Subwoofers

The popular MiniVee (8" driver) and MiniVee-10 (10" driver) subwoofers offer a best-selling combination of small, easily concealed cabinetry, stunning bass performance, and great value.

DO I NEED A SUBWOOFER?

If you have a wall next to a neighbor don’t bother getting anything bigger than an 8” subwoofer. Even with that size you will likely need to turn it down when your neighbors are home.

If you have the luxury of no walls next to a neighbor you are free to get a 10”, 12”, 15 ” or 18" subwoofer. If you want to hear and feel those last two or three octaves of rich deep base a subwoofer will help. Even if your existing speakers can play down to 20Hz (the deepest note humans can hear) adding a subwoofer (or two) will make your music and movies sound richer, fuller and more exciting.

PLACEMENT:

Place the subwoofer with the room layout in mind. If you want deeper sounding bass the corner of a room will usually cause a deeper sound. If the sound is too boomy after calibrating it to 75 dB with a sound level meter (C weighting) - pull it away from the corner or wall so it will loose its emphasis. Ideally the sub should also be placed in the front of the room so that when you see an explosion on TV the wave of base should feel like it’s arriving from where you saw the effect. Theaters usually have their subwoofers behind the screen along with the front channel speakers. Even though deep base is omni directional it can pull the sound imaging off to the left or right. Additional subs can be added to the subwoofer output with "y" splitters. Locate the subwoofers in both front corners, or stack them to save space. Otherwise they may also be placed in any and all the corners of the room if needed for ease of wiring, aesthetics or foot traffic considerations.

ROOMS:

Consider a 6" subwoofer in the kitchen, an 8" subwoofer in the bedroom, and in the movie / dance room start with a 10", then add a 12", then add a 15", then add an 18" :) BOOM!