Yamaha NSSW050 Powered Subwoofer with 8 Driver - Black

I upgraded my home set-up to a Denon AVR-S760H and needed a new subwoofer as my previous Sony AVR had a passive sub so it couldn't be repurposed unlike the speakers which will suffice until I upgrade them. Having purchased the new receiver my budget wasn't large for a new sub I know Yamaha as a quality brand.I did some research and found a mixture of negative and positive reviews but at the price I felt it was worth the potential risk. After a few days of using the sub I have only positive things to say about it.Quality wise it's construction is sturdy and the design although unremarkable is sleek and unobtrusive. The power switch is the only issue, remembering to switch it on (although I leave it on all day). An auto power function would've been ideal but is no deal breaker.In terms of sound quality and power I have only had the volume set to 5/10 and it is more than enough volume. There is no distortion and the sound profile deals with subtle and overt mixes with great clarity.I've christened it with a viewing of Deep Horizon and Star Wars the Force Awakens which are both favourites of mine for 5.1 tracks, selecting the 4k Dolby atmos mix for both and it was pretty impressive.In short I've found it to be a quality sub with great sound reproduction at a reasonable price and have no complaints. I would recommend this Yamaha subwoofer to anyone on a budget who still wants quality bass reproduction.

I wanted to add a bit more oomph to my Yamaha soundbar for the home cinema set up. I have used Yamaha products for over 30 years. Along with Sony, they are about the best of the Japanese hifi brands (real hifi comes from small European producers, but that's another story!). I have bought many Yamaha products over the years - amplifiers, AV units, speakers, subs, even cassette decks (remember those) and FM radios! As expected, the build quality is excellent for this product. Set-up is simple. There is simply a power lead and a phono connection for the cable to connect to your soundbar or amplifier / AV unit. There is a power on/off, volume control and that's it - there isn't even a crossover adjustment on this budget product. It's not the deepest or most dynamic bass output but it certainly improves hugely a small home cinema set-up. I set the volume control at just over 50% and then adjusted things from the AV end. Playing around with the positioning of the sub greatly improves sound. I put mine angled against a wall behind an armchair. It's a bit of an ugly black box but it can be hidden out of sight anyway. Well done, Yamaha - another excellent product that gets 5 stars for value for money and build quality.

I bought this to use with a mini hi-fi system that has small-ish desktop speakers. I don't have room for full-size speakers where this system is installed, and the desktop speakers lack bass. The subwoofer corrects that problem, so I get decent bass without speakers taking up a lot of space. The sub itself lives under a desk, because placement isn't particularly critical.I haven't done laboratory tests, but the subwoofer sounds pretty good along with the rest of the system. I mostly use it for music, and with its volume setting so that it is only just audible alongside the main speakers. I suspect that for movies an increase in volume would be beneficial. The bass is smooth and relatively subtle at the volume levels I normally use, but it does not distort even at levels that cause objects in the room to shake.The subwoofer is unattractive in appearance, to my eyes. It's just a featureless black cube -- rather like a piece of industrial equipment. It's not offensive to look at, but there's nothing appealing about it, and I don't regret that it's tucked away out of sight.I don't know if this subwoofer has automatic power standby. Questions on Amazon, and the reviews I've read, are ambiguous on this point. What I can say for certain is that when I start playing music, it takes a few seconds for the subwoofer to kick in. I haven't heard it go to standby when I am no longer playing music because, well, how would I hear it changing from silent to off? There is a green light on the back, and it's always lit, whether it's playing or not.So it looks like it does have some kind of low-power mode, just because it takes a few seconds to start working; but that isn't conclusive. The manual says that the unit remains "connected to the mains even when it is switched off" -- go figure.The frequency response of the subwoofer, according to the graphs in the manual, has an upper -3dB point at about 100Hz. I believe this is slightly higher than most subwoofers and, as other reviewers have noted, the unit will still produce significant output at 200 Hz or more, particularly if the volume is turned up. There's no way to adjust the frequency roll-off, so that the sub picks up where the ordinary speakers leave off; even desktop speakers will have a low-frequency response that extends down to 100Hz or so. As a result, it might be difficult to get a good balance between the sub level and the main speaker level. In practice, however, I have not had this problem. My amplifier has a dedicated output for a powered subwoofer, and I expect this output has its own high-frequency cut-off (most similar systems do), which probably helps.Subwoofers that are intended for music use, rather that for connecting to a television, are usually fabulously expensive, and the size of a refrigerator. £100 is at the very bottom of the market, and the size of the NSSW050 is probably as small as a respectable sub can be with today's technology. Nevertheless, as an adjunct to a mini hi-fi system I have few grounds for complaint at the price.