Best Place to Put a Subwoofer in Your Room

Start near your front speakers

Deep bass is hard to pin down by ear, so a subwoofer can go almost anywhere in the room. Where it ends up still changes what you hear from your seat, and makers don't agree on the first spot to try. We'd start along the front wall near your speakers and try a corner second, because a corner gives you the most bass, and the most bass isn't always the best-sounding bass.

Put the sub between your front speakers or beside one of them, close to the wall behind them. Paradigm and SVS both favor the front of the room for blending the bass with your main speakers (opens in a new tab).

SVS would start in a front corner rather than beside the speakers, because a corner excites more of the room's bass modes and makes dead spots less likely, and that's the spot to compare next. SVS warns that a corner can exaggerate peaks and nulls too, so if the bass turns boomy there, ease the sub away from the walls until it sounds smooth to you.

A well-placed sub shouldn't give away where it is. If you can hear the bass coming from the box itself, try it on the other side of the front of the room.

Give the port and vents some room

Clearance rules vary by model, so check the manual for yours. If your sub is ported, meaning it has an open vent that air moves through, Klipsch's rule of thumb (opens in a new tab) is at least twice the port's diameter from the nearest wall. Klipsch estimates that at 6 to 12 inches, and it keeps the air coming out of the port from being blocked.

Turn the sub off and disconnect it the way its manual describes before every move, and get a second person for a big, heavy cabinet.

Find the spot for your seat with the crawl

If the sub could go in a few different places, the subwoofer crawl (opens in a new tab) narrows them down for your main seat. It flips the usual test around: the sub sits where you sit, and you listen from the spots where the sub might end up.

1. Switch the sub off and disconnect it the way its manual describes, then set it on the floor at or near your main seat, not up on the cushions, keeping its clearance, and hook it back up. Get a helper if it's big or heavy.
2. Loop a familiar track with a repeating bass line.
3. Go to each spot where the sub could actually live and listen with your head down around knee height.
4. Switch it off and disconnect it again, move it to the spot where the bass sounded most balanced and accurate, then reconnect it and check it from your seat.

We'd use music at a comfortable volume rather than a test tone. Yamaha, for one, warns that low tones played loudly and continuously can damage its subwoofer. You may find more than one spot that sounds good, and then you can pick the one that fits the room best.

If the sub can't go near your seat, compare two or three spots from your seat instead, with the same track and the same volume settings each time, so the position is the only thing that changes.

Either way, you're choosing for one listening position. If the bass has to work across a whole sofa, our guide to more even bass picks up from here.

If you have a Yamaha NS-SW100

On the NS-SW100, start beside one of your front speakers or between them, with the cabinet angled into the room. Don't aim it straight at a wall, because the sound bouncing back can cancel some of the bass (opens in a new tab).

Leave at least 8 inches (20 cm) of space above it, behind it and on both sides, since its built-in amplifier gives off heat from the back panel, and trapping that heat risks fire or damage. Keep that space at every spot you try, including after you angle the cabinet. Keep that panel uncovered, never set the sub down on its back, and pick a cool, dry spot away from heat sources, dust and vibration where you can reach the plug.

Keep fragile things away from the port, where the moving air can knock them over, and don't set glasses, water or a candle on top, since vibration can topple them. If you play records, keep the sub away from the turntable. Its deep bass can make a turntable howl.

When you reconnect, leave everything unplugged from the wall until all the cables are in and secure. Our subwoofer connection guide covers the hookup. Then set the level before you judge the new spot:

1. Turn the sub's VOLUME control down to 0.
2. Turn on your other components.
3. Switch the sub's POWER to ON. The power light turns green.
4. Play something with bass and set your amplifier to your usual listening volume.
5. Turn VOLUME up slowly until the bass blends with your front speakers and the sub is barely noticeable on its own.

In a multichannel home theater, Yamaha recommends a VOLUME setting around the middle. After each move, we'd turn VOLUME back to 0 before switching the sub on and then bring it back to where you had it, since a new spot, especially a corner, can sound louder at the same setting.

If the bass still sounds wrong

If the sub makes no sound at all, check the settings and cables before you move anything. With a receiver's sub out connection, that means the subwoofer switched on in the receiver's setup, the front speakers set to Small, and the cable in the dedicated sub out jack. Klipsch's receiver checklist (opens in a new tab) goes into more detail.

If a bass note booms in one seat and fades in the next, that's the room's standing waves, and no single sub position sounds its best at every seat. Our guide to more even bass is the next step.

No green light on the NS-SW100 with POWER on? Check that the power plug is pushed in securely. No sound? Check that VOLUME isn't still at 0, then unplug everything and make sure the cables are in firmly. Weak bass can simply be music without much bass in it, so try something bass-heavy. If it's still thin, try moving the sub before you turn it up. Yamaha's troubleshooting steps (opens in a new tab) also suggest breaking up parallel walls with something like bookshelves along them.

Turn the NS-SW100 down if the sound cuts in and out. If furniture or windows start to rattle, turn it down too, and try moving the sub. Turn it down right away if you hear distortion like rapping or hammering, because very loud bass can damage the speaker.

If the NS-SW100 still isn't right, turn it off, unplug the power cord and contact an authorized Yamaha dealer or service center. Don't open the cabinet, because there's high voltage inside. With another brand, contact that maker's support.