Customer Ratings & Reviews

Few names are more strongly associated with music and sound than Yamaha. A full range of musical instruments, amplifiers, synthesizers, mixers, and speakers can complement any budding creators’ studio with a single shopping cart, and the company’s century-plus of experience yields high quality gear at any price point. The Yamaha SR-C30A soundbar with wireless subwoofer is an apparent expansion of the SR-C20A, featuring a nearly identical design while addressing the earlier soundbar’s biggest shortcoming: a lack of big, room-filling bass. The dedicated subwoofer certainly helps fill in the low end here, delivering an excellent balance of sound quality and volume that’s hard to beat at this price. Still just as compact as before, the SR-C30A is an excellent update to the standalone soundbar, and a couple small criticisms don’t detract from a great experience. - Unboxing and Setup Arriving in a smaller box than anticipated for a subwoofer & soundbar combination, unboxing is a straightforward affair. First impressions are just how small the soundbar is - at about two feet wide, it’s closer in size to some bluetooth speakers than soundbar systems. The subwoofer feels hefty and can be set up either standing or flat as space allows, with included feet allowing you to place it anywhere without damaging surfaces or the subwoofer. Both power cables (one direct into the subwoofer, the other into the main soundbar’s power brick) are several feet long, and the power brick is a reasonable size to hide behind your TV stand or under the desk. A 4-foot optical audio cable is included to connect to a TV, blu ray player, or other compatible device. A basic product guide leads through connectivity options and using the remote. Yamaha also includes a drilling template and additional hardware for wall mounting options. The wireless subwoofer can be placed anywhere in the room, but I found the best positioning to be relatively close to the soundbar. Setup is as straightforward as can be - connect to your TV or other devices via either HDMI ARC, optical, or stereo 3.5mm (headphone or line out) input and turn the soundbar on for wired sound, or power on and set to the Bluetooth input to begin pairing. The subwoofer comes pre-paired and automatically switches between standby and power-on with the soundbar’s activity. From there it’s just a matter of dialing in your settings with the included remote or the Yamaha remote app from a smartphone, and you’re on your way. - Sound Quality As I state in every speaker system review, quantifying something as subjective as sound is difficult. Audio opinions are subjective and the listening experience is difficult to translate to text. I highly recommend sampling this sound bar in-store at your nearest Best Buy prior to purchase. I had previously reviewed Yamaha’s SR-C20A soundbar, which as far as I can tell is a very similar soundbar to the SR-C30A (if not the same, judging from how similar the model numbers are), but instead integrating a small, 3” subwoofer directly into the bar. In that review I mentioned how a wireless subwoofer would have sent that soundbar from good to great, and I’m pleased to report that this is the case with the SR-C30A. The 20-watt speakers in the soundbar and 50-watt subwoofer combine to reproduce sound faithfully and with impressive clarity. I was originally concerned the subwoofer would overpower the soundbar, but the tuning here is done quite well and I had to increase the bass slightly for the best sound. Paired with a 55-inch TV, the SR-C30A delivers much more depth in sound than its compact size would suggest. What impressed me most, especially at its modest price point, is just how “neutral” the bass from the subwoofer sounds. Usually a subwoofer will lean towards a “punchy” or “boomy” sort of sound as a way to either define a sound profile or cover up its shortcomings as best as possible, but the SR-C30A’s subwoofer does neither. The end result is a balanced sound that simply feels right to my ears - the system doesn’t seem to struggle recreating sound accurately across all sorts of media. Music, movies, games, and TV shows all sound great. The soundbar itself deserves praise as well for clear mids and highs that don’t fall off, spike, or get tinny as frequencies and volume increase. Indeed, even at just 90 rated watts the SR-C30A can get exceptionally loud and sounds great doing it. Not a hint of distortion as you approach max volume, and the soundstage (perceived distance between leftmost- and rightmost-panned sounds) feels about 8 feet wide. Yamaha suggests pairing the SR-C30A with TVs up to 65”, and I feel that’s about the sweet spot given the soundstage. They also suggest using it with a PC setup for gaming, and while I’m sure it would work well the power of this system seems like overkill. Four different equalizer presets are present: Stereo, Standard, Movie, and Game, though the best sound seemed to be in Standard mode throughout. Stereo and Game both felt tinny while Movie made sounds and music less impactful. A “Clear Voice” setting also seemed to make little difference in any audio circumstance. There is also the option for “BASS EXT” which increases the response of low-frequency sounds and gives the subwoofer noticeably boomier sound. Personally I feel it over-boosts the bass when the subwoofer already has little trouble delivering clear, accurate sound, but people who enjoy some added rumble for movies and games will likely enjoy how much more enveloping it sounds with the option turned on. - Connectivity & Ease of Use HDMI ARC leads the feature list for connectivity, letting you control your soundbar volume via your TV remote and reducing the need for another remote lying around. This worked well enough in practice, but the bigger surprise was the inclusion of two optical audio inputs. Though a little outdated against HDMI ARC, this does allow for more creative options that could help provide a better audio experience hooking up game consoles or blu-ray players on older, lower-end TVs. The SR-C30A also supports bluetooth for streaming audio to the soundbar wirelessly. Pairing requires no passcode, and sound latency is minimal. The soundbar’s middle status LED will blink as it awaits connection then turn blue once established. Each of the 5 LEDs on the soundbar is labeled by its input name. These LEDs double as an information readout when adjusting volume, subwoofer level, or enabling and disabling Clear Voice and Bass EXT options. These work well enough in practice and the LEDs aren’t overly bright. - Remote & Settings Contrasted against the seemingly high quality construction of the soundbar, the included remote feels cheap. Labeling is basic, the rubber buttons are a bit mushy to use, and the clamshell is made of low quality plastic with uneven seams. That said it does the job - it’s a pretty straightforward but disappointing affair to have in-hand. Yamaha does have a smartphone app available for both Android and iOS, Yamaha Soundbar Remote, that acts as a remote control for its range of soundbars. I was disappointed with the app as I was hoping for further functionality or configuration, the ability to store profiles, or have one-click commands for various settings, but the app is as simple as the remote. It’s a mirror clone of the remote’s buttons and functions, but one that requires bluetooth access to use (and even more concerningly, location data). There is virtually no point to the companion app - as much as the remote disappoints, it’s at least not tethered to your phone. One final, though small, annoyance is that sound settings are stored at the soundbar level and applied across all inputs. You cannot set “Stereo” sound mode to be used only on one input and “Standard” to be used on another, for example, nor can you adjust for device-specific volumes or sound features like Clear Voice. Again, a minor complaint given you’re best served setting the sound up once and running with it universally. - Bottom Line At a $279 MSRP, the Yamaha SR-C30A soundbar with wireless subwoofer delivers excellent audio for pretty much any home theater setup. The compact size of the soundbar begets an impressive, rich soundstage that’s filled in wonderfully by the balanced, powerful subwoofer. Though there remain a few small areas of improvement, I would be nitpicking to call any of them a serious issue given this price class; I’ve heard more expensive soundbars that perform worse than Yamaha’s offering here. The SR-C30A comes highly recommended!

We wanted a small footprint sound bar for our Sony 65” television that sits on our triple dresser in our master bedroom. The Yamaha SR-C30A Sound Bar with Wireless Subwoofer is an economical option that offers improved sound and doesn’t take a lot of room atop the dresser. The sound bar itself is quite compact at roughly two feet in length and only four inches front to back. It’s barely noticeable in front of our television. Installation was a breeze. Yamaha doesn’t include an HDMI cable so you will need to add one and Best Buy offers several options. Set up just requires inserting one end of an HDMI cable into the HDMI/ARC port on the sound bar and the other end fits into the HDMI/ARC port on the back of your TV. An optical cable is included if you don’t have an HDMI/ARC port on your TV. Fortunately most flat panel televisions have an HDMI/ARC port to make setup simple, and it makes it possible to use your TV remote to control volume. The rest of the setup simply involves connecting one power cord to the sound bar and one to the wireless subwoofer. I was expecting to have to go into the television menu to complete the setup, but once I powered up everything, the remote from our DIRECTV streaming box worked perfectly right from the start, including adjusting volume and power. Connection of the sound bar to the wireless subwoofer was automatic. I was pleasantly surprised at how easy it was to install. You will still need the Yamaha remote to customize the sound to your personal preferences. The sound bar via the remote offers four different sound profiles, including Stereo, Standard, 3D Movie, and Game. Additionally, there is a setting called Clear Voice, used to adjust equalization of the sound to emphasize voice. Also, there is is a Bass Ext button that improves the bass performance along with a separate volume control for the subwoofer. The LED setting indicators on the sound bar are a little difficult to see, especially from across the room, but Yamaha offers a phone app to view and change all setting on the sound bar from your smartphone. The app makes it simple to adjust every setting and lets you confirm your settings and I actually prefer it over using the sound bar remote. Pressing the Bluetooth button on the remote allows you to play music through the sound bar from your smartphone. Setup again is quick and simple and for music I find the Stereo sound profile works best. It was a pleasant surprise to hear how good the music sounds and it is a feature I will probably use a lot. The sound bar is able to handle increased volume when listening to music without distortion. Overall I am very pleased with the quality of sound and features of this affordable sound bar. I love the small footprint and the ability to control the sound bar from our DIRECTV stream remote. If you are an audiophile, then there are probably better options for you, but of course that comes at a much higher price.

I am impressed. This sound bar was extremely simple to set up, and it sounds great! I literally sat the bar under my main computer monitor, connected the fiber optic cable to my computer, and plugged in the power to the bar and wireless subwoofer. Done! The remote is simple to use. It has every function needed. I downloaded the phone app to try it out, and it instantly connected to the bar with zero effort. The app offers the same functionality as the remote and works instantly. Besides the fiber optic connection, it was simple to connect my phone to the bar via Bluetooth. If needed, there is also an analog input and an HDMI input. The only disadvantage of the HDMI input is that there is no HDMI output (at least that I could find). This seems strange to me because it means it is tying up an HDMI port without providing an input for another video source. Every other bar I have had with HDMI has both an input and an output with ARC from the TV. Regardless of that, most people probably use the other inputs anyway. When it comes to sound quality, I am impressed with the clarity of speech, the sensation that there is a center channel speaker, and the fullness of the sound, especially when in the 3D mode. Music, movies, and games all sound great. Is it the equivalent of having a 5 or 7-speaker surround sound system? No. But it still sounds great, especially if being used for a computer. They say it can work for up to a 65-inch TV, but I would probably go for something bigger if a person truly wants a surround effect in a big room. If they care more about aesthetics, it is a nice-looking, compact bar with a slim subwoofer. Despite the size, the bar and subwoofer both pack some punch and do not have the tinny sound of many smaller speakers. In testing, the bass went all the way down to 20 Hz. The top range I was able to test to was 16,000 Hz, but that could be a limitation of other software or hardware and not necessarily the bar. The audio and video are perfectly synced both with fiber optic and Bluetooth connections. Other than the odd lack of an HDMI output, I have zero complaints and think this is a great bar. I would definitely recommend it to friends.

A little background spec on my setup for reference: I have this hooked to a 55" Smart TV (built in FireTV) I am using the fiber optic connector that came with the soundbar I have the subwoofer on the floor and the tv is on a 4' stand One thing that struck me was how thick the sound bar is. It is too thick to fit under the tv to remain hidden. Could just be the height of this stand. Not a huge deal because the status lights are on the top and they'd be hidden if it did fit under it like I wanted. Connecting it was a breeze. I literally opened the box, put it on the stand, subwoofer on the floor, and powered it up. The wireless subwoofer synched up automatically (and there's a status light to let you know) and the fiber optic cable went smoothly between devices. I added the soundbar through the standard FireTV interface and it found it and added it on the first try. A few buttons later and I could control the soundbar and the tv with the same remote. You will still need the soundbar remote to choose sound settings, but for everyday use it's great to just have the one. The sound is pretty impressive for the size of the bar itself. The subwoofer does a good job of issuing bass when needed and I haven't noticed a delay in it even though it's wireless. I love not having a cable between the bar and subwoofer. It has a clear voice setting, which is nice and it does a good job of isolating the voices from the background noise. This was a huge plus for this particular tv setup. It also has other modes (movie, sports, etc) and you can tell the difference, but we fixed it on the voice setting for us. One annoyance factor is the wireless subwoofer has a flashing red light when the soundbar is shut off and it can't synch. I get it, I know it's useful and has a purpose, but at night we shut down the tv and the soundbar and we can see that little flashing red light against the wall. I wish it would quit flashing after a while and continue searching. This is in a bedroom setup and it works great for that space. I think the size and design is meant for something along that size (or an apartment) and not for a huge tv and entertainment area. It fits that purpose very well. It doesn't have all the punch and bells and whistles, but it does a good job of vastly improving the tv speaker with some depth, quality, and bass. The ease of getting it set up and the wireless subwoofer make it a great addition.

I love this sound bar. It has epic sound quality. The sub woofers deliver a powerful sound, it makes you feel like you are a part of the show or whatever is on the TV. The sound is amazing, very crisp and clear. It really improved the sound when watching movies and shows. Listening to music is awesome too. Setup was very easy. The only issue was, the hdmi cord. It was not included. I feel it is pretty cheap of companies not to include all cords needed right out the box. Luckily, I had a cord that I pulled from another device. Very simple setup, it took less than 30 minutes to get everything plugged up and ready to use. So glad it wasn’t complicated. The sound bar is compact and doesn’t take up much space. It fit perfectly in my space. The speaker is a nice compact size as well. It looks great and doesn’t take up a lot of space. It looks great and works great. You can’t go wrong with this sound bar and speaker. Great all around product. I may have to get one for my other TV. Very pleased !!

Hello all, this is my review of the Yamaha SR-C30A sound bar and subwoofer. To start let me begin with the packaging. The sound bar comes in a rather odd-shaped box. The box is large on one side and very small on the other. This does allow for using less cardboard and materials just to package and ship it. However, if you have it shipped to you BB will put it in a much larger box that's mostly hollow with lots of extra packing material "Ironic?" With that out of the way, how does it work? I found the sound bar to be very easy to set up. The entire process took only a few minutes, and I was up and running. The subwoofer automatically connects with the sound bar upon power up, so you don't need to pair it or make any other special operation to connect it. The size of the sound bar is quite compact, as is the subwoofer. The sound bar is only 23 1/2 inches wide by 3 1/2 inches deep by 2 1/2 inches tall and it can be mounted to the wall. The sound bar comes with a handy template to help you mount it to the wall if you desire. The subwoofer is 6 inches wide by 14 inches deep by 13 inches tall. The driver is mounted facing the side of the enclosure with a port facing forward. So how does it sound? That's the surprising part of this review. The Yamaha SR-C30A sounds large and room-filling. The sound bar anchors the TV sound to the screen nicely. The highs are slightly rolled off so it's not harsh to listen to for long periods of time. I think the midrange vocals sounded realistic and balanced. At any volume level, it sounds clean and focused. The subwoofer has a nice deep range to it. It can play down to some pretty low-frequency levels, however, I could not find exact specs. I just like the way this sound bar sounds. In my opinion, this Yamaha sound bar easily crushes the Vizio sound bar I have that's almost double the size. Yamaha knows how to build great speakers because they have been in the business for a very long time since 1887 if I'm not mistaken. Lastly, I want to talk about the operation. The Yamaha sound bar is controlled by a small remote. Also, you can download an app and control the sound bar directly from your phone. Your phone adds a few extra controls that are not available on the remote. Now, if you don't want to use a smartphone, the remote works just fine. The sound bar is customizable to your sound tastes with extra bass and sound profiles such as a game or movie. Everything is easy to use and adjust, not too many controls to overwhelm you. In conclusion, I like the Yamaha sound bar a lot. For people who want a better sound than a TV speaker can give, this sound bar is great. If you like a small unobtrusive sound bar this unit is great. And of course, it has Yamaha sound which is great. Yes, I would recommend this sound bar, small in size and big in sound!

So I'll be completely transparent.. This is my "first" soundbar. I've been a die hard A/V receiver and speaker guy for the past 20 years. I've had everything from very large dual cabinets to smaller units in a 2.1 setup. The 2.0 bar itself isn't very impressive as a single unit, but once you add the subwoofer and properly set EQ to a flat signature, this thing really comes to life. MUSIC: Sounds good.. Be sure to set STEREO and disable clear voice and bass extension. Very clear and neutral sound. Pushes way above its weight. My favorite sounds extend and offer the clarity and bass level I expect MOVIES: Immersive, can match much larger and more expensive setups in a 2.1 setup with Dolby content. I use STANDARD or 3D movie mode. GAMES: I can't really comment much here. I mostly use headphones, but racing games do sound quite immersive driving around the tracks. Completely competent. CONTROLS: This is the biggest issue.. The only indication for changing settings is 5 LED's that blink all different sequences. You kind of have to figure out which is which. The manual explanation isn't the best. There is no direct control on unit itself besides power, source, and volume. OVERALL: I'm very impressed with what can be done in a 2.1 sound bar package these days. It's clear as day that Yamaha knows what they're doing when it comes to tuning audio. In terms of sound bars.. this has to be one of the better options on the market just from messing with store models and friends units in their home. Overall.. 5/5.

I was excited to receive this item since I recently moved into a new apartment. My entertainment center in my bedroom is rather small and I do not have a lot of space for a large sound bar and sub woofer. This product was perfect for my use case. Small footprint did not impact the quality or intensity of the sound. Compared to my old sound bar I had been using for the past 5 years. This thing blows it out of the water. The lows are great due to the sub woofer that comes with it. Set up was not difficult in the slightest. My TV already used the proper audio channels? or the Yamaha 2.1 indoor compact Bluetooth Sound Bar is able to auto detect and set up this step. I personally did not have to change any of the audio settings on my new sound bar. I remember this gave me a headache with my last sound bar so I felt it was worth mentioning for ease of use sake. As for design, There is not much to say here. There is nothing that screams out of the ordinary so the device will not be a conversation piece until people enjoy a movie or live event and experience the audio. I assume the most common comment will be on its size. This was a huge upgrade from my old sound bar. I can proudly say I am no longer on the market for a sound bar; hopefully for another half decade.

I wasn't sure what to expect when I got this sound bar. The unit was pretty small and the subwoofer was in a smaller type enclosure as well, making the whole thing pretty compact which I really liked for the area I put it in. Connecting was a breeze with optical cable that came with this unit. I immediately played a few videos through it and then a couple of movies. I can honestly say I was way more impressed with this unit than I thought I would be. The units volume filled the room really good, the subwoofer also provided a good amount of coverage as well. pros: compact unit, wall mountable, sub woofer has good deep bass, main unit sounds good at high levels. unit comes with optical cable and a remote control that can control both subwoofer and main unit separately. you can download a phone app to control the unit as well which is nice. cons: none that I can really think of, the unit is exactly what you would want from a Yamaha product of this size. Having had a full surround system in my previous home I honestly wasn't expecting much from this little device, I mostly was just hoping it would replace the pretty weak speakers that came in my flatscreen, but I have to say I was super impressed at how good this little sound bar & subwoofer sounds.

For a compact package, the sound quality and versatility is amazing. In looking for a system to please an enthusiast’s ear, this fit the bill at a great price. The size is just right for a PC gaming system, home office or smaller room like a dorm room. It fits great under the monitor or can be wall mounted. It has options for sound modes, and the game mode really made games come alive. I hooked it up to a TV in a smaller room, and was thrilled at how good it made music and video sound. Connecting it to the TV was super easy, using an eARC port. Truly plug and play. With eARC it had no problem being controlled by the TV remote. There is an option of using an app as well to control it. With Bluetooth, I can easily stream from my phone. With an audio input jack, you could connect it to other devices like a keyboard. A couple of install notes. Be sure to use an HDMI 2.1 cable for the best sound. The soundbar should be installed with the power button facing up. That will expose the remote control receiver and LED indicators. I found it to be the perfect upgrade for TV speakers or a gaming system

I love how compact this soundbar is. It fits right under my monitor nicely and looks quite nice. One thing to note is that the sound bar speakers are located on the top. I'm using it for my desktop PC with the Optical input. Sound quality is great. It sounds crisp and bright. The bass range seems pretty decent, I tried using Bass Ext, but it seemed a bit too much. It has the expected sound presets (Gaming, Movies, Standard, etc...). Most of them are pretty good, but the benefit of using it on PC is being able to use the EQ/Preset which seemed to really bring out the range of sound. I didn't notice any sound cracking when I turn the volume up really high. Also, I did notice that the remote uses infrared, which means it needs direct line of sight to the sound bar to control it. Would have been nice if it used RF. It has mounting hardware/support so you can mount it on a wall or other locations. The overall quality seems very nice. The weave cloth material over the sound bar itself looks and feels nice. It doesn't draw unwanted attention with its looks either. Overall I'm very happy with this sound bar.

When I was looking for a sound bar I needed to find something that would fit in a smaller space. I have an older 32 inch Sony TV in an entertainment center that can only accommodate a 35 inch or smaller sound bar. The Sony TV has better than average TV speakers that are front firing, but they do lack punch in the lower registers; so I was hoping that a sound bar, and one with a separate subwoofer would intensify the listening experience. This definitely was the case! The subwoofer is a great plus for a fuller, richer sound. Door slams, gun shots, and other sharp noises seem to be more real. And the experience is immersive. While I was trying to audition these with a critic's ear and stay detached, I ended up being drawn into the show I was watching. A bar scene had a broader sound field with background noises being more present, but this did not interfere with the clarity of the voices of the main characters. The incidental music was also intensified by the wider range of tones. The sound remained crisp and the bass notes were tight. The sound easily filled the room, though I didn't turn the volume up very high. After scanning through the Quick Start Guide, setting up the speakers was fairly easy to do. I just used the provided optical cable to connect the sound bar to the TV and placed the subwoofer behind a short bookcase. The sound bar and subwoofer paired automatically. I would say opening the uniquely shaped box was more of a challenge. And the build quality is excellent on this speaker. This doesn't mean everything went without a hitch. Not until I read the User Guide online did I realize that I was supposed to turn down the sound from the TV. It wasn't horrible to have the two sound sources on at the same time, but it wasn't ideal. I received this just before the SuperBowl on 2/12/2023. Since I was having a guest or two over for the game, I wanted to see just how this could enhance the experience. I learned that in a live situation you have to adjust the bass level down or else the audience noise at the game could be a pulsing rumble. Luckily this is very easy to control since there is a separate subwoofer volume control on the remote. The sound stayed centered; yet there was an expanded sound field because of the placement of the sub off to the left, and all the tones spread out between the subwoofer and the sound bar. Yet the sound stayed centered for the most part. There are four settings for sound mode--Stereo, Standard, 3D Movie, and Game. I ended up using three of them. For the Super bowl, I used Standard, which emphasizes the mid-range and human voices. As I said earlier, I did turn the bass down a bit during the game. Watching PBS shows I used the 3D Movie mode. It seemed to expand the sound field and smooth the tones. When I paired an iPod Touch and listened to music, I started with Stereo mode, but there isn't that much separation on a 23 inch sound bar in a larger room. Instead I ended up using 3D Movie mode, and both my wife and I agree that it sounds more expansive, with the music seeming to come from farther to the right and left of the actual speaker placement. I tried both the Clear Voice option and Bass Ext. I am still undecided as to whether these are enhancements or just overkill. The sound bar already made voices distinct from the background, and the subwoofer has its own volume control. I will probably play around with these some more to see appropriate situations for their use. I didn't hook it up to my computer, so I didn't test Game mode. I believe it would probably be a benefit in FPS games. And because I would be much closer to the speaker, the left and right speaker positions would provide greater stereo separation. In general, this is a great sounding, smaller system. Voices are clear. Bass is extended and unmuddied. The overall tone is uncolored, smooth, and natural. I would recommend this to a friend.

The Yamaha SR-C30A is a compact sound bar that offers powerful, room-filling sound with its wireless subwoofer and Bluetooth connectivity. The sound bar is easy to set up and features simple, intuitive controls that make it easy to adjust the volume and change tracks. I use it with my secondary gaming tv hooked up to a PS5. The tiny sound from the TV was inadequate for gaming so I was looking for a soundbar. This Yamaha soundbar makes a huge difference when gaming. The subwoofer delivers booming bass that sounds great in action games and driving games that I play. The wireless connectivity for the subwoofer means that you won't have to deal with messy cords or cables and you can even place it on its side if space is an issue. Another nice feature it has that is rare in soundbars is the analog jack, so you can connect a device such as a keyboard if you want to. This soundbar has a HDMI ARC connection to connect it to a tv. In terms of sound quality, the Yamaha SR-C30A does not disappoint. It delivers clear, dynamic audio that fills the room, and its compact size makes it a great choice for small to medium-sized rooms. If you are struggling to make out dialogue in movies and tv shows, this soundbar will help greatly. It delivers crisp sounding speech in such use cases. The sound bar supports a variety of audio formats, including Bluetooth streaming, and its built-in Bluetooth connectivity allows you to easily connect your smartphone, tablet, or other compatible device and stream music wirelessly. Overall, the Yamaha SR-C30A is an excellent choice for anyone looking for a compact sound bar that delivers powerful, room-filling sound with its wireless subwoofer and Bluetooth connectivity. It’s a great soundbar when space is one of your chief considerations as it doesn’t take up a lot of space and so it is great for secondary tv setups. I recommend this soundbar for anyone looking to upgrade their home theater sound system.

My first impression of this soundbar system was how small it is. The sub and the main bar are both compact. The sub fits under my couch when turned sideways. The manufacturer says they designed the sub to work vertically as well as horizontally. I could not tell a real difference when I tried it either way. The main soundbar is lightweight and has a few touch controls on the top with a row of busy indicator lights that shine through the front of the grill in response to inputs from the remote. The inputs for the system are all on the soundbar section with HDMI, optical, and analog inputs on the back, plus Bluetooth built in to connect wirelessly. The majority of setups would just use the HDMI ARC connection and allow the TV to control the soundbar system and volume. For older TVs that do not have ARC, you will connect the included optical cable and a standard HDMI cable, which will give you the HDMI control functionality and high quality sound over the optical connection. I tested the Yamaha SR-C30 in my living room, a bedroom, and with my desktop computer. I think the best application for sure was in the bedroom. The subwoofer on this system does a lot of heavy lifting with the crossover point so high that some male dialog was coming from the sub at least partially. I found the closer the sub is to the soundbar, the less pronounced this effect is, but when the sub was on the other side of the room, it sounded a little weird. Using this little system for sound on my computer was not pleasant, the drivers on the bar are too close to your face, and the bar is wider than my 27" monitor. I feel like the sound is really not suited to super close listening, the only positive I found with this set up was some really wide stereo separation. Overall sound quality was much better than TV speakers alone by far. The soundbar does not seem to have a lot of power in the bar part, but plenty for the sub. The sound quality from the bar was a little “woody” sounding, not a lot of high end, no low end and felt “flat”. The subwoofer brings it to life and fills out the overall sound, but with the sub all the way down, it is basically TV speakers pointed forward. The bar does not play super loud, but it's plenty for the smaller spaces it was made for. When watching TV and movies, I found the dialog sounded good and pushed forward, and the Clear Voice button on the remote made a little improvement for some dialog. The Bass Extension button pushes the sub into a more active role, filling in low end for what seems like all of the sound coming from the bar, which I found a bit intrusive. It seems this is the default mode as it was enabled every time I turned on the TV. I would not use this system as a primary means of listening to music, I found the sound flat and lifeless with a lot of distortion, these drivers really appear to be tuned for video. The remote control is really cheap and disappointing, the buttons are stiff and rubbery, and the text is right on the edge of legibility in light, there’s no way you’ll be able to see the button functions in a dark room. Even for a budget soundbar, this remote is pathetic. I was surprised to see a Yamaha logo on it, I figured they just had them shipped in from some factory and threw them in the box as an afterthought. Maybe they think nobody will use it, but I found to get satisfactory sound out of different sources and programming, I needed to make adjustments with the remote pretty frequently. Overall, a budget soundbar with budget sound who’s primary selling point is size. If you’re looking for a compact system with a separate subwoofer for a small space, this will do just fine.

Look, I don't give out perfect 5 scores much. So is this the perfect soundbar? Well, is any soundbar perfect? But the value proposition with this soundbar has made it necessary for me to give this a 5. I have a couple of more expensive soundbars in addition to this in "small-ish" rooms (bedroom, home office). One is just a bit more expensive but older. One is fairly new and costs over five times as much. I also have dedicated flagships AVRs with full range speakers in my family room and my basement theater (full disclosure - the AVRs are Yamahas). Can this compete with the AVR/full speaker setup? Of course not, but it blows away my older soundbar and it can compete with the more expensive one and actually outperforms it in some areas. Let me explain..... The more expensive sb has many more features. It has wifi, can stream some services such as Spotify, has a great web based interface (as well as app), and some more. It has crystal clear and detailed sound. It also handles Dolby Atmos and the immersive sound is very very good. It is great overall, but to get deep bass, one needs to add an external subwoofer to it. But the much less expensive Yamaha SB sounds almost as good, and the subwoofer is included in the price (it is connected wirelessly to the SB). The sw adds so much depth to the sound on both movies and music. Overall, it may be even more pleasing than the more expensive one (in fairness, if a sw is added to the more expensive sw, it would be a winner, but that would add a lot more to its cost). This SB is also much smaller (it will fit in a TV cabinet) and the accompanying wireless sw can be placed either "standing up" or on its side, so it is flexible. There are many other reviews that describe the features of this SB so I will not go deeply into those for brevity. In addition to the standard optical output, It has one HDMI ARC connection that does CEC control (it does not have eARC, but since it doesn't do Atmos, that is not needed (it does do Dolby Digital of course)). Perhaps it would be good to have another HDMI input. It does connect to Bluetooth fine as well. There are only a few led lamp indicators that cryptically show commands to the sb and some sort of text display would be great, but that would add to the cost and is not typical of SBs anyway. The app is fine but not anything extraordinary, but I would rather not use that - not that you have to, but it is helpful to show all the settings. Bottom line - this is one heckuva a great sounding unit given its price, and the bass is impressive and it sounds "large". And, BTW, music sounds pretty darned good too! Do I have some nits? Sure, but this really knocks it out of the park for an MSRP of $280. It is a bargain. Buy it unless you want to spend well over a grand.

The Yamaha 2.1-Channel Indoor Compact Bluetooth Sound Bar is a great addition to any home theatre setup. It is sleek, modern and delivers powerful sound. The sound bar is small enough to fit under most TVs, but also has enough power to fill a large room. The sound bar has a variety of inputs, including Bluetooth, optical, and HDMI. Setup was a breeze and the sound bar is compatible with most TVs. The sound quality is satisfactory for the price point, providing clear dialogue and powerful bass. Music sounds great and the sound bar has a wide range of sound settings to customize your listening experience. The remote is easy to use and allows you to adjust the volume and EQ settings. The biggest downside is that it does not have a built-in subwoofer, but it does have a subwoofer output so you can easily add one. The Yamaha 2.1-Channel Indoor Compact Bluetooth Sound Bar is an excellent sound bar for the price, with great sound quality and a variety of inputs. Recommended. Overall, especially at this price point, this is a quality compact setup and I rate it a solid 4 out of 5..