Why we use subwoofers!

We often get questions from people who aren’t too familiar with subwoofers. A common one is, “Why do these speakers only produce deep bass?”, so let me explain why that matters.

Here’s the deal: regular speakers face a tough challenge — your room. The room itself is working against your speakers, making it hard for them to sound their best. When you check the specs on your speakers — let’s say a small 6.5-inch two-way speaker claims it can reach down to 40 Hz — sure, maybe it could… if you dropped it down an elevator shaft! But in reality, the shape of your room and where you place your speakers often prevents them from hitting those low frequencies effectively.

Deep bass, around 40 Hz and below, is tricky. Most people don’t realize how low that really is. To reproduce those frequencies properly, you need a dedicated device — a subwoofer — designed with enough power, a carefully tuned driver, and a cabinet engineered to work together as a system. That’s why subwoofers exist.

Why can’t regular speakers handle this? After decades of studying room acoustics, I can tell you that the placement of your speakers relative to walls, floors, and ceilings creates all kinds of interference that cancel out bass energy. Even speakers that theoretically reach into the upper 20 Hz range usually can’t do it in a real room — unless they’re extremely high-end (and expensive). It’s rare to find a pair of speakers under $5,000 that can deliver deep bass below 30 Hz in a real-world environment.

That’s where subwoofers come in. They generate massive amounts of energy, allowing them to fill in those deep bass frequencies that your speakers can’t reach. This makes a big difference in how your system performs, especially when it comes to movies and special effects. The big explosions and intense moments in films require serious low-frequency power — and that’s exactly what a subwoofer is built to deliver. It gives you that extra depth and impact where all the excitement happens, in the low end.

There are many subwoofer brands to choose from including Rel Acoustics, B&W, JL Audio and SVS.