Sunday, October 16, 2011

Home Theater Systems - Sub Woofers

By James Friesen


Subwoofers are becoming increasingly crucial to your home theater experience. When you visit the movie theatre, you marvel not only at the images projected on screen, but the sounds emanating all around you. What really grabs you, though, is definitely the sound you actually feel; the deep bass that shakes you up and gets you right in the gut. A specialty speaker, referred to as a sub woofer, is accountable for this experience. The bass speaker is manufactured merely to reproduce the lowest of audible frequencies.

Passive Subwoofers Passive subwoofers are energized by an external amplifier, in the same fashion as other types of speakers in your system. The top consideration here is that since extraordinary bass needs more power to reproduce low frequency sounds, your amp or receiver needs to be prepared to output enough power to uphold bass effects in the subwoofer without draining the amp. The level of power depends on certain requirements with the speaker as well as the size of the room (and just how much bass you may stomach!).

Powered Subwoofers To eliminate the situation of inadequate energy or other characteristics that might be lacking in a receiver or amp, powered subwoofers are self contained speaker/amplifier units wherein the characteristics belonging to the amplifier and sub woofer are well synchronised. As a side benefit, all a powered bass speaker or subwoofer needs is usually a line output from your receiver. This arrangement needs a lot of the electricity load out of the amp/receiver and enables the amp/receiver to power the mid range and tweeters without difficulty.

Down-Firing and Front-Firing Bass speakers Front-firing subwoofers make use of a speaker mounted so that it radiates the audio through the front or side of the bass speaker enclosure. Down firing subwoofers employ a speaker thats generally mounted in order that it radiates downward, towards the floor.

Ports and Passive Radiators Some bass speaker enclosures also employ a supplementary port, which pushes out more air, improving bass response from a more efficient manner than closed enclosures. A different type of enclosure runs on the Passive Radiator along with the speaker, rather than a port, to improve efficiency and preciseness. Passive radiators can either be speakers with the voice coil removed, or else a flat diaphragm.

Cross-overs The crossover is usually an electronic circuit that routes all frequencies below a particular point to the subwoofer; all frequencies above that point are duplicated to the main, center, and surrounding speakers. Typically, a very good bass speaker has a "cross-over" frequency of approximately one hundred hertz. Gone is the requirement for those large 3-Way speaker systems with 12" or 15" woofers. Smaller satellite speakers, designed for mid-and-high frequencies, that occupy a lesser amount of space and generally are now common in most home theatre systems.

Deep Bass is Non Directional In addition, while the deep bass frequencies reproduced by way of the subwoofers are non-directional (as frequencies which are at or below the threshold of hearing). It is extremely hard for our ears to truly pin-point the direction in which the sound is originating from. That's the reason we can only sense that an earthquake seems to be all around us, rather from from a particular direction.

Sub woofer Placement Because of the non-directional sound that is reproduced from the sub woofer, it can be placed anywhere in your room. However, the best results will depend on size of the room, floor type, furnishings, and wall construction. Typically, best placement for a subwoofer is by the front of your room, simply to the left or right of the main speakers, or in a front corner of your room.

In Conclusion Despite all of the technical specs and design factors of sub woofers, the sort of sub woofer you select for your personal system depends upon the characteristics of the room and your own preferences.




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