Subwoofer & Low Frequency Test
Bass Test
Play bass tones from 10 to 200 Hz and run a low-frequency sweep to find out how deep your speakers, subwoofer or headphones really go — free, in your browser.
How low can your speakers go?
A 25-second sweep from 200 Hz down to 15 Hz. Press “I can’t hear it” the moment the tone fades into silence (or you only feel it).
⚠️ Low frequencies can damage small drivers at high volume. Start quiet and stop if anything rattles or distorts.
How to run a bass test
A bass test checks the bottom of the audio range, where speakers work hardest and problems are easiest to hear. Start with your system volume low — bass tones move speaker cones much further than mid and high frequencies.
- Play a reference tone. Press Play at 60 Hz and set a comfortable volume. This is your baseline.
- Step through the presets. Try 100, 80, 50, 40, 30 and 20 Hz. The level should drop gradually, not vanish suddenly, and there should be no buzzing or rattling.
- Run the bass sweep. The tone glides from 200 Hz down to 15 Hz. Press “I can’t hear it” when it fades into silence to see roughly how low your setup reaches.
- Hunt for rattles. Move the slider slowly between 30 and 120 Hz. A buzz at one spot usually comes from a loose panel, screw or object in the room rather than the speaker itself.
Subwoofer test
To run a subwoofer test, play the 30, 40 and 50 Hz tones and walk around the room. Bass builds up in corners and cancels out in other spots, so a level that changes a lot as you move is normal — it tells you where the seat and sub positions work best. A healthy subwoofer should play 30–40 Hz cleanly at moderate volume.
If the sub is silent, check that it is powered on, that the cable goes to the receiver’s SUB OUT or LFE jack, and that the receiver’s speaker setup has the subwoofer enabled. To check the crossover, play tones just above and below it (for example 70 and 90 Hz around an 80 Hz crossover) — the level should stay about the same as the sound hands over between the sub and the main speakers.
Bass frequency ranges explained
| Range | Name | What you hear |
|---|---|---|
| 20–40 Hz | Deep sub-bass | Rumble you feel: film explosions, pipe organs, 808s |
| 40–60 Hz | Sub-bass | Low end of bass guitar and kick drums |
| 60–120 Hz | Bass | Punch and weight of kick drums and bass lines |
| 120–250 Hz | Upper bass | Warmth and body; too much sounds boomy |
How low can different speakers go?
| Device | Typical audible bass limit |
|---|---|
| Phone speaker | ~150–300 Hz |
| Laptop speakers | ~100–200 Hz |
| Earbuds (good seal) | ~20–50 Hz |
| Bookshelf speakers | ~45–60 Hz |
| Floor-standing speakers | ~30–45 Hz |
| Subwoofer | ~18–30 Hz |
Rough typical values. Room, placement, volume and earbud fit all change the result.
Need a tone above 200 Hz? Use the tone generator, which covers 20 Hz to 20 kHz with four waveforms. To check left/right channels and the full range, run the sound test or the headphone test. Water in your phone speaker muffling the bass? Try the speaker cleaner.