Home Theater Subwoofers
When you see a home
theater system or a home theater speaker system
referred to as 5.1, 6.1, 7.1, etc, the .1 stands for the
Low-Frequency Effects (LFE) channel of a multi channel Dolby Digital or DTS
soundtrack. DVD players and high-definition tuners
send the
bass information to your surround sound
receiver, which sends this
information back out to the powered subwoofer through the subwoofer output
jack on the back of your receiver. Bass management controls,
such as crossover frequency, on either the receiver or subwoofer
will allow tailoring the sound to your room.
On a 5.1 surround sound system, 5
speakers will get their power directly from
your receiver through speaker wire. Powered subwoofers for home theater have their own built-in amplifier
dedicated solely to moving the sub woofer that's mounted inside the subwoofer cabinet. It
takes a lot of watts of amplifier power to move a large
woofer. With your subwoofer powered on its own, it frees up your receiver
to just have to focus on driving the rest your surround
speakers, just the high-pitched/highest frequency and midrange
sounds.
In general, the more watts of power a
subwoofer's amplifier puts out, the cleaner the sound quality of bass
output from your powered subwoofer. Believe it or not, a larger woofer cone is not always a
better choice, although the bigger the size of the woofer, the more air
it moves. Bass notes are just very low frequency sound waves
moving through the air in your living room.
All else being equal, a 12” powered subwoofer
will not produce as much bass or as deep of bass response as a 15 inch powered sub woofer.
However, the smaller subwoofer's bass output might sound
"tighter" or more accurate than the large sub.
The other major factor that effects the quality of
bass is subwoofer placement.
how to install powered sub
woofers in home systems
Don't forget to buy a long and sturdy
subwoofer cable to connect it to the subwoofer output on your receiver.
You will be running a subwoofer cable from the subwoofer output
on your receiver all the way to the input on the back of your
subwoofer, most likely placed near a corner of your room.
Before deciding on an exact location in your room, experiment by
watching several different kinds of movies and listening to
music, trying 2-3 different places, if possible.
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Powered
Subwoofer Guide
Powered subwoofers
range in
price from about $100 to several thousand dollars. Obviously, you
shouldn't expect incredible sound from cheap powered subs. The primary difference
you will notice with higher priced powered subwoofers is sound quality.
The best powered subwoofers accurately extend bass response down to 20Hz
or lower. For example, the $1000 Yamaha
YSTSW1500 subwoofer pictured below reproduces quality bass down to
16Hz (below the range of human hearing!) The
YSTSW1500 uses the Yamaha active servo processing subwoofer system to deliver exceptionally crisp,
clean, powerful bass that you can truly FEEL!
Yamaha YST-SW1500
Not everyone
can afford to spend $1000 on a powered subwoofer. Velodyne
is the company that led the audio industry in manufacturing and
selling great sounding, affordable powered subwoofers for both
music and surround sound use. Velodyne
powered subwoofers get incredible reviews year in and year
out. The 300 watt, $600 Velodyne CHT-15 subwoofer pictured
below to the left would be an excellent choice for someone with a medium home
theater room size.
The
$350 JBL E150P
pictured above to the right is the entry level model in the Northridge line of JBL
powered subwoofers. The 10 inch, 150 watt front-firing subwoofer
uses JBL's exclusive FreeFlow flared port technology and a high
efficiency, high power digital amp to help produce low frequency
effects pros would be proud of.
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