Simple Explanation

Using more than one subwoofer in a room to get smoother, more even bass in all seating positions.

Concise Technical Definition

A bass management approach using two or more subwoofers in different room locations to minimize room mode issues and improve bass uniformity.

Layman-Friendly Analogy

Like using several smaller fans instead of one big one to spread air evenly—less hot spots and cold spots.

Industry Usage Summary

In home theaters and small rooms, multiple subwoofers are used not to increase volume, but to reduce bass nulls and peaks caused by room modes. Placement at corners, midpoints, or quarter-wall positions is common.

Engineering Shortcut

Distributed bass sources = smoother modal response, better seat-to-seat consistency.

Full Technical Explanation

Multiple subwoofers in a home theater or small room are primarily used to even out room mode excitation, not necessarily to increase total SPL. Single subwoofers often create uneven bass response across different seating positions due to constructive and destructive interference from room reflections. Adding subs at different room positions—typically corners, midpoints, or ¼-wall locations—helps create randomized phase interactions, which smooths out frequency response and reduces both boomy spots and nulls. While overall gain increases only slightly (a few decibels), the improvement in spatial consistency makes the bass sound better across the entire listening area. This approach is fundamental to high-performance home theater design. Proper placement and calibration (e.g., delay and level matching, optional EQ) are key for integration.