subwoofers

Merely buying a great subwoofer is no guarantee you'll wind up with great bass. There are too many ways to squander its performance potential. That's why putting in the extra effort to achieve proper subwoofer setup is crucial.

The No. 1 setup myth is: You can place a sub "anywhere" in the room. Well, of course you can, but chances are it won't sound very good.

The "anywhere" strategy might be an even more tempting option with wireless subs, which sometimes come with claims that they can be placed 60 feet from the … Read more

I get this question all the time, "I just bought a new TV, do I need to buy a HDMI receiver?" The short answer is no.

You can hook up your Blu-ray or cable box's HDMI outputs directly to the TV, and run digital audio cables to your receiver, and live happily ever after. Granted, you won't be able to play Dolby TrueHD or DTS HD Master Audio soundtracks, just standard Dolby Digital and DTS audio you have enjoyed all these years. Some players, like the Oppo BDP-93 or '95 internally decode TrueHD and DTS Master … Read more

The Soundmatters FoxL v2 Platinum speaker already uses an apt-X signal to dramatically improve the fidelity of wireless sound from your smartphone or Bluetooth-enabled computer, but the company just announced its newest sidekick: a compact subwoofer with industrial flavor that injects your music with 25 watts of extra-tight bass.

Judging by the press photos (Soundmatters will show me in-person at CES), the FoxLo by SoundMatters isn't much bigger than the FoxL speaker itself, and builds in similar ports for USB charging, a knob to adjust the bass, and a 3.5mm audio out jack for hooking it up to non-FoxLo sources.… Read more

A lot of folks crave room-shaking bass, but some prefer it more tightly controlled.

Little speakers or subwoofers may promise deep and powerful bass, but truly deep bass only comes from big woofers. Speaker cabinet size also plays a huge role in determining bass quality and quantity, so go for big speakers if bass is a major priority. To a lesser degree the same logic applies to headphones: full-size headphones generate more bass impact than tiny earbuds.

Speaker and headphone designers know most people prefer a little too much rather than too little bass, so they usually add a little … Read more

Energy's Power EM-2.1 plug-and-play desktop speaker system is remarkably compact.

How tiny is it? The EM-2.1's gloss-black 4.25-inch-by-2.25-inch-by-2.75-inch satellite speakers come mated with a satin black 4.5-inch-by-5.25-inch-by-5.75 inch subwoofer. Connectivity is as basic as it gets, there's just one 3.5mm input jack, and the sub has stereo RCA outputs that drive the satellites. Build quality is inline with my expectations for a $100 package.

The EM-2.1 system promises 80-Hertz-to-20-kHz frequency response, but those numbers sound a little optimistic as far as the bass goes. A power-house system, … Read more

It may not win any awards for audio performance, but just in time for Halloween, Steve Meade Designs stuffed a Rockford Fosgate Punch 8-inch subwoofer in a carved-out pumpkin.

Check out these Web videos Steve Meade Designs posted on Facebook and YouTube. The top video shows how the speaker was actually made. The second video shows how the pumpkin subwoofer performs.

Genelec isn't a big name outside the recording industry, but the company, founded in 1978, is a leader in professional monitor systems. More recently Genelec speakers are becoming known to discerning consumers. The company's active speakers have built-in amplifiers, like the tiny 6010A speaker I'm covering today, so it can be directly hooked up to an iPod, computer, or game.

I spent some time with the 6010A at the Audio Engineering Society convention held last week in New York. The listening conditions on the show floor weren't ideal, but on early Sunday morning it was fairly … Read more

MonoPrice's speakers and subwoofers may be priced at the extreme low end, but they offer respectable performance for very little money. I wrote about the company's subs a few days ago, today we'll look at two MonoPrice "bookshelf" speakers: the 8250 ($28 per pair) and the 8251 ($54 a pair). When the speakers and subs are used together they can serve as a viable alternative to a sound bar home theater system, for buyers who already have a receiver.

The 8250 is a small two-way bookshelf speaker with a 6.5-inch polypropylene woofer and a .… Read more

I've heard some surprisingly decent-sounding, dirt-cheap speakers over the years, but quality subwoofer prices bottom out around $250. Sure, you can find deals on closeout models for less, but $250 or so has defined the lower limit of what you'd have to pay for a nice subwoofer.

That's what I thought, until I heard MonoPrice's 8-inch, 60-watt powered sub (model 8248). It sells for $57. Granted, for that kind of money my expectations were low, but the sub's fit and finish are respectable. The black wood cabinet measures 13.75 inches by 11.75 inches … Read more