How to Setup your Home Theatre Subwoofer?

So, you have finally taken a plunge and purchased a brand new subwoofer to upgrade your sound system. Once your subwoofer is set up correctly, your subwoofer can shake your house booming beats. But, setting up a subwoofer correctly is a tricky part. Even if you are familiar with other sound systems and even subwoofers, it is always a good idea to follow any directions you have and may even follow some instruction manual.

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Placement and Connection of your Home Theatre Subwoofer

Here’s how to set it up correctly so that you can get the most out of your sub.

Find the Correct Position

Once you have set up your home theatre system, the question then arises as to where to put the subwoofer. Firstly, find the correct position for your subwoofer. The placement of the subwoofer affects how it plays and how it would sound from the place where you sit.

Putting the subwoofer in a corner or near a wall (at least 8-12 inches away) in a rectangular room is a good idea as it will intensify the overall bass level.

Setup the Connection

You need to connect it with your system. It can be connected to A/V receivers through a-

Line-level connection: This uses balanced cables or an unbalanced RCA and connections are joined when a CD player or an amplifier is used.

Speaker level connection: It uses speaker wires and connects just like other speakers.

Typically, the subwoofers require a single RCA or balanced level connection between the receiver’s low-frequency effects (LFE) output.

Configurations

It is suggested that you should bypass your subwoofer’s internal bass management system in favor of your receiver. This can be done by engaging the LPF bypass switch or setting the crossover to its max limit because the filtering done by the AV receiver is much well ordered in comparison to the subwoofer.

This ensures that the subwoofer won’t be localized because of better attenuation of frequencies over what it was designed to produce.

Calibrating the Subwoofer

Calibrating your subwoofer so that it can blend with the rest of your system can be done in two ways-

Auto Setup: Follow the manufacturer’s manual on how to calibrate the subwoofer automatically. Lets check out automatic subwoofer collection under $300.

Manual Calibration: It is important to set appropriate distances for each channel. Measure the distance of each speaker relative to your listening position. Match the level of your subwoofer with the rest of your system. Try to measure the sound level at two locations and calibrate the main channels concerning your subwoofer within a few decibels of each other.

Play Music!

The final step is to listen to your subwoofer’s performance. Play some heavy bass tunes. If you notice any drop in the bass, you need to make changes in your phase control. Play the same track over and over again while your friend makes the adjustments. Stop when you have reached the settings which result in the fullest sound.