Bass Test
Sweep down from 200 Hz and mark where the sound disappears.
200Hz
Your low limit
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The sweep starts at 200 Hz and falls to 20 Hz over about 25 seconds. Press the button the moment the tone disappears — you will usually feel the last few hertz through the desk rather than hear them. Set a moderate volume before starting and do not raise it during the sweep: pushing a small speaker to reach lower is how drivers get damaged, and the buzz you hear at that point is distortion rather than bass.
Your test runs locally in your browser. No device data is uploaded.
How to use the bass test
Set a moderate volume first, then start the sweep. It falls from 200 Hz to 20 Hz over about 25 seconds. Press the button the moment the tone disappears, and resist the urge to raise the volume as it gets lower — that is how drivers get damaged, and it does not change where the speaker actually rolls off.
Reading the result
Phone and laptop speakers usually give up somewhere between 100 and 150 Hz, which is why bass-heavy music sounds thin on them. Decent bookshelf speakers and over-ear headphones typically reach 40 to 60 Hz. Below 30 Hz means a capable subwoofer, and the last stretch to 20 Hz is felt through the floor rather than heard.
A buzz or rattle instead of a clean tone is distortion, not bass. The driver is being asked for more movement than it has available. The real limit is the point where the tone fades away, not the point where it starts to sound rough.
Using it on a subwoofer
The bottom of the sweep is exactly what a subwoofer is for. Run it at a moderate level and note where output stops. A sub crossed over correctly should carry the tone well below where your main speakers give up, and a large gap between the two is usually a crossover setting rather than a hardware limit.
Room position matters more than people expect at these frequencies. A sub in a corner will measure lower than the same sub in the middle of a wall, and a null in the room can make a specific frequency vanish entirely while the ones either side are fine.
Frequently asked questions
- How is this different from the tone generator?
- The tone generator plays a frequency you choose. This sweeps downward on its own and asks you to mark the point where the sound disappears, which is the number people actually want: how low the speakers really go.
- What is a good result?
- Laptop and phone speakers usually give up around 100 to 150 Hz. Decent bookshelf speakers and over-ear headphones reach 40 to 60 Hz. Below 30 Hz means a capable subwoofer, and 20 Hz is the bottom of human hearing and felt rather than heard.
- I hear a buzz rather than a tone at the low end.
- That is distortion, not bass. The driver is being asked for more excursion than it has, and continuing at that volume is how speakers get damaged. Lower the volume; the real limit is where the tone fades, not where it starts rattling.
- Does this work as a subwoofer test?
- Yes, that is exactly what the bottom of the sweep is for. Run it through the subwoofer with the volume moderate and note where output stops — you will feel the last stretch through the floor before you stop hearing it.