If your disaster movies are missing that extra bit of drama, or your superhero films sound a little less than super, adding a subwoofer is a great way of beefing up the bottom-end performance of your speaker system.
You might think any old subwoofer would be able to add a deep rumble that’ll do the job, but a bad one will actually drown out all the other frequencies with its bassy sludge and make your movies sound worse.
A good subwoofer provides enough bass depth and weight to shake your sofa during those crucial movie moments, but it also needs to be tight and tuneful to make sure that the entire soundtrack is accurately and engagingly reproduced in your living room.
Unlike a lot of product categories that we cover at What Hi-Fi?, subwoofers are additions to your system rather than being products that can function independently of others – nobody’s going to watch a movie or listen to an album through a subwoofer alone.
That can make choosing one particularly tough, so we’ve created this list of the top-performing subwoofers from our exhaustive reviews back catalogue. Every sub below has been through our rigorous testing process, so you can be sure it’s worth your hard-earned cash.
Read on for our pick of the best subwoofers for stereo and surround sound systems, and check out the best speaker packages you can buy if you're looking to create the best home cinema system too.
I am What Hi-Fi?’s TV and AV Editor but even in my spare time there’s nothing I like more than closing the curtains, putting on a movie and cranking up my home cinema system, so I know exactly how important a good subwoofer is to that experience. Nothing gives a film that cinematic feeling like a good dollop of low-end on the soundtrack, but not being able to make out dialogue is one of my movie pet hates. I’ve got first-hand experience with all of these subwoofers, and none of them would be here if they couldn’t get that all-important balance right.
Best subwoofer overall
This B&W sub's diminutive form disguises a formidably powerful and terrifically dynamic design, its 200W amplifier controlling the excursions of its 25cm Kevlar/paper drive unit in impressive style.
There's depth, drive and authority to belie its size, with a brilliant blend of power and musicality. It can deliver bass with subtlety and speed, making it a genuine all-rounder when it comes to delivering solid bass as part of a hi-fi or home cinema system.
Read the full review: B&W ASW610
Best budget subwoofer
The QB12 smashes through the action like a steam train, hitting you right in the stomach and taking your whole body along with it. It isn’t just brute force, though: it’s precise, detailed and really rather dynamic.
There are three things to consider before you get your wallet out to buy a QB12 subwoofer: space, your budget and your neighbours. Because if you’re in the market for a plus-sized Q Acoustics surround speaker package, or aiming to upgrade the low-end response in your current home cinema set-up, those are the only things standing in your way.
Read the full review: Q Acoustics QB12
Best subwoofer for Sonos
The addition of a sub to the wireless multi-room specialist’s range showed the company cared about sound, not least home cinema sound, and perhaps recognised the slight weakness of its small-but-effective One and Five systems.
It's large and fairly minimal but we're impressed by what it can do. Similar sonic characteristics ensure the Sonos Sub integrates well with the company's other wireless speakers, and the extra weight, power and scale is obvious. With music, bass lines are controlled nicely, albeit a little on the fat side. Flick the Sub on and off, and the differences in dynamics are apparent.
Read the full review: Sonos Sub
How to choose the best subwoofer for you
Adding a subwoofer to your home cinema setup is essentially the same as buying a new piece of furniture for your living room, so it requires a bit of forward planning. You wouldn’t buy a five-seater sofa and only work out where to put it once it arrived, would you?
Fortunately none of the subwoofers on our list above are quite that large, but they all require about a foot of room around them, so measure your space and bear that in mind when making a decision. Even more fortunately, from a sonic point of view subwoofers aren’t too fussy about placement, so at least you don’t have to worry about positioning it directly underneath the TV.
Size isn’t just a physical consideration when it comes to choosing a subwoofer either. Larger subs tend to be more powerful, with higher RMS figures, so make sure everything is in proportion. Too much power in a small room runs the risk of overwhelming the space, plus the proximity of your neighbours means you’re unlikely to make the most of it anyway (unless you really don’t like them).
Most subwoofers will require a direct wired connection to your AV receiver, so that’s also something to bear in mind when choosing one. If running cables around your living room is going to prove problematic you can also get wireless subs that only need a power cable to function, but bear in mind that a lot of them only work within a specific closed ecosystem (the two Sonos ones above are a good example).
Fundamentally, a subwoofer is always going to be an addition to your setup rather than a standalone item, so making sure it fits with what you’ve already got – and the room you’re using it in – is key.
How we test subwoofers
The What Hi-Fi? team has more than 100 years collective experience of reviewing, testing and writing about consumer electronics – and that includes subwoofers.
We have state-of-the-art testing facilities in London, Reading and Bath, where our team of expert reviewers do all our in-house testing. This gives us complete control over the testing process, ensuring consistency across all products. We always ensure we spend plenty of time with each subwoofer, setting them up correctly, testing them with the right speakers, as part of a surround speaker package, in different positions and with different music and films.
All new subwoofers are tested in comparison with rival subwoofers at the same price (and often cheaper and more expensive alternatives, too), and all review verdicts are agreed upon by the team as a whole rather than a single reviewer, helping to ensure consistency and avoid individual subjectivity. That's why our reviews are trusted by retailers and manufacturers, as well as consumers, the world over.
From all of our reviews, we choose the top subwoofers to feature in this Best Buy. That's why if you take the plunge and buy one of the products recommended here, or on any other Best Buy page, you can rest assured you're getting a What Hi-Fi?-approved product.
You can read more about how we test and review products on What Hi-Fi? here.
MORE:
- How to set up your subwoofer: our expert guide to room placement and controls
- 10 of the best movie scores to test your system
- 25 of the best tracks for testing bass
- Best AV receivers: best home cinema amplifiers
FAQ
Where should I place my subwoofer?
Bass isn’t as directional as the frequencies further up the range, so the good news is you have significantly more freedom over where you place your subwoofer than you do with your other speakers. That being said, the acoustics of your room will have an impact on the sub’s performance, so it’s worth trying a few positions to find the one that provides the best balance of sound quality and convenience. For more in-depth tips, read our guide on how to set up your subwoofer.
Can I use a Sonos sub with a non-Sonos soundbar or speakers?
There’s a very short answer to this question: no. The longer answer is that Sonos products work on their own proprietary network, so without a Sonos soundbar, or at least one of the company’s other Wi-Fi speakers, the Sonos Sub and Sub Mini are just very large paperweights.
What’s the difference between a sealed and ported subwoofer?
Unless you’re trying to fill a very large room with bass you don’t need to consider a ported subwoofer, and there are none on the list above anyway, but it’s still worth knowing the difference. The cabinet on a sealed sub is, you guessed it, fully sealed, which helps to control the sound the woofer makes. A tuned port (or ports) in the cabinet generates extra output below what the drive unit itself is capable of, but they tend to be bigger and more expensive than sealed subs. For home listening, a sealed subwoofer should be plenty powerful enough.
