When we’re talking about speakers, subs, and amps, we often talk about headroom. But what is it exactly, and why is it beneficial?
Speakers: Headroom in speakers means they can play louder sounds without getting distorted. If a speaker has more headroom, it can handle sudden peaks in music or movies (like a drum hit or gunshot) without clipping, distorting, and compressing.
Subwoofers: For subwoofers, headroom is about handling deep bass sounds. More headroom means the subwoofer can reproduce those powerful, low-frequency sounds cleanly, without buzzing or distorting.
Amplifiers: Headroom in amplifiers is about power. An amp with more headroom – typically has more power than the speaker ever needs – can supply more power to your speakers during loud parts of music or movies. This means it can deliver clean, undistorted sound even at higher volumes, especially in very dynamic scenes where the volume goes from quiet to loud really quickly.
How can a subwoofer help provide more headroom for the amplifier?
When you use a subwoofer with an AVR or integrated amp with bass management, you can tell the device to send frequencies below a certain limit (often 80Hz) to the subwoofer. This is known as a crossover frequency. That means the AVR, amplifier, and speakers only have to play the frequencies above 80Hz. This gives the amplifier/AVR more headroom as it doesn’t have to reproduce the deepest frequencies, which are the most taxing and demanding ones. Since the subwoofer is better at handling the deepest frequencies anyway; this is simply a win-win situation.
