Customer Ratings & Reviews

Had Polk Mini but the subwoofer keeps failing even after three returns . I needed a small sound-bar and decided to go for the Yamaha but it has weak sound,no base...you get what you pay for .I returned it too .

The Yamaha SR-C20A is a small sound bar that manages to compact a lot into it...Unfortunately, the sound falls flat. The Sound bar comes equipped with 2 - 1/8” cones, and a built-in subwoofer 3” cone with 2 passive radiators. Yamaha managed to combine all this in a 23” bar. The sound bar offers bluetooth support, 1-HDMI ARC input, 2- Optical inputs, and an Analog input. It offers Dolby Digital surround and has 4 different preselected sound modes: Movie, Stereo, Game, Analog. There is a Bass booster function as well as a clear voice booster, both of which do enhance the sound quality. Aside from the sound modes, the only sound control option you have is the bass. I wish there was an option to control treble, but I guess Yamaha thought those levels are best left alone.. The Sound quality, in my opinion, is average. Considering the size of the bar, I am impressed with all they were able to fit into it. When playing music through bluetooth, I found the sound to fall flat...Meaning, there wasn’t much clarity to it, it just sounded average. At louder volumes, the bass would bottom out and rattle. When watching movies, the sound was decent, the surround effect seemed to work good, bass was decent and voices were clear enough to hear. The only problem is, the voices were so out of sync with the TV, that it became unwatchable. I could understand if I was using bluetooth, but this happened when connected through an optical cable. Unfortunately there is no option to adjust that. The sound bar can also be controlled with your smartphone, with the Yamaha app. The app doesn’t do that much more than the included remote, but it is convenient if your phone is next to you and the remote is out of reach. Overall, the Yamaha sound bar is a great size for small spaces. For larger rooms, you might want to look for a bigger bar. The sound quality is average, bass is there, but nothing wall shattering, and dialog is clear. The biggest complaint, I have is how out of sync the voices are with the TV and how there is no option to change that. I would recommend this if you’re looking to buy your first sound bar, or if you have limited space.

Piece of trash. Sound bar came with NO remote and becauss it was open box excellent condition no one at Best Buy is willing to help.

We own a full size Vizio sound bar that works great with a TV that has extremely poor sound. It is much bigger than this sound bar. The Yamaha compact size is a plus for small spaces but quality suffers. The SR-C20A is designed for a small room. There is also a built-in subwoofer. You will need a HDMI cable to connect to your TV and that isn’t included. If you have an ARC compatible HDMI input on your TV, installation is a breeze. The Quick Start Guide has pictorial and written instructions that are very clear and helpful. You can wall mount or just set on your TV stand. You can connect up to 2 devices with Bluetooth and it was easy to setup. I streamed i-Heart radio from my phone and the sound quality was very good. This sound bar does NOT work with Alexa, Google or Siri. But you can use an app to control it. I also found that the Amazon Fire TV sideclick / remote auto connected to the soundbar. Probably because I used the HDMI ARC input connection. DTS Digital Surround is missing from this sound bar and it shows. Out of the box the bass was so deep that it was hard to distinguish voices. Once I disabled the Bass Extension it was much clearer. A few more tweaks in the modes and settings and I turned it back on. Then the voices were much clearer but still not up to the quality I expected. Modes: Standard – worked best for most content Movie – voices were a little more muddled on this one Game – not impressed, standard mode worked better for games Stereo – worked pretty well but no surround playback Settings: Clear Voice – a must if you want to hear dialog better Bass Extension – it really boosts the bass As a computer speaker it works very well but you have other options that would be much cheaper. The Remote buttons are well labeled and defined except these 2 buttons: INFO - Shows information such as the type of audio signal being played and the settings for the sound bar’s functions. DIM - Switch the brightness of the indicators of the sound bar. Pros: Compact size Quick Start Guide is helpful Remote with clearly labeled buttons Sturdy and well built Cons: Voices aren’t as clear and crisp as other sound bars The louder the volume, the more distortion Pricey for the quality and features NOTE: I received this product in exchange for my fair and unbiased review.

Sounded like a plastic box. Returned as soon as we plugged it in.

Could not connect soundbar to T. V. even with Geek Squad assistance. Bar works with Bluetooth but I have Sonos speakers for music. 1 year old TV and new soundbar should be an easy setup. Neither hdmi nor optical cable worked.

Bought this as open box (excellent) with a nice savings, but it stopped working after 3 weeks, 1 week after they have a zero-tolerance return policy. Won't be shopping at Best Buy again

The Yamaha SR-C20 offers high sound quality, plenty of volume for a small room, and solid build. Whether it’s worth $150 is something only you can answer. The SR-C20A is simple to set up out of the box; turn it on and it’s ready to pair with Bluetooth, or the HDMI, analog, and dual optical inputs offer any connection you might want. Construction is what you would expect from Yamaha audio equipment – nothing about it feels cheap. The remote control is Spartan (that’s a compliment), with just a few easy to understand buttons, no learning to land the Space Shuttle feel. The “clear voice” button does exactly that, making dialogue stand out without it sounding as if the speaker is in a barrel. The sound is great, with clear, crisp highs, balanced mids, and a surprising amount of bass response for such a small unit. The bass also sounds natural, not forced or overdone like with some speakers. The speaker arrangement offers a wide soundstage, and you’d swear the speakers must be farther apart than the 23” unit would allow. One caveat; at first, I had the SR-C20A sitting very low, and the sound was disappointing. When I moved it higher up, the sound improved quickly and markedly. As far as surround sounds, like with other soundbars, I simply cannot hear the surround effects that others say they hear. All the sound seems to me to be coming from the front. This isn’t a knock on the Yamaha, it’s the same on my (very expensive) Harmon Kardon soundbar. If you’re in any way constrained by space, this compact Yamaha unit is a great choice. Connected to my computer, it’s an outstanding upgrade to my home office sound.

Lacks bass not very loud, ending up returning product

Voice isn't as good as it should be, not natural sound

One speaker quit working after a few months. Difficult to get the warranty RMA

It works, but the audio is extremely muffled sounding. Coming from Yamaha, this is kind of a disappointment. The companion app works okay sometimes but even with tuning some of the settings on the speaker itself and on my phone’s equalizer, still does not have a good sound.

Returned it, didn't like the cloth around it. Dust collector.

I received this product in exchange for my fair and unbiased review. TL;DR - The SR-C20A is a compact, elegant sound bar but creates a big, full sound in small to medium spaces - offices and bedrooms - once you enable the surround mode. It has deep bass that, while not external subwoofer-punchy, reaches very low before dropping off, and is controllable via a phone app, something that other sound bars in this class seem to lack. It has a remote that doesn't feel cheap, unlike some. other options that are similarly priced. There is also plenty of switchable connectivity - optical input, analog (3.5mm aux jack) input, Bluetooth connection, and HDMI ARC (for TVs that support this feature). The more major of its two drawbacks is if you plan on using HDMI ARC to connect this to your TV, it lacks a pass-through so you lose that HDMI port - but don't worry, you don't need to connect this to your TV via HDMI at all as long as you don't care about the automatic power on/power off that HDMI enables. Also, the power adapter is of the "line lump" variety; I like to see integrated power supplies since it gives a cleaner look. All in all, it's a good sound bar with great audio quality and few shortcomings on connectivity and design. Unboxing and first impressions: Pop a couple of seals and tabs on the box and you'll open to find the power cord, an AC adapter (output of 20 volts @ 42 watts/2.1 amps), an optical cable, instructions and other literature (including a template and most of the hardware needed for wall mounting), and a remote all wrapped in plastic. Supported by foam on both ends of the box and wrapped in a soft foam sheet is the sound bar itself. Nothing too extraordinary, though the inclusion of an optical cable is a nice addition. I would have liked to also see an HDMI cable and a set of cables for analog input (3.5 to 3.5 cable and a 3.5 female to RCA L/R male adapter would be nice here). Setup is pretty straight-forward. You pop the battery tab out of the remote, you remote a piece of plastic film from the control buttons on top of the sound bar, you connect the power and whichever input cables you need (I tested out all three inputs and bluetooth), and you'll also want to download the app "Yamaha Sound Bar Remote" to your smartphone. (Note that there is also an app called "Yamaha Sound Bar Controller" that doesn't work with this sound bar.) The SR-C20A itself looks premium, overall. Matte black plastics with a glossy black control center on top and black cloth speaker grill that wraps around the front, sides, and top gives this an elegant look whether it's on or off. The 5 front panel LEDs glow white, with the Bluetooth indicator glowing blue when it's connected to a phone or other device. The LEDs are also used to indicate volume level as you turn the system volume up and down. Using the Sound Bar Remote app, you can turn the indicator LEDs to an off, dim, or bright setting when they're inactive. The remote is good. It's not perfect, but when it comes to remotes that come with sound bars, it's definitely better than what I'm used to seeing. It's roughly the same size as an iPhone 5 series or iPhone 12 Mini, and even though it doesn't weigh a lot, it feels pretty substantial. The plastic is strong, the buttons feel just right for a remote, and the curve makes it comfortable to hold. While I'm not a fan of coin cell batteries for remotes, the CR2025 in it should last a very long time before needing replacement. Usage and performance: Sound quality is good overall, as long as you have one of the three surround sound modes activated. The unaltered stereo mode sounded very "narrow" and lacked bass punch, even with the subwoofer turned up. The three surround modes - Standard, Movie, and Game - each filled the sound out in their own way. Standard mode gave all the music I threw at it - orchestra, jazz, hip-hop, and metal - a feeling of space as you listened, spreading out as if you were listening on a far larger audio system. Movie mode did the same for special effects in Black Hawk Down, the Matrix, and Ralph Breaks the Internet, while clearly defining where the center channel should be in the room. Gaming mode did introduce an even more well-defined center channel but at the expense of the expansive surround of Standard mode not being as strong - not that it's a bad thing if you decide to use this sound bar for your gaming battle station instead of a TV. As far as testing goes, I did put this through its paces with a few movies, some TV shows, gaming on PC, and gaming on an iPhone with Bluetooth audio. TV shows with studio audiences - game shows like Jeopardy, sitcoms like Everybody Loves Raymond, and even older fare like Full House - gave you the feeling that the actors were in front of you while the audience was behind you as long as you were in Standard or Movie surround mode. Dramas like House and The Morning Show, and the movies I tested with had clear dialog, music that didn't drown out the dialog, and the environmental effects were expansive while in movie mode; with the movies, the effects didn't have the bass punch you'd feel from a separate high-power subwoofer, but you could still hear it. One thing I usually have issues with - musical acts on TV - didn't have the problem I normally have with audio, where instruments drown out the vocals. Playing a few FPS games, you could get a real feel for where the action and your enemies were since the Game mode audio does a good job of helping you pinpoint where things would be. Again, the audio wasn't as punchy as if you were using a speaker set with a high-powered subwoofer, but in this case, it doesn't need to be. As for Bluetooth performance, I'm very impressed. Testing with an iPhone 11, music from Apple Music, Pandora, and SoundCloud sounded good; videos from YouTube, Facebook, Vimeo, and Twitch sounded good; but perhaps the most impressive thing was nearly imperceivable audio lag while playing games; many Bluetooth devices have a slight lag and the SR-C20A just did not have one I noticed no matter what I played. It also supports multipoint Bluetooth connectivity, meaning you can have this sound bar connected to your phone and someone else's phone, tablet, or other device that supports Bluetooth audio output simultaneously; however, you'll only be able to play back from one device at a time. Now for the downsides: The power adapter isn't integrated into the unit. If you're placing the sound bar in or on a TV stand that's normally pushed to the wall, or you're connecting it to a wall-mounted TV, you'll need to account for hiding the power adapter. This could be alleviated with a sound bar that has an integrated power supply. This is yet another sound bar with HDMI ARC connectivity but no HDMI input. What this means is if you have a TV with 3 HDMI ports, you lose one as a video input to this. Going a step further, the instruction manual recommends running an HDMI cable between this sound bar and your TV even if your TV doesn't support ARC. Chances are that if your TV doesn't support HDMI ARC, your TV doesn't have HDMI CEC correctly implemented as well. Conclusion: The Yamaha SR-C20A is a solid sound bar. Compared to others in its class, it offers more and better features including switchable inputs, multipoint Bluetooth, an integrated subwoofer, and app control capability. The unit looks great and sounds great. The only drawbacks are the power adapter and the lack of HDMI pass-through. Otherwise, this is the best sound bar I've used in this class in an overall.

I purchased this in store, and I’ve regretted it every since. For the amount of money paid the sound is horrible. I hate it’s too late to return.

First one bricked after a week or two so exchanged it. 2nd one OK until it started exhibiting strange behaviors. Returned it. Must be a quality control issue for that batch.

At just a bit under two feet this little baby soundbar can slide and disappear under almost any TV and improve your sound by a huge margin. The sound is clear with no distortion, even at the higher levels. The downside is that it just can't get as loud as a larger bar, granted it has way more power than most would need in a normal room. The soundbar includes a 3" "subwoofer." I put that in quotes because so many speaker makers are tossing the word "subwoofer" around like cell phone companies throw out the word "unlimited." The tiny speaker is just a woofer. It can't output the sub frequencies. I couldn't fine any documentation on frequency response but I'd be surprised if it really does hit subwoofer levels. That said I do find the mid-bass output acceptable. It doesn't muddy up vocals or clip or distort on high bass music. While it won't win an award for the low end, it's good enough to not disappoint. You have two options to control the soundbar: the included remote or an app. I did use the app a bit but I'm not a fan of touch screens for remotes. I like buttons I can feel so I can navigate in the dark without have to actually look at my remotes. It has all the functions of volume, on/off, mode switching, etc but it's not my thing. Plus I don't trust most apps as so many are data hijackers now-a-days. IMO stick with the standard remote. Stereo separation was pretty good for such a narrow speaker. Playing a few games I could actually hear the location of shots left and right. The surround sound did nicely but of course no virtual surround will replace real surround for pinpointing your opponents. I'll toss this under my monitor and try it out on some PC gaming later. There are enough types of connectors that most users won't have a problem directing sound to the bar. HDMI ARC should be the preferred connection as it has the highest bandwidth for the best quality sound and virtual surround. It would have been nice to add a sub out to hook up a real subwoofer as it would help give that extra punch that some might like, especially in action flicks. As it is it's a nice bar and well worth getting if you're limited on space.

The Yamaha - SR-C20A Sound Bar with Built-in Subwoofer and Bluetooth is a mighty little soundbar. Right out of the box, I was replacing an existing soundbar & set up was as simple as plugging it in, attaching the optical cable and selecting the correct input- could not have been simpler! Having set up multiple soundbars, setting it up from scratch was unlikely to be much more difficult- the enclosed directions were simple and there’s a YouTube video for everything nowadays, just in case. The soundbar I was replacing also had a “built-in sub-woofer”, but the Yamaha’s is so much better. In addition, the ability to control both overall volume and the bass level separately is handy. I don’t often want my binge watching to be bass heavy, but when paired via Bluetooth for music, it’s nice to pump up the bass. Honestly, the only concern I’ve got is also related to one of its positives- it’s so small that it looks very small under a 50” TV.

I think you will agree that this is a 5 star unit if your expectations align with the reality of what you are bringing home. This little Yamaha sound bar is just what I needed. I have an older HD TV that I had recently upgraded to a newer 4K unit. I relocated the old TV to another room in the house. I was looking for an affordable, small, simple soundbar to enhance the terrible built in speakers of that older TV. This fit the bill perfectly. It has a very nice sound considering its size. Very clear and plenty loud. You aren’t getting a massive surround sound experience. There is no stand-alone subwoofer to rattle the pictures on your wall and no satellite speakers to make you feel like you are in the middle of the action. If that’s what you are looking for, you likely won’t be happy with this soundbar. That said, if you are looking for something super easy to set up that gives you a nice upgrade from internal speakers of your TV but won’t break the bank, this is for you. I used the included digital optical cable to connect the soundbar to my TV. I quite literally just plugged in the power and the optical cable and it just worked. I didn’t have to do anything at all. It also supports HDMI or AUX connection if you don’t have the optical option or just want to go another route. Please note that the only included cable is optical. The soundbar has a few presets for you to play with that are easily identified on the remote. I prefer the standard mode, but there is also a stereo mode along with movie and game modes. They all sound fine, just slight tweaks to the equalizer settings. There is a bass boost that I turned all the way up. I felt like it helped support the sound with a little more bottom range. It isn’t boomy, so don’t expect it to shake the fillings out of your teeth. It also has a clear voice feature that enhances the dialogue. I found it useful. I don’t hear as well as I used to…too many concerts, I guess. It helps me understand what’s being said a little better when there is background noise. The soundbar also works as a Bluetooth speaker. It was very easy to connect. I simply clicked the Bluetooth button on the soundbar remote, and then opened up my connections on my cell phone. The Yamaha audio device was right there in the list. I selected it and it paired without issue. Nice clean stream between my phone and the soundbar. I really don’t have anything to complain about on this one, and that’s saying something. It’s inexpensive, it is miles better than the internal speakers of my TV, it has just enough features to be fun to play with while not being complicated, it’s really small, and the setup required zero tech skills. I would definitely recommend this unit. Just know what you are buying and don’t expect more than you should at this size and price point.

Severely outdated/broken ARC controls. Sounds great but ARC was a dealbreaker for me.