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Feb 19, 2025

I Put My Subwoofer Against My Couch and It Changed My Life

I've been using my subwoofer the orthodox way for some time now, but on a whim I moved it against the back of our double recliner, and now I really feel like I'm at the cinema. I have neither the

I've been using my subwoofer the orthodox way for some time now, but on a whim I moved it against the back of our double recliner, and now I really feel like I'm at the cinema.

I have neither the space nor money for a fancy soundbar or (gasp!) a surround-sound system. Instead, we have an entry-level Samsung soundbar with an accompanying wireless subwoofer. This is hooked up to our 55-inch LG CS OLED TV, which actually has a decent pair of built-in speakers, but the soundbar was initially bought to make up for the tinny speakers in my 55-inch Samsung QLED. A TV that's now been relegated to my mancave slash office.

While the soundbar in question is middle-of-the-road by anyone's measure, it's still pretty decent, and we've enjoyed watching movies and TV with it.

4K OLED TV with Google Assistant and Alexa built in

Because the subwoofer is wireless, it can be placed anywhere in the room. We have a small space for TV watching, with a double-recliner positioned at the optimal viewing distance for a 55-inch TV.

When we first got the soundbar, the woofer was set up under the TV, in front of us. This was fine for a while, but I was never completely happy with the sound, so I decided to experiment with different placements.

Conventional wisdom when it comes to subwoofers is that you should position it in one of the front corners of the room. Which is where I put mine at first. Some people say it should be put away from the nearest wall about a third of the way towards the room's center.

Since the low frequencies emitted by a subwoofer don't sound directional to our ears, there's a lot of flexibility on where you can put the speaker. In very large rooms, you might even need a second sub, as is the case with 5.2 surround systems. So that the intensity of the base can be balanced better across the room. However, it really needs to be quite a large room for this to be necessary.

The thing is, even cranked up I felt the bass from our sub was just too weak. So I had the idea of putting it behind our double recliner couch, right against the back of the center console. So when we recline to watch a movie, the subwoofer would effectively be below us.

Also, since the contact points between the sub and the couch are cushioned, it means that the bass can be transferred into the couch, without rattling or distortion.

Now we're basically sitting between the two sound sources of the soundbar and woofer. The bass, after a little bit of tuning, is now punchy and balanced with the rest of the audio. The best thing, however, is that explosions and other low-down sounds (like the stomping of Godzilla's feet) vibrate through our seats. I can feel the bass as much as hear it, and this has done absolute wonders for my movie watching experience.

There's no way I could go back to watching movies without this incredible rumble running up my spine. I almost can't believe what a qualitative difference this has made to my TV experience. Perhaps for some people this would be a little too extreme, but I now look forward to watching some more bombastic titles, and if you have a wireless sub, it might be worth a try just once to see if getting closer to the bass works for you.

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Ive been having sub ar my back since the 90s , i mean face ir a car sub is also at you back, and it sounds much better than a side or front sub, even my sonos sub is ar my back , fronts are high and mids, rears highs only , i dont use center

lol I’ve been telling my friends to do this for well over two decades now. Currently. My couch has a subwoofer on each side + bass shaker attached to the frame itself. I get all the bass.

I have been doing this for 30 years

Back when I started renting in early 2000s, I tore a hole in the bottom of my sofa and put my subwoofer inside. Then 10 years later I discovered 'tactile transducers' that are designed to shake your seat. Well worth the investment if you want a kick in the pants. Several brands available, one offers a wireless model which you place under the foot of your sofa. I got mine off eBay for about £150 ($200) that bolted to the internal frame of the sofa. I now have built myself an infinite baffle subwoofer and dare I say, it near matches the output of an IMAX screen (I saw Wicked in IMAX at the weekend and thought, meh, my sub gets this close :-) )

I can now see writing this all down, the arc of chasing bass in my life!

It's called near field subwoofer. Also, you don't need a large room for two subwoofers. You basically always want more than one. The perfect number is infinite. You have a lot to learn. Think about it like lighting. You don't want one large, very intense light for coverage, you want multiples with less intensity but similar coverage. Subwoofers work similarly.

The total cost was just $24. Not bad.

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