Anyone who is a fan of car audio or has known it in passing will know what a subwoofer is. Subwoofers are used to generate that deep, rich feeling of bass, which is normally out of reach for most average speakers. Subwoofers are used not only in car audio but also in home stereos to deliver the best bass within a small area such as a room or car.

Although subwoofers may seem pretty simple, they’re actually not as simple as they seem. Over the years they have been researched, tested and developed for the best sound possible. However, like any product, there are varying degrees of subwoofer quality, as well as types, to suit different requirements and situations.

The first company to introduce decent subwoofers was Acoustic Research (AR), which in 1954 introduced the AR-1W, a system that could extend its bass down to 20 Hz without any help from equalization and was literally a woofer efficiently encased in an enclosure. The AR-1W was unsurpassed in design for years, and in fact remains highly influential in modern subwoofer design through its use of the acoustic suspension principle. The AR-1W was a compact subwoofer that could easily be bookshelf-mounted two by two, unlike the monstrous-sized enclosed speakers previously marketed.

Dr. Harry Olsen was also one of the major contributors to the design of the audio systems we have today. In the 1930s and 1940s, he was the first to argue that loudspeakers needed a rear as well as a front, otherwise sound waves from the rear would interfere with those from the front. He also designed the passive radiator, the design of which was intended to be a replacement for ventilation, a system that had a large number of flaws at the time. The vent design called for a large duct to keep out wind noise, which often meant the duct was larger than the vent itself. Olsen instead used a suspension diaphragm whose mass was equal to that of the air column in the vent, making it much smaller and much more efficient than the other design.

Jensen’s James Novak, a very talented research engineer and mathematician, was to come up with the bass reflex design. Through his knowledge as a mathematician and his experience as an engineer, he was able to create and synthesize ideas for what is known today as closed, vented, and passive loudspeaker systems.

Although considered an essential component today, bass extension was still a relative luxury in the 1950s and 1970s. The movie businesses were the primary takers in bass extension, which was first used commercially for the 1977 smash hit, Star Wars.

In the last century, these master engineers and mathematicians have probably been the most influential in the excellent acoustics available in today’s car audio systems and home stereos.