Subwoofers and what do you look for?
A subwoofer gives you the low-end thump, slam and depth that full-range speakers are not designed to handle. A subwoofer is the (.1) of either a 5.1 cinema surround system or a 2.1 hifi stereo setup. Often reffered to as the LFE (Low Frequency Effects) channel.
When you have decided to hunt down that killer subwoofer for either your stereo or home cinema system, your decision is a crucial one as the addition of a subwoofer to a system can make or break an already excellent setup.
There is and old tale that subwoofers go boom in the corner and make you feel sick! Well this may have been the case many years ago, but today's technologies carefully crafted into gorgeous cabinets has changed all that.
Indeed it is true that some subwoofers do sound rubbish and will not only spoil your sound system, they will colour the sound in a way you never thought possible. The best advice here is, audition, audition, audition and if you can get a home demonstration - even better.
There's no better test than your own ears, despite all the individual magazine reviews shovelling praise at the latest shiney product, your ears are different to mine and mine to the next person. What someone may find not suitable for them, others may experience love at first listen!
Active subwoofer vs Passive subwoofer
With the increase of Home Cinema Systems, the active subwoofer has become the more popular of the two. Passive subwoofers still have a home when an active subwoofer becomes cumbersome, often due to large amplifier heatsink fins protruding from the amp panel.
An external amplifier is required to run a passive subwoofer and is sometimes more convenient if the placement of your sub upon install doesn't allow for the freedom of positioning, for example; built into a wall, a cabinet or furniture of some type to give total discretion.
What subwoofer features are important?
This all depends on what application you are going to use your sub for.
Lets consider choosing a subwoofer for a Home Cinema setup. Usually the first choice is whether to opt for sealed or ported enclosure. Sealed cabinets tend to be tighter and faster in their response than a ported enclosure, but rarely have the lower-octave extension or SPL (sound pressure level) of a ported enclosure. So, the most common choice for a Home Cinema system is usually the ported enclosure.
This doesn't mean you should rule out a sealed enclosure completely, many sealed units will give you exactly what you require. You also have to look at your room size before deciding on your perfect sub. If you have a 10' x 14' room, you wouldn't pop an 18" 1000w monster in the corner. Two reasons;
1. The sub bass frequencies produced by this marvel would not unfold properly in a room this size and thus you would not benefit from such a large subwoofer.
2. You would not begin to use the power of such a beast and would therefore not justify your purchase, plus it would overpower the rest of your soundstage.
A sub of this size would be more suitable to a room approx - 25' x 40'.
So, we have decided to go for an active subwoofer which utilises either a 10" or 12" sub-bass driver and packs around 200watts - 300watts. At Get Automated, we specialse in making sure your room is correctly loaded and acoustically balanced when selecting the right speakers for your Home Cinema system. This means a carefully selected subwoofer that will compliment your surround sound speakers to ensure that all audible frequencies (and beyond) are covered for the ultimate true-to-life movie experience.
When looking for a subwoofer, try to find a sub that boasts extremely fast response time for accurate musical agility and also look for a good low frequency response somewhere around 15Hz or 20Hz should suffice. The lower a subwoofer can reach, the more feel, outright rumble and deft punch will be experienced and will enhance your overall cinema enjoyment.
Other useful features would be a remote control. This makes setting up your subwoofer more accurate from that all important sweet listening spot (very difficult to do when leaping up and down from your chair to the subwoofer). Setup and fine-tuning can be performed from your favourite listening position.
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