Are Subwoofers Worth It When Listening To Music?

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Although subwoofer speakers are often excellent when watching movies on TV or through your home theater system, some audiophiles suggest that they're not always ideal for listening to music. Of course, a subwoofer pushes the amount of bass you can hear in a mix-up, which is good if you want to capture the low rumble of special effects or explosions during a movie. However, they can make music mixes a little bass heavy if you don't know what you're doing. That said, with high-quality speakers you can get the balance right without the low-end sounding too floppy or in-your-face. Read on to find out why speakers make for good subwoofer setups that any music lover will enjoy.

Why Use Subwoofers at All?

To begin with, any good subwoofer is a specialized loudspeaker that is designed to reproduce low-frequency sounds, typically in the 20 to 200-hertz range. While an audio setup with just standard speakers will be able to handle most of the bass frequencies, a subwoofer is dedicated to the lower ranges, the idea being that it reproduces them more accurately and powerfully. In other words, the subwoofer shouldn't be set up to dominate your speakers, but to allow them to handle the mid and high frequencies while the subwoofer focuses on just one job, providing warm bass.

What About Sub-Frequencies?

Depending on the model, some of these lower frequencies that subwoofers produce are beyond the musical note range that people can hear. So, although you'll undoubtedly want to hear bass notes in music being pushed forwards from your subwoofer, you won't want it to amplify very low sub-sonic rumbles, the sort of thing you feel rather than hear. Unless you intend on using your subwoofer in a home theater setup, adjust the bass cut-off frequency. Most good subwoofers allow you to do this. It means the lower frequencies that might be on a recording you don't want to hear will not be amplified by your subwoofer speaker so the sound becomes less 'muddy' and more coherent.

Enhance the Depth of Your Sound

Even with a good speaker producing the low-end frequencies for you, you might not want to use a subwoofer if you're listening to a violin or a flute piece that has little bass. On the other hand, subwoofers can reproduce the lower frequencies used in certain genres of music with more intensity, thereby creating a richer, fuller sound that standard speakers can't match. In particular, they will bring out the depth of music genres like electronic, hip-hop, rock, reggae, and others that use prominent bass frequencies in the mix. Ideally, move your subwoofer away from hard and reflective surfaces so the bass sound doesn't bounce around when listening to music. 

For more info about speakers like Paradigm speakers, contact a local company. 

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22 May 2023

Good Audio Is Music To Your Guests' Ears

I'm glad you decided to stop by. My name is Duarte Ribeiro. I decided to create this website because I am obsessed about good sound quality and I am tired of events that have unnecessarily bad audio and visual. For some, it may not be noticeable, but to others, the audio can be like nails down a chalkboard. For that reason, I have begun researching sound systems on my own time and have been slowly creating content that may be helpful to anyone who will be holding an event or anyone else who wants to use audio equipment for an event.