How to Properly Adjust the Volume of the Subwoofer (Without Shaking the Roof)
Subwoofers do a great job of handling loud music, but only up to a point. Once you reach the point of no return, the music may sound distorted or too noisy. The trick is to adjust the volume of the subwoofer, and you can do that in just a few seconds.
Fast forward to 2:53 in the video above to continue – the rest is a demo of a specific subwoofer.
Set this volume
I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been in someone’s house and the subwoofer was so loud that it sounded just awful and awful. Of course, sometimes it’s a personal preference – maybe they just like big bass – but even as a bass player I’ve learned that more is not always better, and the optimal level is probably lower than most people think.
The above video from Parts Express goes really well on this and shows you how to do it in no time. Here are the important steps:
- First I installed the crossover. This is the frequency at which your subwoofer begins to produce bass notes. Typically you want your crossover to be installed where your speakers start to roll off – for example, my speakers cannot go much below 80Hz, so my sub’s crossover is set to around 80. You can find this in your speaker specs or just slow increase it until the sound in the speakers “rounds out” (so that the speakers and subwoofer are not playing the same notes). Please note, if you have a surround sound home theater system this may be more difficult and you can find instructions here .
- Then adjust the gain (or volume). This is an important part that I have done wrong, very, very many times, but it is also the simplest. Start playing the song and turn off the subwoofer until you can no longer hear the subwoofer. Then increase the gain until you can hear it begin to fill the bass. Then stop . Ready.
- If you have a phase switch, switch it between 0 and 180 degrees and see if you can hear the difference. One may sound better than the other, depending on your room and equipment. You can find out more about which phase here , but in practice it’s pretty simple: pick the one that sounds best.
That’s all. The whole process shouldn’t take you more than a minute and shouldn’t take too long. I’ve tried this on several different stereos and it worked great. If you want to do some more testing, you can ask a friend to try setting it up for you while you’re sitting on the couch (or wherever you are), but that should give you 90 percent of the way with almost no effort. …
Watch the video to see Joe of Parts Express demonstrate the process and see how easy it is. Fast forward to 2:53 – the rest is a demonstration of a specific subwoofer model.
Location, location, location
If something still sounds strange (and not in a good way), you can check the location of the subwoofer. According to Livewire , some locations are better than others for a subwoofer, depending on the size and shape of the room (or car). And how do you know that you have found the right place?
You’ll know you’re right when the bass is as close as possible to the feeling of an evenly spaced blanket, while still blending in and maintaining balance with the other speakers.
This story was originally published on 1/21/14 and updated on 6/25/19 to provide more complete and up-to-date information.