The Three Best Options to Decouple Your Subwoofer

You may have heard the advice to decouple your subwoofer. This is is often the advice when you ask about rattles in your home theater. No, putting the included plastic feet on your sub and having carpet in your home theater is not enough for proper decoupling. For that, you’ll need something that makes sure none of the vibrations from the subwoofer travel directly into the ground. We’ve collected our three favorite options to decouple your subwoofer.

Most Elegant way to Decouple your Subwoofer: SVS Soundpath Isolation System

Our favorite way to decouple your sub from the floor is to swap out the included feet for the SVS Soundpath Isolation System ($50). These soft rubber feet are hot-swappable with most subwoofer foot options. They are easy to install, are almost unnoticeable after installed, and work well. The only knock against these is they are a bit more expensive than our other options and they don’t work with all subs. Just all the subs we’ve used. Bonus – if you order the cylinder subs from SVS, the Soundpath Isolation System is included!.

Our Favorite Isolation Platform: Pyle Sound Dampening Speaker Riser

If the SVS option doesn’t work for you, we highly recommend the Pyle Sound Dampening Speaker Riser system. These platforms come in multiple sizes so that you can buy the right one for your subwoofer. They can be used to decouple not just your subwoofer, you can use them for any speaker. They are also a little less expensive than the SVS (prices range from $30-$48) and more versatile.

Our Favorite for Extreme Subwoofers: Diversitech Anti-Vibration Pads

Our last recommendation is for those with MASSIVE subwoofers. You know who you are. You needed three friends to help you get your sub in place and one of them ended up in physical therapy for two months. While the SVS options should work any subwoofer, if you are worried that your 100+lbs behemoth will crush those tiny feet, look no further than the Diversitech Anti-Vibration Pads.

Built to decouple washing machines and industrial equipment, these things can take nearly anything. They have the benefit of being the least expensive of all of our options if also the least attractive (~$12 for four). They are 4″x4″x1″ and we’d recommend you place them under the included plastic feet of your sub. You could remove the feet and put one of these under each corner. If you push them far enough back, you may not even be able to see them. Just make sure that the threaded inserts for the feet do not open up to the interior of the subwoofer cabinet. If they do, you’ll need to block those holes with, at the very least, the screws that hold the feet on.

Conclusion

One of these decoupling methods will work for you. Do you have a different method? Let us know in the comments below!