How to set up stereo subwoofers

Home - Speakers - Subwoofer Connections. Updated: July 4, Yes, I know most people get excited by their impressive front stereo pair. And that all-important center speaker. While you can get excellent bass from some bookshelf and tower speakers.

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How to set up stereo subwoofers

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Content:

• How to Connect Two or More Subwoofers in a Home Theater Setup
• How to Install Subwoofers WITHOUT Replacing Your Stock Stereo
• How to Connect a Subwoofer to a Car Stereo Without an Amp
• Stereo amplifiers with proper support for subwoofers
• How to Hook Up a Subwoofer to a Home Stereo
• The Five Cs of Subwoofer Setup
• Why would you want a high-level signal?
• Subwoofer Calibration Tutorial: How to Make Your Sub Sound Better
• How To Integrate A Subwoofer Into Your 2-Channel System
• How can I get two subwoofers in stereo?

WATCH RELATED VIDEO: Subwoofer placement and settings

How to Connect Two or More Subwoofers in a Home Theater Setup

Everyone wants a studio subwoofer because audiophiles have hyped it up, they want the best for their home entertainment center, or they actually know what they're doing. The last is rare so we're hear to clear the dust. It also manages to make any car ride infinitely cooler when the bass is cranked to window-rattling levels. Even when you're just chilling at home, its resonation can blow you to the back wall of whatever room you're enjoying the tunes in.

For the uninitiated, this may pose an important question. Namely, how's that mighty sound accomplished? Even the average person knows that your run-of-the-mill speakers are incapable of emitting such mind-melting bass drops. And even though they may have heard the word subwoofer bandied about here and there in their neighborhood electronics store, that may be the extent of their knowledge. Essentially, the subwoofer is the piece of gear that ties those fancy home stereo and studio setups together.

While that number in front of the decimal may change based on the number of other speakers, the number behind it is unchanging. The first thing you need to know about subwoofers is that they come in two different classifications: Studio subwoofers and commercial subwoofers. If you're here, you're interested in professional work or accurate listening, so we'll confine our talk to the pro sound style. The commercial-grade stuff is designed to give you a pleasurable sound experience and look.

The studio-grade products are designed to give you the most accurate sound possible. The key element that draws the fine line between mere pleasure and spot-on accuracy is the frequency response. This allows the sound to match your perception of good quality. With a studio subwoofer, what you hear is what you get. Whatever mix the music or movie intended you to hear in the recording is what comes through the speaker.

You can make tweaks to frequency response on these, but it's designed to compensate for problems in the acoustic environment , not for subjective pleasure. It is wholly dedicated to reproducing the low-frequency sounds or musical notes, thus providing a more complete sound experience and better sound quality. In other words, this piece of equipment will give you that booty-shaking bump to your music or a little extra gooseflesh when that slam-bang cinematic action sequence takes place With that being said, it is worth noting that they do have a handful of key features that manipulate aspects that may be foreign to novices.

These components are:. The range of human hearing stretches from 20 Hz to 20 kHz. The high end of this range will reach the realm of sound that will cause your dog to freak out. The low end is reserved for the bass lines and kick drums that can rattle your walls.

The frequency that causes rattling in your home theater or car will also penetrate through you so that you can feel the resonation in your chest cavity. That's a thrilling experience to behold; one that can only be achieved through a larger subwoofer that's handled and calibrated with extreme care. This is especially crucial if you're planning to mix your music or sound tracks at home to achieve proper theater sounds for you customers.

Mistakes here can actually damage lesser sound systems and cause your mixes to be unlistenable in general. This is mainly why professional subs cost a bit more. A lot of research and development goes into a system that can provide an accurate frequency response. Accurate tends to mean the frequency response graph is as flat as possible without nulls and peaks throughout. The closer a manufacturer gets to "flat," the more diminishing returns they get for their precision work.

That means incremental advancements in flatness cost them and thus you and increasingly higher amount of money. But it's critical if you intend to work in these sub-bass regions. Because you either leave them out entirely or get it done perfectly.

Anything else is either disappointing or damaging to the listener and their sound system. While the basic premise of owning a subwoofer is to deliver the bass notes that rattle your bones, the other important element that the device achieves is to alleviate pressure from speakers or monitors that would otherwise be ill-equipped to handle such power. This off-loaded power helps those speakers invest their energy into producing the middle and high frequencies, thus leading to a more accurate, complete sound experience.

As the term may suggest, crossover frequency alludes to establishing the frequency point at which the subwoofer takes over the bass production. Set it too high, and mid-range notes will take on booming bass tendencies. Set it too low, and the higher bass notes will lack their needed power, leaving them sounding weak and anemic.

Take note that this is not some hard line cut-off point. The response of the subwoofer slowly rolls off as the response of the monitors grows equally. There is a point where these two lines on the graph "crossover," and that's what gives the defining frequency its name. Otherwise you can use a full tone sine wave to actually measure the sound output to find the right setting.

Usually you can just refer to the documentation. They'll sound great at low volumes, but as soon as you crank up the volume you'll find they can't handle the bass and distortion is introduced in the mid-range and upper frequencies.

You don't want a tiny sub. If you want powerful, deep notes, size does matter. The reason for this is not exclusively based on the dimensions of the woofer itself. When it comes to subwoofers, the larger the speaker, the higher its power rating. If you pick up a smaller subwoofer that carries a low power rating, you can expect to experience a measure of distortion at lower volumes.

The same goes for over and under powering woofers That's if your room is larger than an average bedroom. Volume also plays a huge role in this correlation. To properly wrap your head around the concept, you need to initially consider sound waves. As such, they take longer to reach you compared to the waves emitted by the middle and upper frequency sounds. At first you may simply be seeking a spot on the floor that looks good where the sub is out of the way so nobody trips on it.

What you really want to consider is where it sounds the best. That's vague and I'll explain, but let me say that the sub does not need to be centered between your other speakers. Human ears can't physically locate the source of deep bass sounds, so it can definitely be placed off to the side if needed. These days, with the addition of the phase switch, you can place the sub where you like it and if things sound "weird" it's likely because the longer bass waves are constructively or destructively interfering with other sound waves.

You need to shift the response so that these two sets of waves are no longer out of phase. This is done by introducing a tiny amount of delay in the timing of the subwoofer, and this is done with the phase switch. The phase switch will act as a course correction of sorts for your phase shift issue. It can adjust the timing of a subwoofer's sound emissions by a matter of milliseconds.

It doesn't seem like a lot as far as time goes, but in this case, just that slight nudge can make a world of difference in sound quality. One thing you want to keep in mind that there are different kinds of phase switches to help you deal with this issue. The concept of "professional versus consumer" pushes beyond the realm of size and power rating. Indeed, there are a couple types of subs in the commercial realm you'll want to avoid. Then there is the issue of powering the sub through an amplifier or not.

Let's break it down and you'll see how the options narrow themselves down for the professional fairly quickly. Front-firing means the sound is pushed out from the front of the sub like a normal speaker.

However, there are also subwoofers that are designed to emit sound when their speaker is facing the floor. The latter style is significantly trickier to get an accurate sound from than the former, for a professional user and the manufacturer alike. Using down-firing subs properly requires painstaking measurement and mathematics to get the precise frequency response desired. Your best bet is to stick with a front-firing unit.

On the surface, there doesn't seem to be much of a difference between a sealed box subwoofer and a one with a bass port. In fact, you may be inclined to just write off the difference as aesthetic if you don't know any better.

After all, the difference in play with these units boils down to the speaker casing. Some casings are solid, while others have round openings.

These rounded openings are known as bass ports and do serve a purpose, though. These bass ports bring about a different, admittedly slight, change in sound quality. In the case of a ported box, the openings allow the sound to resonate around inside of the box. This resonation enables the speakers to emit deeper frequencies.

The openings also allow for better access to air, which keeps less of a vacuum forming behind the woofer and cools the driver and internal amplifier as well not that this matters, heat isn't an issue with a sub. Speaking of amplifiers, let's look at how we power these beasts. However, it must be noted that there are two distinct amplification styles that you can consider when in the market for a subwoofer.

Both get the job done fine, but in the passive case you don't have to worry about matching your amp to your sub. The first style is known as a passive unit. This describes a subwoofer that needs an external amplifier to deliver it the proper amount of power for it to perform correctly.

If you're hooking up this unit to a home entertainment unit, this passive style would need to hook into a receiver or standalone amp.

The second style is known as an active, or powered, unit and doesn't need any external help to work. It has its own amp built inside; a feature that makes it more convenient to use, especially because it includes the exact amplifier it needs as opposed to you having to worry about whether yours features the right jacks and power ratings. These days, you'll notice that a majority of the subwoofers on the market are of the active variety.

This is particularly the case if you're buying them in a set with an entertainment center sound system. You'll also see that passive units are increasingly rare in music situations as well.

How to Install Subwoofers WITHOUT Replacing Your Stock Stereo

Dual Subwoofers. More About Subwoofers. Prime Series. Prime Systems. Ultra Series. Ultra Systems.

How to Connect a Subwoofer to a Car Stereo Without an Amp

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Stereo amplifiers with proper support for subwoofers

Everyone wants a studio subwoofer because audiophiles have hyped it up, they want the best for their home entertainment center, or they actually know what they're doing. The last is rare so we're hear to clear the dust. It also manages to make any car ride infinitely cooler when the bass is cranked to window-rattling levels. Even when you're just chilling at home, its resonation can blow you to the back wall of whatever room you're enjoying the tunes in. For the uninitiated, this may pose an important question.

How to Hook Up a Subwoofer to a Home Stereo

A subwoofer is to sound what wasabi is to sushi. But use it judiciously, and it can make the whole experience much more satisfying. Subwoofers are far more complicated to connect and fine-tune than anything else in an audio system. The acoustics of your room have a far greater effect on subwoofer performance than on your other speakers. But millions of people have set up subwoofers to their satisfaction, and you can, too. If the subwoofer has an input labeled LFE, use that one.

The Five Cs of Subwoofer Setup

Subwoofers are used in most home theater systems, but subs can also radically improve the sound of stereo systems -- and not just the ones with small speakers. Subs can provide a foundation to the sound that few speakers can muster on their own. So adding a sub is not just about adding more and deeper bass; rather, a properly integrated subwoofer can improve the overall sound of the system. Subwoofer connection to a two-channel system differs from the methods used in home theaters. AV receivers feature bass management to direct the low bass frequencies to the sub and the midrange and treble frequencies to the speakers.

Why would you want a high-level signal?

These are the red and white inputs behind stereos that rca jacks plug into to produce sound…. Here are two ways you can install an amp and sub combo to your factory system:. This has been the tried-and-true method of installing bass systems to factory stereos for decades.

Subwoofer Calibration Tutorial: How to Make Your Sub Sound Better

If you have a surround receiver, connecting a subwoofer is easy. In a 2-channel setup, it's often not. High-end audiophiles are a conservative crowd. Both features are a given on surround receivers regardless of price class. On stereo amplifiers, subwoofer output and active crossover support are often missing. To get the most of your subwoofer, you should have a fairly high crossover, typically around 80hz.

How To Integrate A Subwoofer Into Your 2-Channel System

Despite what their specifications might say, and their manufacturers might claim, very few hi-fi loudspeakers — even the largest floor-standing models — can reproduce the deepest musical frequencies at appropriate volume levels. Very few people — even experts — are capable of doing this by ear and, until recently, the measuring equipment required to correctly tune a subwoofer was prohibitively expensive. But before you start your calibration, let's look at how to position the subwoofer correctly in your room. There is much nonsense published about positioning a subwoofer, the most egregious of which is the advice that you should not place one in a corner. This advice is wrong… very wrong, because sometimes a corner is one of the very best places you can put a subwoofer! However, you most definitely should not place full-range loudspeakers in corners either the left or right channel speakers in a hi-fi system, or the front-left and front-right speakers if it's a multi-channel home theatre speaker system unless that speaker has been specifically designed for corner-mounting some full-range loudspeakers made by Klipsch and Allison were specifically designed for corner-mounting.

How can I get two subwoofers in stereo?

This article provides an overview of connecting multiple subwoofers in a home theater setting. In surround sound , the subwoofer is assigned to its own channel. It is where the ".