Active PA Subwoofers

Active subs will boost the lower frequencies in your sound without needing a separate amplifier to do so. As the amplifier is already built within the sub, these systems deepen your low-end sound output while simultaneously taking the strain off your tweeters for a well-rounded, balanced sound. We offer a variety of Active Subwoofers from brands such as Studiomaster, Vonyx and Power Dynamics, in sizes from 12 to 18 inches.

Buy Active Subwoofers

An active sub will greatly improve your overall sound output, these speakers working to boost the bass signals within your music. Utilising the built-in amplifier, any bass-heavy music will sound far clearer as the low-end frequencies are channelled through the speaker driver. This leaves far more room for your tweeters to deal with the high and mid frequencies, balancing your sound much more professionally.

Active subwoofers work by delivering a better balance between low and high frequencies in the selected music, this is mostly a genre-sensitive personal preference. While a small degree of individual knowledge is needed to refine the sound it is easy to integrate it smoothly with a mixing console and/or other PA speakers. Human ears cannot tell where bass frequencies are being emitted from and will often relate them to wherever other sounds are being made.

Active subwoofers have the capability to widen the scope of your mix, offering a new level of deepness to the final master audio you require. For reference, think of your active subwoofer as a loft conversion, homes run just fine without conversions but spending a little extra will give you a lot more room to manoeuvre. Relate this to sound design and you'll realise how important an active subwoofer can be, allowing you to explore many different styles of music uninterrupted by distortion.

Discover Active PA Subwoofers

As with any sound enhancements, a personal comparison must be made to determine the quality of the sound itself, remember that the appropriate quantity is crucial. A lot of nightclubs or street racers with large subwoofers in the boot of their cars tend to overwork bass frequencies and if pushed too far this can lead to an inaudible humming noise. This is where quantity comes in, you only want the bass to accentuate your mids and trebles as this increases the clarity and volume of sounds.

Higher power subs are preferred by many professionals as the larger wattage denotes the overall power of the driver itself. The size of the inner speaker driver does not always mean it is the better choice, this comes down to power and wattage alone. For instance, subwoofers at 600W do not necessarily need to be used six times as loud as a 100W sub, it is just an indicator of the subs potential and not necessarily a finish line so to speak.

The real measure of a decent quality sub is experiencing a fuller sound without necessarily taking too much notice of the bass signal. It should always complement and enhance the existing sound as opposed to totally overpowering the system until it sounds very muffled and effectively inaudible.

Home Active Sub

Active subs are often used domestically in the home as part of an advanced home cinema system, giving TV movies and video games an additional audio edge. Of course, those that love these types of media are only experiencing around 70 per cent of the actual sound design of the visual. Some 30 per cent is lost from only making use of the generic TV speakers built into the TV itself, that is not the case for all TVs but sadly a great deal of them.

Subwoofers accentuate and refine the lower end frequencies of the audio mix intended by the original sound designer. TV speakers are equipped to handle mostly mid to high range frequency, you may have noticed televisions in the past making a short crackling sound, during explosion scenes for example. The TV speakers are trying to give listeners the full soundscape of a big booming sound but as the speakers are operating at 70 per cent, this tends to overload them, giving the crackling sound as a result.

Subs connected to a television provide a far more effective sonic clarity, a connection is simple to do and it will immediately improve the sound quality of all TV-based entertainment. The above does depend on the quality of your TV, you may have an expensive system with excellent built-in speakers but lesser TVs tend to sound rather tinny, especially during movies. As mentioned, a subwoofer's main purpose is refining bass tones, but coupled with lesser speakers you can get the very best out of your existing equipment by incorporating one into your home.

Does a subwoofer need a power source?

Only passive subwoofers need a separate power source, their active counterparts already have one built inside. Passive subs must be connected to a separate power amplifier to work efficiently whereas an active subwoofer draws its own power directly from the mains.

Ordering your active subwoofer

When an active PA subwoofer is ordered it can be very heavy during delivery, naturally, the size of the driver tends to bulk up the size and weight of the sub itself. In some rare cases, a smaller sub could be heavier than a larger one if it has additional electronics built within. We ask customers to be careful during transport and always request the assistance of another as you move your sub by hand, they can be awkward to carry.

You may be perfectly fine to carry the speaker around unassisted but only ever do this in confidence, misjudging your limits and overexerting yourself can lead to physical issues later down the line. Additionally, if your sub order is to frequently play some bass-heavy music, consider browsing for some in-ear protection or other noise-cancelling devices. Boosting low frequencies too far too often can cause latent problems with hearing, enjoy your music sensibly and remember that a huge amount of bass is not necessarily a positive thing.