Folks we need to talk about subwoofers there is perhaps no other piece of AV gear that is
as simultaneously mysterious misunderstood and magical as the subwoofer I mean in what world
can something this tiny and something this massive both be called a subwoofer and why
do subwoofers have such a bad rep what do they actually do and how do they do
it and why do I think you should absolutely have one in your life let's talk about that
Welcome back everyone I'm Caleb Denison and as the wise poet musician and activist Chuck
D once said bass how low can you go death row what a brother no you know what that track is
34 years old and it still slaps but I bring it up not just because the first word is base but
because it conjures up an era in which 808 Bass was dominant in the hip-hop and pop music scene
now I have a love-hate relationship with 808 Bass But the reason I bring it up here is because I
believe that 808 base or the reproduction of it anyway is ultimately responsible for
the subwoofers bad reputation the thing is I think if you understand what a subwoofer
really does how essential a subwoofer is for both movies and music listening and what kind
of subwoofers you can actually get today you're gonna want one so we're going to go through all
of that today and if you like the way that sounds then slap this video with a like and
maybe subscribe for more because I'm looking forward to making many more videos just like
this one in addition to all the TV and other tech reviews we do here okay let's get into it [Music]
okay so a quick little history lesson 808 base refers to the big booming base beats and bass
lines that were hugely prevalent in popular music in the 80s they were produced by the Roland tr-808
drum machine c808 now this drum machine was kind of panned for not at all sounding like
real drums but it became an underground hit and the next thing you know music was flooded with
deep resonant booming bass and if you grew up in the late 80s and early 90s like I did then
you already know that this sent folks down to car stereo stores in droves to get ridiculous
base boxes and amps added to their car stereos in fact I personally had many friends who had
base packages that were way more expensive than the cars in which they were installed like think
Datsun B210 that was burning oil for breakfast barely able to get down the road but you could
hear it coming half a mile away and that's kind of the problem some folks became so obsessed
with bass so ridiculously deep and Loud that it would actually shatter windows that the concept
of bass itself and by extension of subwoofers got a bad name I mean it's not as common now
but I think we've all been at a stop light and had our fillings rattle Loose by someone who was
bumping a big system nearby so take that annoyance that became associated with bass add in the fact
that home subwoofers were historically massive and ugly and you can understand why some folks wanted
nothing to do with them being in their home I used to sell home audio gear and I know from experience
and it's still a challenge to this day to help someone understand why they'd want a subwoofer
but things are very different today there are a huge variety of subwoofers on the market and
folks are listening differently now I mean if you want a bump in system you can have one but in a
world that seems to prefer music that is heard and not seen the subwoofer has become even more
essential and if you really want a cinematic Movie experience at home again a subwoofer is essential
bass is what gives music and movies richness depth and press presence done well base will
move you not necessarily the stuff hung on your walls although you can certainly go there if you
want to so how do you get great base in your home in a way that works with your style space
and budget that brings me to the subwoofers I have here this is the SVS 3000 Micro and it is a Marvel
of acoustic engineering now if you're not familiar with SVS they make some of the best subwoofers you
can buy today I still think the SVS SB16 Ultra is the best overall subwoofer on the market but
if you need powerful deep rich Bass from a small package the 3000 micro here is my favorite option
right now for the price it's basically peerless it packs two opposing eight inch drivers paired
with a sledge amplifier that provides 800 watts continuous power and Peaks at right around 2500
watts which is just mind-boggling now this subwoofer needs that kind of absurd sounding
power because it is so Compact and because it has a sealed enclosure meaning there is no port
for air to escape so all the air it moves and that's really all sound is moving air must be
moved by just one side of each eight inch driver the cabinet is less than 12 inches cubed and
it's only 22 pounds so it can fit in all kinds of spaces and it isn't an eyesore it comes in gloss
white and gloss black and I think it looks classy though you could easily hide it if you wanted
to it's also DSP or Digital Signal processing controlled and you can customize its output using
svs's app which offers some customizable presets and parametric EQ control in addition to basic
stuff like volume control the base it puts out is very tight and Musical and agile it's especially
good for pairing to high-end speakers like SVS Zone Prime Wireless or these Vivid Audio Kaya
S12 which put out respectable bass on their own but nothing like what a subwoofer is capable of
the subject picks up the lowest octaves that give weight to string bass and timpani in orchestras as
well as electric bass and kick drums in pop music and it can deliver Deep Impact for movie action
sequences as well as Movie music soundtracks paired with high-end speakers like the Kaya
S12 the musical experience is superb and moving so why then if a subwoofer like the SVS micro
3000 is so good and so affordable would you ever need something like this monstrosity this is the
Monolith by Monoprice 16 inch THX certified Ultra 2000 watt subwoofer it is massive measuring 28 by
22 by 26 inches and weighing a Titanic 171 pounds yes I moved this thing in here by myself it's not
just ported it's got four ports which you can tune by using these Port plugs it's a bit more
manual than the DSP style adjustments you can make using the SVS app right and the amp it produces 2
000 Watts RMS and can Peak at over 3 500 watts so again who in the world needs a subwoofer like this
well the fact of the matter is nobody needs a subwoofer like this you can get very good
performance out of subwoofers like this Klipsch 15-inch sub which is still big but much more
manageable but there is something to having a bigger subwoofer you can only cheat the laws
of physics to a certain point so while a smaller potent sub like the SVS 3000 micro can get pretty
deep and offer some rumble there is nothing quite like the feeling you get from a big driver in a
big box with a big amp that is designed to move massive amounts of air but that doesn't
mean that it's just a big ass box of boom that's gonna annoy everyone within a half mile radius I
mean again it can do that but the idea here is to provide a certain visceral response the kind
you normally only get when you go to big concerts and movie theaters this subwoofer is designed to
move air like those big venue systems but in your home for when you want to go big when you go home
and obviously you're going to need to have some room for it but if you don't like I said there
are big Driver subs and boxes that aren't quite as large that can offer most of that experience
and take up less space the sb16 ultra I mentioned from SVS is a great example as is this Klipsch
spl15 now there's another approach to subwoofers I want to talk about for a moment and that's the
notion of going with multiple subwoofers sometimes you'll hear about folks who went with two smaller
subwoofers instead of one large one or maybe two less expensive subwoofers instead of one expensive
one let me just say at the outset that I'm a big fan of multiple subwoofers I know it isn't always
feasible but if you can do it I suggest you do now to be clear using multiple subwoofers isn't
about getting more bass per se or even louder Pace it's about getting better bass but what
does better base mean well for me better bass means even smooth type bass no matter where you
sit or stand in a room see bass is acoustically funny or maybe tricky is a better word when you
think about it your room is basically a box right it might be a big box or a small box it might be
a sealed box where you have four solid walls and can close the doors and be more or less sealed off
or it could be a ported box where you maybe have a large opening to another part of the house and
just like the way a subwoofer's enclosure affects the way it sounds so too does the room affect the
way a subwoofer will sound sometimes you get dead spots where there doesn't seem to be much bass at
all and sometimes you get these really live spots that's where the base is just overwhelming and
one of the ways you can deal with these kind of room specifics is with multiple subwoofers with
two sources of low base frequencies you can help even out the bass response in the room and each
subwoofer doesn't have to work as hard as it might if it were on the job solo at any rate
if getting a subwoofer into a room is a hard sell to begin with then getting two into the room may
seem impossible but when you have subwoofers as small as the SVS micro here then it might
become a little more realistic my broader point is you should have a subwoofer if you can and there
are so many great subwoofers out there now that there's something for just about everyone's needs
figure out your budget and your space requirements and work from there just know that you can go with
something as Tiny as the SVS Micro 3000 or as massive as the monolith 16 or even bigger if
you want and either way get a great experience not just hearing but feeling music in movies at
home thanks as always for watching everyone what's the best subwoofer you've ever owned
and why did you love it let us know down in the comments please consider liking and subscribing
I'll see you on the next one and until then here's two other videos I think you might like