A great subwoofer for music and a great subwoofer for movies are not always the same animal, and the way you set them up should reflect that difference.
In home theater, the subwoofer's job is largely about impact. Explosions, dinosaur footsteps, spacecraft rumble, and the general low-frequency mayhem that makes movies visceral and exciting. The LFE channel in a film soundtrack is designed to be felt as much as heard, and a subwoofer optimized for this duty prioritizes raw output, deep extension, and the ability to pressurize a room. Subtlety is not really the point. You want your chest to compress when a building collapses on screen, and the subwoofer that delivers that thrill most convincingly wins.
Music asks for something entirely different. In a two-channel system, the subwoofer's job is to extend the natural bass response of your main speakers without anyone knowing it is there. The ideal musical subwoofer disappears completely. You should not be able to point at it or localize its output in the room. It should simply add weight, warmth, and foundation to the lower octaves in a way that sounds like the main speakers are doing all the work themselves. This requires speed, articulation, and seamless integration with the main speakers in both frequency and time domains.
The setup differences between these two applications are significant. For home theater, the subwoofer is typically fed from the LFE output of a surround processor, rolled off sharply above the crossover point, and set at a level that delivers dramatic impact. For music, I much prefer the high-level connection approach where the subwoofer is driven from the same signal as the main speakers, capturing the sonic character of your entire amplification chain. The crossover frequency should be set low, typically below where your main speakers begin rolling off, and the level should be turned down far enough that you only notice the subwoofer when you turn it off and the bottom octave vanishes.
When we designed the Foundry FR12 subwoofer, speed and musicality were the primary design targets. A smaller driver with long excursion in a sealed enclosure gives you the tight, fast transient response that music demands. It will not pressurize a room the way a massive ported home theater subwoofer can, but it will follow a stand-up bass or a kick drum with precision that a big boomy sub simply cannot match. For those who need both duties covered, having separate subwoofer settings for music and movies is the ideal solution.
The bottom line is this: if you are integrating a subwoofer for serious music listening, prioritize speed, subtlety, and invisibility over sheer output. Turn it down until it disappears, then leave it there. Your bass will be deeper, your soundstage will be wider, and the music will have a foundation that transforms the entire listening experience.
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