Set up your subwoofer correctly
Set up your subwoofer correctly and it’ll make a big difference to your system’s sound
Deep bass is less directional than treble or midrange, so you can put your sub almost anywhere. However, you can get better results if you do some fine tuning.
For the best integration with your room, try to find a room ‘node’. Place your subwoofer where you usually sit, connect it, and then disconnect your speakers (at the amp end). Play a piece of music with good bass, and then walk around your room, listening to the low frequencies.
You’ll hear lifts in bass in several places, caused by the interaction
of the bass notes and your room’s acoustics. These are ‘nodes’, and your sub goes in one of these locations.
less can mean more
Don’t, repeat don’t, turn the volume up too much on your subwoofer. It’s one of the most common failings we hear in systems. Bass should underpin your sound, contribute to it where appropriate, and on occasion, shake your sofa on its springs – but it isn’t supposed to dominate.
If there’s no need for bass in a particular scene (say, a long sequence of dialogue) then there shouldn’t be a peep out of the sub – don’t turn your sub up so you can hear it all of the time.
let music help you
A lot of AV receivers don’t include test-tone adjustments for subwoofer levels – but even those that do, suffer from the problem that most hand-held sound pressure meters struggle to register bass accurately.
The best way to set your sub levels is to play a piece of stereo music
that you’re familiar with: turn the subwoofer’s volume level up until
you can just hear the bass starting to dominate a little too much – and
then drop the volume back a tad. This might not be a completely scientific method, but it works.
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