What to Look For When Buying a PC Subwoofer

!±8± What to Look For When Buying a PC Subwoofer

Subwoofers are becoming famous because of the home theater experience it brings. When you are watching movies at home with your family, it's not only the pictures that you enjoy but also the sounds. It makes you feel so much into the movie and you feel the bass that the subwoofer brings. A subwoofer is designed to reproduce low audible frequencies which are responsible for good sounds that you hear from your computer and television.

A setup where the speakers with a subwoofer are very common today, usually a subwoofer is as the same size as the standard speakers of a PC. There are also stand-alone subwoofers which are like small cubes to a size of a water-heater sized cabinet. The stand-alone subwoofers have high-powered amplifier which drives the woofer to create a very good bass output. These kinds of subwoofers have a line called RCA input which receives LFE or the low frequency effect signals from Dolby Digital and DTS soundtracks.

Subwoofers are already easy to find because they are widely available in hi-fi stores, electronic stores and computer stores. There are also retailers online that will auction brand new and second hand subwoofers with different designs you can choose from. Very good subwoofers are found in high-end electronic retailers, you should also watch out for weekend sales, or end of the month sales.

What to look for in a subwoofer?

First, you have to check if your receiver has an LFE output. If you don't find an LFE output you should try a satellite subwoofer speaker system. If the speaker is already outdated, the subwoofer may not give the quality sounds. If you purchased an expensive speaker with digital A/V receiver then you should couple it with a quality subwoofer.

Second, you should identify the size of the subwoofer you want. Subwoofer may not correspond to the size of your speakers but generally subwoofers are designed to amplify the bass output. Be careful when choosing a subwoofer size because the size does not always equate to its power.

Third, you should consider the output of the subwoofer. If you are living in an apartment building and you have neighbors who don't want disturbance, that means you have to think twice if you will still buy a subwoofer. Given this kind of situation, you might not be able to use the power of the subwoofer.

Fourth, experiment where you will place the subwoofer in your room. Sizes of the subwoofer differ and same goes for its power. You can't buy a very strong subwoofer without a place allocated for it in your house.

Fifth, you should decide if you want to buy subwoofers with or without the amplifiers. There are plate amplifiers built in the subwoofers and there are subwoofers that do not come with amplifiers.

Fifth, consider your budget. Whether you are thinking of buying a strong or mediocre subwoofer, it will always depend on your budget. You may ask the electronic retail store staff the cheaper brands of subwoofers but there are times that you can choose the subwoofer and amplifiers separately and will not cost you much.