Yamaha NS-SW300PN 20-160 Hz 250W Powered Subwoofer,Black

I got the NS-SW300 powered subwoofer to replace my Yamaha YST-SW100 powered subwoofer (over 20 years old); I carelessly damaged one of the SW100's woofers while displaying its bass prowess, and it gradually seized 3 months later. The SW100 tower-style sub used similar hemholtz resonator and active servo processing technology to produce accurate bass; it had a vertical layout of two 7" woofers with the hemholtz resonator tube between them (all forward firing). The usual Yamaha variable power level and adjustable crossover was on the bottom panel. The SW100 had impressive bass and musicality, and it was the REASON why I bought another Yamaha subwoofer; I won't detail my buy, test-at-home, and return habits of the 90's. NHT bookshelf speakers with 6" woofers comprise the stereo portion of my audio system. My old SW100 sat between the NHT's and in the left-corner of my living room, with the left front speaker definitely enhanced in the corner location. My old YST-S100 sub's crossover was set at 70 Hz and power level at 35%; the NS-SW300 initial setup recommends the same 70 Hz for 4" to 5" woofers; and my final settings for the NS-SW300 ended as identical at 70 Hz crossover (high-cut) at 35% power level. The setting appears correct, since the YST-SW100's amplifier is rated at 70 W with 0.1% THD at 100 Hz into 5 ohms, and the NS-SW300 power at 250 W with 10% THD at 100 Hz into 5 ohms would have an approximate 75 W amp rating for an equivalent 0.1% THD comparison. Yamaha amplifier power output seems driven by marketing (then everyone uses the 10% THD subwoofer power rating for sales, and the common 0.1% THD into 2 / 7 channels for the amplifier portion of home theater receivers is another sad story). The Yamaha printed specs have further marketing distortion, where they print a 250 watt amplifier output with a power consumption of only 80 watts in the specifications, this violates the laws of thermodynamics if taken literally.The NS-SW300 setup instructions show placement for one or two SW300's. My single SW300 was first placed in my living room corner and in-between the front speakers and basically oriented in a front-firing position, identical to my previous SW100 setup (this placement is NOT RECOMMENDED in the set-up instructions). LEFT CORNER PLACEMENT PEFORMANCE: the SW300 corner location produced either heavy intrusive bass (music setting) or had no presence as I adjusted the sub's power level from zero to effective bass production per instructions (reverse phase switch had minimal effect). RIGHT-OUTER PLACEMENT PERFORMANCE: I moved the SW300 out of the left corner to the outside (just to right of) the right front speaker, and the bass improved dramatically; it was low and clean bass and not overwhelming. I do not recommend the corner location, unless earthshaking movie theater bass is your forte, which the NS-SW300 is up to the task.SOUND ENVIRONMENT: My listening area is not the ideal closed box room shown on the subwoofer placement instructions; it's more an open U-shape with my stereo along one U-leg, triple sliding glass doors to the left-side of listening area (bottom of U), and a fat leather couch forms a 4 foot wide passage along the wall behind it. The right-side of the listening area is open to the dining room, and a full-length counter separates the kitchen beyond. I have tile floors (no rugs) and 10 foot ceilings. Despite Yamaha's warning of standing wave cancellations and no bass for the SW300 placed between the front speakers and not canted (forward-firing), the NS-SW300 was capable of glass shaking bass, but it may have resulted from a combination of the subwoofer's corner location, tile floors, and 'bass trap' geometry phenomena condition in my living room.My NHT acoustic suspended bookshelf speakers have 6" woofers, and the defunct Yamaha YST-SW100 had dual 7" drivers also serving as a massive pump for the hemholtz resonator to produce the alleged 21 Hz bass bottom end (easily got with corner placement), this was a great combination. The NHT's are rated down to 55 Hz (+/-3 dB), and 'hand-shaked' well with the 7" woofers; the old SW100's upper bass extended smoothly into the NHT's bottom range, and the sound was notably enhanced, a combination with great musicality in all music genres (corner location helped both speakers). My new Yamaha NS-SW300 extends the bass down cleanly (if not lower) in its final right-outside location with the front canted inwards similar to the NHT's permanent canted face (less than 30 degrees). The SW300 appears to extend my bass range down to the claimed 20 Hz with no coloration to the NHT speakers' sound. It neither improves nor degrades the front speaker's sound. Is this good or bad? I wonder if the Yamaha NS-SW200's with an 8" woofer would interact better with the NHT 6" woofers by introducing some mid bass tone missing from the 10" woofer, but the SW200's lower base limit at 28 Hz is unacceptable to me, especially since the NHT likely goes down to 40 Hz effective in the corner location. The YST-S100's two 7" drivers were just 1" past 6 inches, and had a total speaker cone surface area of 98% of a 10" woofer, so they were well matched.Anyways, I liked the SW300's twisted Hemholtz resonator for 'laminar-flow' technology 'propo' by Yamaha (I paid extra for it), but I realized that the open speaker-port in my Florida home could be a 'Rooms Available' sign for bugs, spiders and other unmentionables over the years, so I covered with a soft cloth speaker grill. In conclusion, my Yamaha NS-SW300 subwoofer has a neutral sound impact on my stereo speakers; I am likely not missing any mid-bass (I won't raise the high-cut above 70 Hz because of the 10" size woofer and my acoustic suspended 55 Hz bottom end); and the piano black finish matches the NHT's perfectly. I will assume that the SW300 is purposeful in staying in the background, and it quietly extends my main speakers' bottom end. Yamaha continues to provide excellent value product lines. I forgive Yamaha for discontinuing their tower-style dual driver subwoofer line; this rant is goodbye to a good ole Yamaha subwoofer. I give my new Yamaha NS-SW300 powered subwoofer continuing their active servo technology (5) stars.

I am not an audiophile at all, although I kind of used to be, hanging around older friends with recording studios in high school. I have seen and listened to some KEFs, Thiels, Scott, JBL in person. I can't remember anything except the brand names mostly. The bug bit me again 30 years later, no longer too broke. What started was my move to a single family home from an apartment. I bought the new KEF C Series 5.1 on sale for $500, since at the time most of the Bose system that my wife approved and liked are too costly. My only experience with Bose is only the 301 Series III (they sound pretty good for $75 that I got it for from a broke classmate) in college and most store Lifestyle system demos that my wife loves. The package came with 4 KEF's C1, C6 center, and C4 subwoofer. The C4 subwoofer that came with my KEF package is great. However, due to open hall type of large living room (living room 30' across, 15' that opened another 15' into the kitchen, and 15' ceiling), the C4 sub, though sounds great, is just a bit insufficient, as in no shaking walls during a movie. For music, the KEF C4 (8" sub) is perfect enough in that room. I mostly listen to classical, soft rock, and vocal & instrument oriented genres.Wanting to play a little louder (up to about -15 db) during the movies, I never stopped looking for larger fronts. When I saw a pair of barely used KEF Q300 for sale on Craigslist from a big time music composer for $150 per pair and Onkyo NR809 for another $100, I HAD to grab them. Before, I was using my C system with a Yamaha Aventage RX-A720. Now my the upgrade bug in motion, I moved the entire C series set to the bedroom that is very square (15' x 15 ' x 12') where it is 100% perfect.Now, after checking so many subs with right price (around $300 new or used) and size (smaller 8" or 10" only as I don't want a couch size sub to give my wife a heart attack) , I got this Yamaha at accessories 4 less. With so many reviews on the sound quality of the sub, I just would like to add that I noticed a definite improvement over KEF C4 in lower frequencies. Therefore, lower frequency rumbles (like earthquakes in movies) are now wall rattling if I choose. And also, I have absolutely no need for a second sub at all, even though my Onkyo NR809 is cable of driving 2 subs. I set my crossover to 70 on my receiver with this sub and the KEF Q300. In my 30' x 30' open hallway living room with 15' ceiling, the volume on my sub is at 9-10 o'clock with 0 dB boost on my receiver. If I set it to midway around 12 o'clock, windows & fireplace door rattles, bad. I set it on a fireplace platform about 1 foot off the floor (see pic).Something, I would like to comment and truly love is the grill cover for the woofer. Unlike my KEF C4 with just a grill cloth, this Yamaha sub comes with plastic-reinforced mesh in the back of the grill cloth. Therefore, if you have young toddlers who go around poking and bumping into things, this is a must as you don't want them to poke through the grill and make a hole in your woofer. As most subs sit near the floor where pets & kids occupy, I worry about this happening often. The only minor negative if I have to nitpick would be the grill is non removable and the auto wake-up setting needs to be set to high to be reliable in waking up.All in all, I absolutely recommend this in the $300 price range. If your budget is a couple hundred higher, you have other options that you might audition REL, SVS, etc. But, I personally have not listened to any of them, other than the two I have mentioned above.To cut my long-winded review short, just get it. You won't regret it. And I love Yamaha as a brand. I like their reliability.

Music is the priority for me. Best in price range musical response. Fast and deep response. I use this to fillout the lowend and take some work off my KEF XQ5 and amp stereo setup which has solid bass already. For the 2.1 the high level speaker outs to the binding posts. I just find it syncs with the towers better. I also have it plugged into an AVR-591 for 5.1 movie watching with smaller JBL speakers. It does well with explosions and space ship rumble. There might be better movie oriented subs on the market, but this does not disappoint. Controls are intuitive. Volume control is not exactly linear which is great for level matching. Your perfect level will be a very tight range of an 8th turn or less. Most of the range will never be used. Placement Placement Placement. Nothing can be judged until its working withing your system but this should be considered for any 2.1 in a smallish 400-600 sqft room. Completely satisfied.

The media could not be loaded.  As someone who has bought Yamaha subs over the past two decades, this is the first time I find myself having to share a negative review. Long story short (and I'll let the video I am including do the rest of the talking), this sub really disappointed in terms of failing way too soon. As someone else mentioned as an issue, this sub started popping and crackling which has pretty much made it useless. I have a second Yamaha sub that is about 10 years older than this one and it is still working perfectly. I spent a lot of money on this newer sub and I just want to warn others to perhaps think of another sub option.