Will adding a 100 watt powered subwoofer help my home theater?

Question

Ok, I have a decent home theater system, it is a Yamaha yht 370, I like it a lot. It is a 5.1 with a 100 watt passive sub that sounds very good. I was thinking about adding a powered sub I saw at best buy. It is a yamaha 100 watt, 10 inch powered sub and looks like it was made for this setup. But I am wondering since they are both 100 watts, if I will notice that much difference?

So can anyone tell me if it will make a big difference in listening. Also what if I used both subs? What would that be like? One in front and one in back by the surrounds? Thanks.

Answer 1

It makes sense to upgrade ONLY when it is an UPGRADE. Changing one mediocre component for the other will not make any difference. If you want to improve the base in your system - get a BETTER sub. Good subs are pretty expensive - $300 and up for a half decent one form HSU.

Using two subs? How about 2 centers or 4 fronts?

If you just want more BOOM - put your sub in a corner, and you will get more BOOM. Not more base - just more BOOM.

Answer 2

Hi.Unless you have a very large room subwoofers do not work properly.People seem to think a sub will improve the very low frequency notes in any room .Putting a sub in a 10 foot square room is ridiculous they wont hear or feel the low notes.They are trying to change the laws of acoustics.The reason for getting a sub is to hear and feel the bass notes from about 80 hz.down to about 20 hz. A 20 hz full cycle is approx. 56 feet long.You can still hear the note if the speaker can only fit half of that note in the room which means the room must be 28 feet long in one direction.If the room is half as long again (14 feet ) that means only a quarter of that note will be reproduced which is not enough to hear.,you must have at least a half of a cycle to hear.
Also the shape and furnishings and construction of the walls and ceiling will have a major influence onthe low frequency notes of a subwoofer.If the walls are thin then some of the notes will be absorbed and passed through to the other side.
If the walls are solid brick etc. then the low notes will bounce off the walls creating a long reverberation time which could interfere with new notes doing the same thing and making the sound uncomfortable with too much echo.Also, each room has a resonate frequency whereby the whole room vibrates at a certain frequency.That frequency is determined by dividing twice the length of the longest room dimension into the spead of sound .A lot of wrong information is given out about subwoofers such as: bass isn't directional,or you only need one sub. or you can put it anyware.Lets set the record strait. bass is directional in a room-the room causes it to be directional. Because a subwoofer is in an enclosed space surrounded by 4 walls a floor and ceiling the bass notes bounce of the the wall behind it the ceiling and floorand together with side reflections travel towards the listener at the speed of sound so all the sound from the sub. is forced down the room to fill the space. The only time a sub. is not directional is when it is in free space with no walls or ceiling THEN the notes spread out in all directions and do not come together as they do in a room.

Answer 3

1. Its at best buy, 2. Its a yamaha, 3. its a 10 inch, 4. SAVE YOUR MONEY!

Answer 4

yeah but u need to have the available juice to run or else the other speaker will lose power.