What are the holes in subwoofers for?

Question

What are they for and is there a way to tell if your pushing your speakers too hard? I just bought some Creative Acoustics 3550 pc speakers and I dont want to blow em.

Answer 1

The holes are for Air Flow so the air goes out of the box for better sound and its better on the speaker. And you will know if you are pushing it to hard. It will make a funny noise.

The noise is called Distortion and it is NOT good on a speaker so try not to let it distort.

Answer 2

These holes in the subwoofer are called bass-ports or bass reflex ports. I'll explain this to you and some information about similar looking holes in some other speakers too.

The bass reflex speaker also uses the backwards radiated sound for reproduction.

The bass reflex box is constructed and built up like a closed cabinet, however, an opening (or port) is extended into the interior of the cabinet by means of a tube. This bass reflex port should ideally be located close to the bass driver. The air pressure generated within the cabinet doesn't simply exit into the ambient environment, the air rather starts resonating inside the tube and acts as an independent sound source radiating with a phase shift.

If drivers, cabinet size and bass reflex tube and their dependencies are tuned properly, the low frequency sound generated inside the tube is still radiating while the sound radiating from the front of the driver is already diminishing. Therefore, the bass driver's excursion doesn't need to be as long as in closed cabinets.

The main advantage of this design is better bass from small sized drivers and with lesser power. Such subwoofers are very well suited for home theatres and some well tuned models can actually give a tough competition to closed cabinet models.

However such speakers tend to have a more pronounced mid-bass response and then quickly fades off at the lower limit. Another drawback is of 'smeared' or 'loose' bass. These problems which are a part of design are now becoming less and less with better models.

Some other examples of speakers with slightly different technology and which might have holes are -

Transmission line speakers - Which have a folded tube kind inside the cabinet and function almost like a bass port.

Band pass cabinets - Where the actual speaker is inside the cabinet and not seen.

Horn loaded speakers- Another variant with a big 'hole' usually not round.

For your other part of the question -

Avoid using your speaker so that you hear sound as getting distorted. With a good placement you can actually use your sub so that you'll never even have to think about it since the bass will be substancial and good even with a small effort by using standing waves.

Most subwoofers also have a protection circuit now that prevents damage.

Answer 3

The holes are called ports, and are used to channel some of the air and frequencies generated by your speakers moving back and forth.

The best way to keep from blowing your speakers is not too play them too loud. Usually your speaker will start to break-up or distort before you blow your speakers. When it does that it would be a good idea to back off on the volume.

Answer 4

the hole is called a port to give you a louder and better bass response. you can tell when tell when its too loud either you will hear pops when the bass hits hard this is caused by your speakers surround stretching too far or you will hear distortion.