No, No, No. Read This Guide
May 02 '01
The Bottom Line Read this guide to a successful subwoofer buy and install.
The area this epinion is posted is called, Choosing Subwoofers, so that’s exactly what I’ll help for you to do. No I’m not going to waste your time going through what they do, rather how to buy one. I’ll take my readers as audiophiles wanting to add bass to their system, whether for music or cinema use, and I’m sure if you want a sub, you’ll know sufficient amounts of info to understand this epinion. Let me begin.
What’s Your Current Speaker System?
The first step to actually buying a sub is to work out what low level you need. I would not recommend you buy a sub if your current speakers can produce, for example, 20-20000Hz +/- some dBs (decibels). As you should know, the human ear can hear not much lower than 16Hz depending on age.
Determining the speakers frequency roll off will determine which sub you can use. You can’t use a sub with a crossover frequency of between 80-150Hz if you speakers roll off at 50Hz. You’d get unnecessary bass boom around 50-80Hz, where by both speaker and sub are producing the same level, doubling the bass in the area. So first you must find you speakers lowest roll off point.
Choosing
Once you have your current speakers roll off point noted down, you can begin your search. May I remind you that reviews are the best way to great performance. You may find a sub gorgeous to look at yet score little more than 3 stars in review and in short sound worse than it should. So buy a few various magazines, or better yet have a look round on epinions.
Remember, to use your noted roll off freq. This way you have to look at a sub which has a crossover point within your limit.
Once you have yourself a lovely shortlist of all the subs you can use with your current speakers, you can begin the shop searching. They key elements are; size, extension, and compatibility.
SIZE
This isn’t always a major problem. Some may want a mini sub for use in bedrooms, while others want a huge furniture sized room shaker for home cinema use. Remember that the larger the size, the low end extension will also increase.
EXTENSION
A key factor in subwoofer performance. Any sub should be able to perform low frequency extension. And it is effected by the size of the woofer; a 16cm woofer can reach a fair 30hz, with a port while a 20cm one could reach 25hz with a port, then again, a 30cm woofer could reach even further, perhaps 15Hz or even lower depending on the design. It’s sometimes useful to know that a sub doesn’t have to go lower than 20Hz, because CDs and DVDs (V) each have a sound field from 20-2000Hz, although the new formats like SACD and DVD Audio are using even lower freqs.
Compatibility
Almost all subs have a port to generate another octave of bass, yet this often leads to and excessive bass gain, often caused by near by walls or corners. So if your room is small, a sealed sub will be better, while a large port needs space like in larger rooms. Apart from the crossover point I already discussed, the subs compatibility should be able to fit in with your system. Almost every sub should have a line level in (like from a CD player) and speaker level in (I’ll go in further later with this). Also, some subs are coming with a five channel amplified output, for the five speakers, with using this method, the crossover between sub and speaker is done automatically.
Once you have run through the ‘importants’ list above, you should have reduced your shortlist to only a few. Those will be determined by your taste really. As long as they have been highly rated in reviews they should be fine for your use after the list.
But just before you buy it, there’s a few other importants to check out first.
Connecting
You can take two routes:
Line level; this method is used for lower cost systems. Say your using it with a stereo amplifier, you’ll need to use an output from the amplifier which is line level. The only option you could use is a ‘tape out’, which may already be used. You could use a link from the CD player (or source) to the sub if it has two outputs. There are likely to be a few subs which allow a source to connect to the unit itself and then pass the signal to the amp, which is as good as any other option where available. Although there’s more than likely to be an output on the amp (line level), you can’t always be sure with low cost setups. The sub volume would be controlled by a volume control on the sub.
Pre Out; This is like an amplified ‘line level’ whereby the line level signal is amplified by a little amount which is sent to the sub and the volume of both speaker and sub is controlled by the volume knob on the amp. This will be a definite if you own a multi channel amp/receiver, which will have a ‘pre out’ (mono channel) for the sub.
Sub woofer out; This will be on the DVD player or an extra output on any receiver. Where by a mono channel output is there for subwoofers only, and the sub volume would be controlled by a volume control on the sub.
Once you have each area checked you may buy the sub if you are confident.
Setting it up
The connection you will use will be a phono cable. Just about every sub on the planet uses this connection from the source. I have yet to see a sub with a digital input socket.
Avoid these places
Corners; unless its designed for it, the sub will have a bass gain from reflecting bass waves.
In cabinets; just like a corner but worse, a cabinet would reflect all the bass from the sub enclosure (the big box) and produce a big booming sound.
Near loose objects; avoid putting it near loose panels, it will wobble the panel and create possible vibrations when used.
Next To TVs; any speaker or sub (unless shielded) will create a magnetic field which almost destroys a TVs picture tube (if it’s a CRT type). The colour will be distorted and the geometry mucked up.
The ideal place
The best place to put a sub in my view is between the front two speakers. As most subs used will be filling in the lower bass of the front speakers, the middle between the front speakers will be best, basically because the sound will be more fluid. Don’t but it at the side, or behind you. Any higher bass levels will be detected.
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