How To Get More Bass Out Of Your Subwoofer

Getting more bass from your sound system usually means opening the wallet and asking for an upgrade, but pumping money into a problem is rarely the best way to fix it. If you already have an amplifier and subwoofer, for example, turning your system properly can produce the effects you want without spending a penny.

Many people often blast the speakers at their maximum volume, and their subwoofers still fail to deliver an impressive bass sound. They start wondering how to make the speaker bass louder. If you find yourself in the same position, you’re in luck!

In this guide article, you’ll come to know a few simple solutions regarding how to get more bass out of your subwoofer. Keep reading till the end.

how to increase bass in a subwoofer box

There is no need to splash extra money on upgrading the sound system. A simple fine-tuning session is probably all you need to increase the bass. Let’s start the lesson by pairing a proper amplifier and subwoofer bundle.

step 1: Pick The correct Amp & Subwoofer bundle

The top secret of increasing subwoofer bass is, making sure the amp and subwoofers work well together and evenly match each other. Getting the right amplifier for a subwoofer and vice-versa is like puzzle solving. You can solve the puzzle this way –

  • Pick the subwoofers and an amplifier; that work in both – X-ohms or Y watts RMS. You can dig this as deep as you want to tweak things before you pull the trigger on your upgrade, but here’s a good rule of thumb to follow:
    • About 50-200 watts RMS for CPUs.
    • Between 200 and 300 watts RMS for aftermarket head units.
    • Between 5 and 10x the RMS watts per channel if the system already has an amp.
  • If you plan to use multiple subwoofers, make sure; the subwoofers have the same coil type and impedance. Otherwise, you’ll have to use different amps for each type.
  • After that, check the watt RMS rating of each subwoofer and get their total RMS rating.
  • Next, ensure that your chosen amplifier doesn’t supply more impedance power than the total RMS rating of the entire subwoofer system.

The subwoofers sound their best when the amplifier amplifies the sound with a proper amount of power. Keep in mind; that the overpowering or underpowering issue could damage the amplifier or subwoofers.

step 2: Verify installation

After installation, your current setup could lose some bass, but don’t worry; you can recover it. To do so, verify the installation process; check whether you properly install everything or not? If not, attempt to fix them. If you cannot recover the loud bass, take it to the professional installer.

Generally, they will find everything seems to be perfect except the headroom. Most people end up with a small amount of headroom and face such issues. The professionals probably will arrange the entire setup to create extra headroom for more bass.

Step 3: Subwoofer Placement

You can make your subwoofer louder by equipping it in a proper place. In fact, improper placement can negatively affect the overall music listening experience. It could even make you feel a reduced sound quality. Place your subwoofer mindfully in these ways to get the most out of it.

Inside a car

People often ask a question like – how to make bass louder in a car? Here is a simple trick for you. I recommend placing the subwoofer and the sound system in the trunk of your car.
However, not only the trunk area has enough space for positioning the music system, but it also reduces the chances of theft and getting break-ins or damage.

Placing it in the trunk will allow the subwoofer’s sound to pass through most surfaces without any hinder. But make sure that you don’t position the subwoofers towards another speaker. Actually, the sound becomes distorted; the overall sound quality gets reduced when the speakers face each other.

Once you position the subwoofer, move it around until you get the best sounding position for it. The subwoofers generally sound best upwards inside most cars, and other stereo fanatics produce the best bass sound when they get placed facing the front of the vehicle.

In-home

If you’re going to use the subwoofer in your home, placing the subwoofer away from the wall between two speakers is highly recommended for ensuring optimal quality sound. It would be better; if you position it 8-12 inches away from the rear wall facing outwards towards the rest of the room. It is the only answer to another frequently asked question – how to get deep bass from a subwoofer inside a room?

Placing the subwoofer in the corner of a room increases the volume, but the listeners could find it too boomy sometimes. If you move the subwoofers close to the speakers will help you blend between higher and lower frequencies. All though sometimes it causes unwanted resonance.

step 4: Pick The Correct Wiring to the amp and sub

Amplifiers need the right amount of power to produce the bass you want. Generally, the standard 12- or 14-gauge wires are suitable to use along with subwoofers. Keep in mind; that the connector wires and cables degrade with time which negatively impacts the bass quality.

The cheaply made wires often reduce the flow of electrical current; that’s why the subwoofers do not get the amount of current they need for producing quality bass.

It is recommended to use wires made of 100% copper for your subwoofers as they have very good conductivity and can be bent easily.

However, if you want a budget-friendly option, then using copper-clad aluminum or copper-plated wire will serve you. They will degrade over time but still provide good sound quality

So, make sure to regularly inspect the cables and wires and replace them when necessary..

step 5: Use proper Enclosure for your subwoofer

Two types of enclosures are there – sealed enclosures and ported enclosures. The sealed enclosure creates tighter sound and more accurate bass and is notably smaller than the ported enclosure. On the other hand, you can go for the ported enclosure to get heavy-sounding bass; if the box is a little bit spacious. The ported enclosure relatively creates a more booming louder sound.

The audiophiles argue about choosing the proper enclosure type. They think it is the more obvious thing than the other aspects. However, you can see it comes down to personal preference at the end of the day.

So, regardless of brainstorming for choosing the best enclosure, make sure that the enclosure; you have is properly fitted and there is no sound leakage issue.

step 6: Tune the amp and subwoofer setting

A few setting adjustments to the volume, crossover, and phase switch help you tune the amplifier and subwoofer in the best way to ensure you get the most bass out of your subwoofer.

Volume

There is no fixed rule that you should stick with this volume level; thus, only you’ll get a loud bass. It’s totally up to you. You can make your subwoofers produce the bass you want by manually adjusting the volume. Start from the zero volume level and keep increasing the volume until you get the amount of bass you want and make sure the bass sound is not distorted.

Crossover

Before adjusting volume levels, you have to start by fine-tuning your subwoofer’s crossover to improve bass quality. Crossovers are meant to stem improper frequency response in order to deliver the right frequency to each speaker driver. Crossover is the frequency at which the subwoofer starts to produce bass notes.

As a general rule, you should set the crossover about 10 Hz above the lowest frequency of your speakers. For instance, if the lowest frequency of a speaker is 80 Hz, the crossover point should be around 90 Hz. It will stop producing buzzy and distorted sounds.

Phase Switch

The phase switch is responsible for the subwoofer’s polarity and frequency. It helps fix phase issues when the bass frequencies do not properly fit-out of the audio mix. Adjusting the phase control will help to compensate for the delays between the main speakers and the home subwoofers.

The phase switch gives you two options – 0 and 180. After adjusting the volume and crossover settings, flip the switch between two options. Listen carefully to check on which side it produces the best sound, and lock the option immediately.

step 7: Play high-quality music files

The quality of the music files also affects the bass quality. The over-compressed files will likely produce low-quality bass, as compression always leads to loss of frequency details.

  • Digital Playback: If you’re streaming online digital content, make sure that you choose the highest quality. Besides giving importance to the audio quality, it is crucial to boost the bass by enabling the regarding option from the playback setting.
  • Analog Playback: In case; you have an analog playback system such as a vinyl record player, ensure that you’re using the most upgraded version of the entire sound system. If not, upgrade the turntable or record player.

Conclusion

It doesn’t even matter; whether you’re streaming music to enjoy from the comfort of your home or from inside the car on a busy road with lots of background noise. If you’re using a proper sound system and know all the tricks of making a subwoofer that has more bass, you’ll get the overall same listening experience.

You can guarantee that the subwoofer; you own is making the most bass out of it by following the simple steps; I teach you in this article. Now, get to boost up the bass and enjoy everything you play on your sound system.

Well, thank me later, but don’t forget to let me know whether you can optimize the overall bass quality or not? I’ll be waiting for your response.

Liam Richards

Author & Founder

Liam Richards is a musician. He graduated from Berklee College of Music. He has an experience of over 15 years in the music industry. He loves to write reviews on several music gadgets that he uses on day to day basis. Liam is quite generous to share his music expertise with the world via the Primal Music Blog.

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