW320 with music again. It's sound like a sub, outputting only those low frequencies. But it's punchy and "sloppy" at the same time. "Sloppy" and "punchy" are contradicting terms. A system should have short rise time and fall time to be punchy. Sloppy should come from the long rise time and fall time of the overall system. So I listening to the sound carefully and quite sure that the "sloppiness" indeed came from the time delay of the sub. It was the reason why many reviewers there commented that the SW800 and SW320 are sloppy in music but very good for movies. I thought the versatile adjustability of my control amp SONY E9000ES can compensate for the delay. I finally brought a SW800 (more power and sound effortless, better power supply, better driver unit when compared to SW320) home. Setting it up was never an easy job. The yamaha was quite p

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none

very powerful, never leaves you unsatisfied

hard to get the right balance with music

This sub does hit 18 hz, however it is only noticeable if the sub is turned up like 3 fourths of the way, and you are right next to it. The inaudible 18 hz thump is also more noticeable if the sub is in a corner to focus the bass reflections more. Too bad the sub sounds overpowering when the volume is set to three fourths. Who was that wise guy that said the ARS 500 was better because it hit 18 hz at -2 decibles per octave when the yst-800 hits it at -22 decibles per octave. Doesn't he know those specs are for the crossover. Decibles per octave is the slope of decline when a frequency hits the high pass. The yst-800 puts out over 90 decibles of bass at the 18hz level, thats enough to cause hearning damage!

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pdr-10

800 watts amplifier. 10" very long throw woofer. Low bass and powerfull at the same time

Could hear some noise from the bassport at high volumes, but isnt that noticeable.

I´m quite amazed over the strength in this sub. I have set the volume to less than half and it really kick´s and give good bass. I´m really not sure og how much i have to turn it up to hear any distorsion. I´ve got to admit i´m not sure how it would sound when beeing distorted. Anyway this is my first sub and it really meets my demands on low high pumping bass notes. A little better on movies perhaps, but it works well on both sides.

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Tested: YST-SW320, Jamo SW2010?,

Small, good looking.

None.

This is the best sub I''ve ever owned, if you''re looking for something to make your house shakes this one is for you. I recommend to connect the subwoofer to the Front Left and Right speaker outputs, doing so adds deep to the bass.

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Yamaha YST-SW300, CV HT-S15.

Subwoofer-construction allows no unwanted extra-noise. VERY POWERFUL ; very good drive/squeeze/stress/pressure/force/Strain (whatever synonym you want) for movies - price (490,- €) - good looks - no remote (yes, that''s a strength !)

Not the best sub for classic music ! Front panel could be more valuable (should be metal, not plastic) - Yamaha catches buyers with the myth of 800 watts and 18 Hz !!

I bought this sub for only 490 Eur (not Dollars !!) Even if this Sub doesn''t go down to 18 Hz it is very powerful for DVD, Rock and Techno-Music. MY SEAT IS MOVING EVEN WHEN I SIT ON IT ! Depending on the Software it sometimes makes LF-noise although there is actually no scene on DVD which fits to that "rumbling" . But i have to emphasize: This is caused by the software ! Anyhow: this noise is disturbing while watching/hearing quiet scenes on DVD. I heard of AUDIO-PRO subwoofers which solve that problem electronically (by supressing "aftershocks" to give the sub more precision/definition) but i didn''t verify. Another problem : Even if i connect the ground cable with my sub and receiver i have a permanent 50Hz-grumbling which i only hear when i sit directly in front of the sub -- the reason is the antenna-cable (although i use a special filter which is connected between the antenna cable and the antenna-socket); maybe i should ground the antenna-cable extra - I''ll try. Despite the little problems i have i am very happy with the YST-SW800 (cherry tree colored !!) because you not only hear the bass you even more feel it very strong. THAT''S GREAT !

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DENON-AVR3802-Receier and DVD1600-Player.

creamy, silky, soothing sub 20 Hz tones

only one of the bass songs in my collection actually sounded worse on the sub than it did on my old 10 inch Vegas

This sub chewed up the deepest tones in my collection and kept coming back for more. After reading the reviews I was afraid the sub was going to be weak at sub 30 Hz frequencies. I disagree. I set the crossover to 50 Hz, turned the volume up one notch from max, and wow, it sounded really creamy. I was pleased that it chewed through my most demanding bass tracks at heavy volume, with power to spare. I thought the sub was going to suck after reading these reviews, but it totally kicks ass! I guess I''m just happy because the frequency response is so good.

punch and rumble

slow

Yamaha SW800 is relativly good subwoofer. It has 1000W internal amplifier but only 800W power suply (written at the back). So I think that Yamaha hasn''t been real at this feature. OK neverthenless in my opinion it has 75 Watts RMS. Somuch about amplifier section. My friend lent me this subwoofer, we connected everything together and then listen to music an some DVD. It has good punch and rumble for movies, warm bass, soft. No weakness in this section. For music this sub provides same bass as for DVD''s, it is soft and warm, maybe over emphasised, because it can''t really reach 30 Hz, maybe 50 or 45. Real story about this sub came when I tried some fast rock&roll, bass of drums was delayed. Yamaha SW800 isn''t able to reproduce fast bass like rock&roll and it''s too soft for that. I was really looking forward to buy this product, but then I would judge it every day of how slow it is. Good product for DVD''s and movies, not music.

just play madonna,s "the power of goodbye"you will see what i mean

what weaknesses ?????

I brought this sub just to add a bit of bass to my system,well im gob smacked this baby does just kick the sound is spot on and it DOES go low,with out standig control,if u need a sub,this is a MUST

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its in a class of its own

Does what it claims, but see weaknesses.

The 18 Hz spec is at something like minus 27 dB, which is ludicrous. Also, the 1000W (which in the US equals 800 "British" watts) is never stated as RMS, and I am sure that it is peak, and that this is closer to about 250 RMS. Yamaha is deceptive to use such criteria, and I will not buy anything of theirs again based upon specs. I intend to try out the AR S500, which is around the same price, at 500 watts *RMS*, and goes down to 18 Hz at *-2.5 dB*.

This sub definitely pounds you in the chest. But I am surprised that no one has complained about the specs (see weaknesses below). I am using this with Infinity SM-125 fronts, which get down to 32 Hz, and also are efficient to the tune of 100dB/watt. I have to turn the SW800 up halfway before I can even tell it is on. On the plus side, as I said it pounds you at high volume, but not as much as I had expected for 1000 watts down to 18 Hz - but oops! see below.

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Advent Subwoofer

Unbelievable, crisp, awesome!!

None of course.

When I got this marvellous piece of audio equipment I couldn't believe my ears! They just dropped to the floor!
Unbelievable!

I was able to hear even the lowest notes.. those that just weren't there before buying this miracle!

Nonono!.. forget what i've written and see this now.. when spending this amount of money to the subwoofer, don't really expect miracles to come true. That's a FACT.

It's cheap, so value can't be too bad, but why spend even that money to something you'll eventually upgrade to something useful? Why not buying some CD:s or DVD:s instead.. a whole lot better invesment. That's a FACT.

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None, this is a way ahead of everything!