The 10 Best Subwoofer of 2024

This article is centered on the best subwoofers of 2021.

If you want to enrich your sound system to detect low-frequency sound and give a richer bass output, you are better off with the best subwoofer.

After careful exploration of many top subwoofers, going through user reviews, and reading the feedback of hundreds of products, we were able to come up with the top- recommended products.

This is a detailed review of everything users need to make the best choice of a subwoofer. We have major information on the pros, cons, features, and specifications. With this, users have all they need to select the best subwoofers.

We also have a buyer’s guide section that explores important things users need before selecting a worthy subwoofer to take care of their needs.

Best Overall: BIC America F12 12-Inch 475-Watt Front Firing Powered Subwoofer

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For everyone that wants to enjoy the clarity of sound when it comes to delivering top- notch music, BIC America is a worthy choice. It features contemporary drivers and other top-rated qualities that make it stand out among the series of subwoofers available.

With this subwoofer, users can get the perfect sound refinement that will deliver a nice tone, thanks to the output capacity of 116 decibels. Other top features are adjustable crossover, volume control, high-level inputs, Dolby digital system, etc.

This is a front-firing subwoofer from BIC America that employs a high current amplifier alongside a 12 inches injection-molded woofer. With this, users will love the crisp bass output that will be delivered from this subwoofer.

Best Value: Sony SACS9 10-Inch Active Subwoofer, Black

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For everyone pressed for space and who wants a powerful and compact subwoofer, this product from Sony is a perfect choice. This is a high-quality subwoofer that reduces sound distortion, giving the best sound clarity and distortion.

Users will love the smart black finish, which will likely blend with your decoration. Even in changing temperature and humidity, the wood retains its shape and strength. It is the right choice to deliver heavy bass and bring life into your music.

There is a built-in amplifier with a capacity of up to 115Watt. Users will get a pretty powerful output as every part prone to vibration is located outside to keep the sound pure. The system has a smart way of absorbing unwanted vibrations that might affect the users.

Best Pick: Monoprice 60-Watt Powered Subwoofer – 8 Inch

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This is another quality subwoofer that users can consider buying. A product of monoprice, it can produce 60Watts power output with a frequency range of between 50 to 250 Hz. There is also a lowpass crossover filter that users can adjust between the range of 50 to 150 Hz. You can control the crossover filter and the power output, which gives a good blend of bass for the stereo and surround speakers.

You can use these speakers with any stereo amplifier system because there is a multiple-input option for the subwoofer. Besides, each input has a corresponding output as well. This subwoofer enjoys terrific aesthetics as it features an attractive black wood cabinet.

There I some set of left and right line-level inputs that comes with the subwoofer. The device can supply its power, which includes a corresponding impedance matching circuitry that will not affect the speakers’ overall power output.

Best for smaller homes: Yamaha 8″ 100W Powered Subwoofer – Black

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Over the years, Yamaha has made itself known as one of the household names in delivering top-quality musical accessories. It is not surprising that it makes one of the top subwoofers as well. This device comes with series of advanced features that make it the top choice among users.

This design takes advantage of a twisted Flare port with which it delivers an extensive subwoofer experience. Users will get a smooth flow of air around the port thanks to the twisting flare shape. This design aims to get rid of all extraneous away from the original input.

Many high advanced Yamaha features are present in this subwoofer which makes it a high- performance bass technology. Examples are the Advanced YST II that comes with the discrete amp circuitry that gives a rich and impactful bass.

Klipsch Reference R-10SW 10″ 300w Powered Subwoofer

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Klipsch Reference is a heavy-duty subwoofer designed for everyone that wants to benefit from a crisp home entertainment system. It is the perfect accessories to enjoy your movies, music, and games. Your home theatre system will benefit immensely and come to life from this subwoofer

This heavy-duty subwoofer features a strong copper front-firing woofer alongside a digital amplifier to give a strong and dynamic power like you have not experienced before. Users get up to 300 watts of dynamic power from this digital Amplifier.

It is compatible with many receivers and will deliver a superb crisp sound with tight and accurate bass. You will never be disappointed by investing in this subwoofer.

Best for Motor Vehicles: Rockville RV12.2B 1200W Dual 12″ Car Subwoofer

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Rockville RV12.28 is also one of the top choices when it comes to the best subwoofers. The product comes in a top-of-the-line enclosure that delivers a crisp and punchy bass. The device features a vent placed strategically to ensure hard bass from the system.

It stands out from most subwoofers due to the monoblock amplifier’s presence, which delivers a loud and strong bass. Unlike other brands, the Rockville RV12.28 is CEA 2006 compliant. In other words, the power rating is within the acceptable range.

Users will get a heavy-duty subwoofer with 1.5-inch aluminum and a four-layer coil alongside a vented magnet motor structure. With a peak power output of 200 Watt, users can expect a reliable and efficient subwoofer to give a pretty efficient bass output.

MTX Audio Terminator Series TNE212D 1,200-Watt Dual

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MTX Audio is one of the top subwoofers users can invest in as it comes with series of top features suitable for enhancing your listening experience. It was designed with high- quality material, which makes it durable enough.

The device includes double 12 inches terminator subwoofer that gives the required crisp bass output. It delivers a maximum power of 1200 watts. Many users have had a good time using this subwoofer, so it will surely meet and satisfy your needs.

Best for Midsized room: Polk Audio PSW10 10″ Powered Subwoofer

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Polk audio subwoofer is the ideal choice to add excitement and thrill to your music and movies. The system is easy to use with an intuitive installation system, which makes it ideal for everyone. Users are assured of limited distortion thanks to the 10-inch dynamic balance cone driver.

A high-quality amplifier of 50 Watts powers this woofer. Users can control the volume of the woofer with a rotary volume control system. There is also a variable lowpass filter that can be adjusted from 80 to 160 Hz.

This unit is perfect for integrating with other existing home units. You can easily hook it up to the receiver and upgrade your music. The standout design keeps the subwoofer stable even at high volumes, which allows for efficient power use.

It features a unique configuration that employs a special tune with ports that produce the perfect bass output. Users will experience a durable, stable, balanced system that works together to deliver a deep musical experience even at low frequency with the perfect blending.

Best Wireless Subwoofer: Sonos Sub (Gen 3) – The Wireless Subwoofer for Deep Bass – Black

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Everyone that wants the perfect subwoofer to deliver a crisp and rich bass should invest in Sonos Sub. It is a wireless subwoofer that can give you the best to please your ears with rich bass music. Users will feel the difference without annoying buzz but a deep bass system.

The product comes with force-canceling drivers located at the center of the sub, which gets rid of vibration so users can get powerful bass with little to no distortion. It comes in a versatile design with a high gloss finish that will blend with your interior decoration.

This subwoofer can enhance low midrange frequencies, giving strength and life to your midrange playback, resulting in a fuller, detailed and rich output. You can connect the sub to your arc or beam to enjoy your TV, movies, games, etc.

Most powerful subwoofer: Bic Acoustech PL-200 II Subwoofer

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Finally on our list of the best subwoofer is this product from Bic Store. It is a powerful subwoofer with a series of top features, making it one of the top choices among users. Users can get a maximum power output of 1000 watts, enough to take care of all needs.

This front-firing 12-inch subwoofer features a state-of-the-art BASH amplifier. It has a high sensitivity of 110 decibels. It is self-powered and comes with the personal internal Amplifier, which allows it to deliver deep and clean bass notes for your gaming and video experience.

Users will love this subwoofer as it has a good shield that houses the wire cable.

Best Subwoofer Buying Guide

Every home theatre system needs a subwoofer as it serves as the frame of the system. With it, the user can capture even the lowest audible frequency with this speaker, which gives deep bass tones that will add life to your music.

Subwoofers have existed many years back and are noted for their fantastic sonic benefits. Today, subwoofer comes in different designs and forms an important piece of your home theatre system to bring life to your music right in the middle of your home.

We now have several home theatre designs with many aerial speakers alongside a strong bass subwoofer that will give a mixture of high-pitched frequencies and a low-frequency experience that combines to add life to your music.

Movie lovers will love the best sound effects from the combination of the HD images present on the screen with the deep rich sound projected around you while enjoying your favorite music.

This section of the guide will shed light on how to know and select the best subwoofers. We will explore the top features you need to make before making a selection.

Subwoofer Placement

In shopping for a subwoofer, this is one of the major factors one needs to think about. It is pretty important because you need to put the subwoofer at a location after buying it. Many people will likely agree to place the subwoofer anywhere provided it will not be used as a table.

As a general fact, subwoofers should be placed in a good and center listening position like the front of the room, either the left or right corner.

Not forgetting that getting the perfect deep bass tone can be tricky, one needs to play a couple of tracks with a deep baseline and attempt to adjust the position and get a perfect spot for the subwoofer. This is the spot where the subwoofer will provide a deep, consistent, and natural base tone.

On getting a perfect location for the subwoofer, you also need to consider the midrange speakers. The subwoofer needs to blend with the satellite or midrange speakers to get the best surround sound experience. This will happen by reducing the subwoofer sound level and boosting the satellite speakers' level to judge their operation.

As long as you are impressed with the quality of sound, it is time to raise the volume of the sound from the subwoofer. One needs to adjust the bass alongside the surround speakers' sound to get the best and smoothest transition of both.

Assuming that a single subwoofer cannot serve you and you want to add another one, it is important to make sure that the home theatre receiver has an RCA output, making it possible to accommodate a second subwoofer in the system.

A dual subwoofer setup system comes with the advantage of boosting bass distribution in large rooms, making it best for people with large rooms.

Comparing Passive and Powered Subwoofer System

After deciding the perfect placement for your subwoofer, one needs to diligently select the best subwoofer to buy. However, two major home speaker subwoofer systems are passive and powered subwoofers discussed below:

Passive Subwoofers

They are called passive subwoofer because they need an external amplifier to process and reproduce low-frequency sounds. The mode of operation is the same as traditional loudspeakers, making them rare in many home theatre systems, especially the new models.

In setting up a passive subwoofer, one will need to include a strong amplifier between the home theatre receiver and subwoofer. With this, the amp will supply ample power to keep the high bass effect and sustain it without over-reliance on the home theatre system's receiver power. The power that a passive subwoofer required is a factor of the room, the wattage of the subwoofer, and how loud you want the sound to be.

Powered Subwoofers

Powered subwoofers are the best for various home theatre set up as the configuration is easy to control. It is also called an active subwoofer. It features in-built amplification systems, which removes the need for multiple wiring present in a passive subwoofer setup and introduces a single cable that travels through the sub to the home theatre receiver.

Powered subwoofers depend on their matched Amplifier (built-in and housed in the enclosures), while a passive subwoofer depends on external amps. This configuration is a major advantage to a home theatre system as it reduces some of the loads on the subwoofers from the huge audio power it has to be responsible for. With this, the receiver can focus on the auxiliary speakers to tweak the frequency's quality to produce a smooth transition.

Sealed or Ported Subwoofer

When acquiring a new subwoofer or replacing an old one, many Hi-FI enthusiasts are usually confused on the best choice - a sealed cabinet or ported one. This is a question that has generated a major debate in many home audio forums.

Sealed Subwoofers

A sealed subwoofer comes with a closed cabinet restricting the flow of air in or out of the compartment. This configuration has a lot of effect on the sound quality produced, room size, level of playback, and the home theatre system's aesthetics. In terms of sound quality, the sealed subwoofer is said to be the best. This is due to the accurate frequency response, which transports air faster, and allows the user to get a pretty coherent sound wave.

With this, users will get a clear sound with rich bass and less distortion. For many people, this is a major benefit that makes sealed subwoofers stand out and are highly considered for a series of critical musical applications like playing guitars and a series of acoustic instruments. On the other hand, ported subwoofers give an accurate sound with transient speeds, ensuring it gives a pretty natural sound.

Ported Subwoofers

Ported subwoofers feature a couple of air vents, which serve as a reinforcement of low bass output for the subwoofer. This setup's principle of operation is pretty explanatory - a ported enclosure gives a much stronger bass that has deep octaves without any additional demand on EQ boost.

With this, one gets an extra peak dynamic output that is thrice stronger compared to a sealed subwoofer with the same RMS rating. In other words, if you want to enjoy a cinematic experience that will shake the room, a ported subwoofer seems like the best bet.

However, this is not a license to rush off and get the first ported subwoofer as there is a catch. While you will get the desired power with ported subwoofer, they come in much larger cabinets than the sealed counterparts. Also, the low bass output makes the quality of bass slightly inaudible.

Comparing Front-Firing and Down-Firing Subwoofers

Home subwoofers can be categorized into many groups. Many people, however, do not realize that home subwoofer are also grouped based on the firing orientation, i.e. front- firing and down-firing. Someone without prior knowledge on both might be wondering which will be applicable and the meaning and implication of both terms.

As suggested in the name, a front-firing subwoofer comes with its speaker driver facing the front. With this, the woofer can circulate the sound towards the side or front of the enclosure of the subwoofer. This orientation pushes the sound generated directly to the listener.

On the other hand, a down-firing subwoofer is a configuration in which the speaker driver is mounted at the bottom of the subwoofer, which projects the sound downward to the flow.

With the understanding of both types of subwoofers' mechanism, the next section will address which of the two types is well suited for users. However, one needs to understand that subwoofers stand out from mid-range, satellite, and stereo speakers. These types of speakers give high-frequency sounds that are directional, while subwoofers pick up and reproduce low-frequency sound that is hard for the ears to detect.

With this, one can position a subwoofer anywhere without negatively impacting the output sound quality. As a result, both front-firing and down-firing subwoofers produce the same quality of sound with no distinct difference.

The mode of the setup of the room, and the placement of the subwoofer, however, can bring about a slight difference in the subwoofer. For instance, for a subwoofer that will be placed next to a TV, a front-firing is the best type. The reason is due to the crisp audio quality with speed, clarity, and perfect intonation.

In the same way, a down-firing subwoofer is best suited to be placed beside the wall or in a corner inside your room. The floor serves as a hard resonating surface, which assists these speakers to produce an intense bass.

Comparing Wireless and Wired Subwoofers.

The days of using analog devices are gone when humans had a lot to do in making sense of some technological devices. When considering wireless technology in the subwoofer space, the story is different.

A lot of traditional home theatre alongside hi-fi subwoofer systems depends on a wired connection to transfer audio signals between the sub and the receiver. However, the advancement in technology gave birth to new subwoofer models, those with soundbars, especially those that made available a pretty interesting wireless technology. With this technology, humans can now enjoy a crisp bass system without dealing with clutters of wires running from one part of the room to the other.

These two systems, however, have their distinct properties, including the benefits and disadvantages.

Wireless Subwoofers

The first and greatest pro of wireless subwoofer is glaring in its name - it is wireless. This removes the burden of dealing with clutters of cables that could constitute an eyesore and could be a hazard with pets and kids around. Besides, cables can easily be damaged by rodents, insects, and dust, affecting the overall quality of sound produced.

Also, wireless subwoofers come with the advantage of being versatile. This means that one can place them anywhere in the room as long as there is a source of power. The versatility also means that one can hook them up via different means like WIFI or Bluetooth, allowing you to enjoy your tracks from any device.

However, they are not perfect as many people have raised the concern of the quality of sound from such devices. The sound quality from wireless subwoofers is pretty low and reduces as one increases the sound volume.

Also, buying wireless subwoofers means that you will sacrifice your control over the conversion and over-amplification. As a result, you will not be able to add an extra component to the speaker setup.

The final drawback users should be prepared to deal with is the power supply. Users should make sure that the subwoofer is positioned near a power source if they want to enjoy good sound output without interruption.

It is, however, good to know that a lot of manufacturers in the production of wireless audio components, especially subwoofers, are working hard to improve sound quality and deliver a top-notch user experience. New and better tech like enhanced driver system, improved Wi-Fi Bluetooth tech, and optimum power management system brings wireless subwoofer system up to speed.

Wired Subwoofers

There are series of major benefits that Hi-fi enthusiasts will likely enjoy with a wired subwoofer.

The first of them is the full and total control they can gain over the system. Before someone can enjoy a piece of high-quality music with crisp sound, there needs to be an amplifier with a DAC (digital to analog converter) between the subwoofer and the receiver.

With this, the DAC will transform digitally to analog sound before introducing the Amplifier, which boosts the analog signal to a better quality sound.

Also, a wired subwoofer can be connected easily. Even though one needs to deal with a series of wires, it is not hard to connect your home's musical system to the subwoofer.

The downside of a wired subwoofer is pretty glaring - having to deal with series of wires. It could create an unsightly scene, and you need to figure out how to navigate the cables through the surround speaker system without messing up the room.

FAQ on Best Subwoofer

Q: How do I know if I need a subwoofer?
A: With a good audio home theatre setup, you do not need a subwoofer for the sound to be pleasant. Introducing a subwoofer will, however, add depth to the output sound. You can get many speakers with good quality sound without adding a subwoofer

Q: Will increasing the bass setting on regular speakers work?
A: One can do this even though the entire audio system's output sound will be incoherent. Subwoofers and woofers operate in different frequencies, with some audible and others inaudible. Simply cranking up your bass can damage your device and your eardrum since it drowns every other frequency.

Subwoofers broadcast in a pretty lower frequency, thereby making some audio in your playback noticeable. With a broader range of frequency, you get the best listening experience without damaging your device or straining your eardrum.

Q: Where is the best position for your subwoofer?
A: One interesting and cool feature about subwoofers is that it is good when you feel them rather than hear them. As a result, there is no wrong place to put them in your home theatre setup.

You simply have to consider a dedicated space since a subwoofer typically takes a lot of space. It can be in the corner of your living room, covered with decoration, or behind a piece of furniture. As long as the subwoofer is in the vicinity of your audio system, the performance will not be hindered.

Q: What should I look for before buying a subwoofer?
A: Size: A subwoofer with a big size and a bigger surface area will tend to have deeper bass. However, the other speakers' size is essential to help ensure that you balance the sound profile. We recommend an 8 inch or 10-inch subwoofer for a basic bookshelf. People with tower speakers will be fine with a 12 inches speaker.

Placement: One also needs to select one between a down-firing and front-firing speaker. The best one for you depends on the location. A front-firing speaker is good if it will be located near other speakers, while a down-firing speaker is good for placement in the corner of a room.

Conclusion

This review has touched all essentials necessary to the selection of the best subwoofers. Make sure to read our review before making a choice.

For users not decided on the best choice of a subwoofer, we recommend BIC America F12 12-Inch 475-Watt Front Firing Powered Subwoofer. It is the best choice to give clarity of sound with a nice tone and the right decibel. Users will love the optimum volume control and Dolby digital system that this device possesses.