Yamaha YST-SW315PN Subwoofer Speaker

After you spend the hours searching for the ideal powered sub woofer and purchase it, the moment of truth comes when you play the first album. But which album? You will be surprised how few of your albums have the necessary clear bass to test you newly acquired sub woofer. After playing many albums, I settled on my 1990 Mark Knopfler and Chet Atkins "Neck and Neck". Wow what a beautiful bass! I turned my sub woofer on and off (made easy by the front panel on/off switch) and what a difference in the fullness of the drum and bass guitar.

My 2.1 sound system has two top notch Leon 115-S-A bookshelf speakers (www.leonspeakers.com) which produce beautiful hi and mid range sounds. The lower frequencies are quite good for bookshelf speakers with 5" woofers but lack the umph. My amplifier is a Pioneer VSX-816 with 110 watts per channel...plenty of power for my medium sized family room.

You will love the Yamaha sub woofer but be warned that this is no small box. The cabinet contains a 10" cone woofer, measures 14 x 17 x 15"(25 x 43 x 38cm) and weighs 41 lbs(19kg). You cannot hide this behind the couch or under a table. This size is more like a small sitting stool. The front panel has four controls: standby/on(with a pilot light), bass(toggle for music or video), high cut(crossover frequency), and volume. The rear panel has many input/output choices including a mono pin sub woofer input.

The sub woofer has a sleep mode option which puts the unit into standby after seven minutes of inactivity. The bottom of the unit is made of ribbed plastic and the user applies four self-adhesive vinyl discs. These stick to my tile floor and I replaced them with glides purchased at a hardware store.