SOUNDBAR + SUBWOOFER
Small soundbars can be very useful, and doubly so if they don’t need a subwoofer. They can then be the perfect thing for a bedroom TV or a rumpus-room TV: anywhere you want audible sound better than a TV, but not a full-on room-banging surround solution.
Yamaha’s long history in soundbars has enabled it to deliver some excellent little lone bars, such as the little SR-C20 compact soundbar ($279), which we gave a Sound+Image award for its sheer value and remarkable competence for the size.
This new SR-C30A, however, adds a wireless subwoofer to work in concert with the compact bar. Let’s dig into its secrets.
Build & facilities
So we have a small black bar 60cm long and just 6.4cm high, making it fine to sit under the screen of most stand-raised TVs. The subwoofer is also compact, with useful versatility in being able to either stand vertically at 34cm high, or be lain sideways; it ports to the front and appears to fire to the right when standing, so positioning will be pretty versatile within those limits.
The bar is strictlymagically throw sound around the room, just a mention of a “Yamaha Original 3D Sound Field Technology”, and even this is described as “crafting a detailed and lively sound field” rather than claiming faux immersiveness or fake surround sound.
