If you are going to spend the money to get your home theater setup you want to make sure you get the best sound possible. That can be difficult with so many different options out there. It is important to arm yourself with a little bit of information when you start looking to make sure you get what would work best for your home theater.
You will quickly notice that there are 2 different types of home theater subwoofers. There are powered subwoofers and passive subwoofers. So what is the difference?
Passive Subwoofers
Passive subwoofers are powered by an external amplifier, in most cases this means the power will be pulled from your receiver that is powering the other speakers in your system. The important thing to consider is that for a subwoofer to work affectively it needs power. Your receiver will need to be able to output enough power to sustain bass effects in the subwoofer without draining the amp. How much power each subwoofer needs depends on the requirements of the speaker. You can find the power specs for any subwoofer in the manufacturer spec sheet.
Type of Subwoofer: Powered
To solve the problem of your subwoofer not getting enough power or other characteristics that may be lacking in a receiver or amplifier. With the powered subwoofer you don’t have to worry your home theater receiver not having enough power because powered subwoofers are self-contained speaker/amplifier. With this configuration you can rest assured that the amplifier and sub woofer are optimally matched.
What One Should You Choose?
If it was a perfect world I would say go with whatever one was less money but it you are looking for what is going to give you the best sound experience I would say go with the powered subwoofer. The powered subwoofer is going to be perfectly adjusted to make sure it gets the power it needs to create the huge bass affect you expect from a quality home theater subwoofer.
Hope you have found this helpful as you are looking for which home theater subwoofer will be a good fit for you. At least you now know the difference between a passive and powered subwoofer. ?
Want to find out more about Home Theater Subwoofers, then visit Eric Martinez’s site on how to Install Your Home Theater Subwoofer for your needs.
