A subwoofer will transform your home cinema experience by offering a rich, deep and tuneful bass sound. A high quality subwoofer brings life to a chase in an action movie or bass solo in a live music recording.

Subwoofers are built to deliver impactful lows within a multi-channel speaker system; made up of either small satellite speakers, bookshelf speakers or floorstanding speakers along with a centre speaker. We also sell pre-selected 5.1 speaker packages.

What makes a good Subwoofer? Our carefully selected range of subwoofers are a world apart from mass-produced home cinema systems with subs that can easily distort. A good subwoofer should reproduce a wide frequency range accurately, down to the lowest possible octaves and reproduce bass notes clearly rather than just "rumble".

We provide the best subwoofers for home cinema at various price levels for the best possible performance to give your music, movies and gaming experience that added oomph! Subwoofers come in a range of sizes and shapes – some models are designed to be no-compromise and deliver the best, most dynamic bass possible while others seek to offer improved bass performance from a compact and easy to accommodate unit. The size of the driver, or woofer, is directly related to the bass performance of the subwoofer and the amount of bass it can produce.

Standard woofer sizes range between 8 inches to 12 inches, though larger and smaller models are also available. Some models feature a pair of smaller woofers instead of a single driver, which work together to deliver vibrant bass in a much more compact cabinet. Bass frequencies are largely non-directional so subwoofer placement is substantially easier than placement of typical hi-fi stereo speakers. Having a subwoofer at the back of the room should not sound any different to having it at the front of the room.This means that, while they are often large and bulky, positioning somewhere discrete should be quite easy without affecting the overall sound experience.

Subwoofers are usually “active”, which means they have an internal amplifier to directly output sound at line level from an amplifier or AV receiver. Subwoofer amplifiers are usually “Class D” so they can typically be built to more compact specifications and for maximum efficiency. A subwoofer’s power rating is determined directly via the power of its amplifier so a 400W model features a 400W amplifier internally. There are some passive subwoofers available which require an external amp to power them.

To ensure the maximum possible sound quality, a well-designed subwoofer cabinet is integral. Rigidity and bracing as well as a solid cabinet, prevent unwanted resonance from ruining the coherency of the outputted bass. Subwoofers are isolated from the floor via spikes or isolation feet, which minimise the amount of contact between the subwoofer and the floor, decoupling and isolating it from the surface and preventing unwanted resonance.

Setting up the crossover section of your subwoofer is crucial to the performance of your entire system. To get the best from your home cinema system, the crossover should be configured so the frequency is at a point where your main speakers can handle the frequencies above and your subwoofer can kick in comfortably. The recommended crossover frequency is at 80hZ.

Frequency response is an important measurement of bass performance, measured as a range "40Hz-120Hz". While depth is not the only measurement of performance, it can be a useful measurement of the subwoofer’s capabilities, which when considered with driver size, allows you to better understand what you need for your unique listening space. If you need further help choosing a subwoofer, please call or e-mail us - we can also offer AV demonstrations in our Birmingham showroom.