WringA two-minute bass test
Open the online tone generator, pick a sine wave and keep the volume low. A steady sine tone makes a better bass test than a song: there is one pitch and nothing else, so any buzz, rattle or drop in level comes from the speaker or the room, not from the recording.
Start at 100 Hz, then work down: 80, 60, 50, 40, 30 and 20 Hz. At each step, nudge the volume up only if you need to, and note two things: the frequency where the tone gets clearly quieter, and any noise sitting on top of it. Then slide slowly back up to about 200 Hz. A rattle that appears at one spot and fades on either side is a resonance, usually something loose rather than a broken speaker.
- Test one device at a time, in a quiet room.
- Take headphones off your ears while you change the frequency or waveform.
- Stick with sine. Square and sawtooth waves add harmonics, sound much louder and mask what the bass itself is doing.
What a healthy speaker should manage
How low a speaker can go depends on its size, so the same test gives different results on different devices. Judge the result against the device, not against 20 Hz, the bottom of human hearing.
- Phone and laptop speakers: very little below about 200 Hz, and almost nothing at 100 Hz. That is physics, not a fault. On a phone, listen for a clean tone with no buzz rather than for depth.
- Headphones and earbuds: with a good seal they usually reach 30 Hz or lower. Weak bass from earbuds is most often a poor fit, so try a different ear tip size before blaming the driver.
- Small Bluetooth speakers: they often fade somewhere between 60 and 100 Hz. Larger ones go lower.
- Subwoofers: their job is the range below roughly 80 Hz. A working sub should play 30–40 Hz cleanly at a moderate level, and many go lower.
How to test a subwoofer
Play 40 Hz at a low level, then turn the volume up slowly. Hold your hand near the cone or the port: you should feel air moving even when the sound is hard to hear. If nothing moves, check the power, the cable, the subwoofer's own volume knob and the sub or LFE setting on the AV receiver, soundbar or car stereo before suspecting the sub.
Next, step from 80 Hz down to 30 Hz and walk round the room while it plays. Bass that booms in one spot and almost disappears in another is normal: the room itself boosts and cancels low frequencies. Moving the sub or your seat changes this more than any setting will.
Speaker manufacturer SVS calls 80 Hz the most common crossover frequency and the THX standard. If your receiver ran an automatic set-up, keep what it chose. If you set it by hand and hear a bump or a gap around the crossover, adjust the subwoofer level until the main speakers and the sub blend together.
Check left, right and the balance setting
Bass that seems to come from one side only is often down to a setting, not a broken speaker. Run the left and right speaker test first. If one side is quiet or missing on headphones, check the balance slider and mono audio.
On iPhone, go to Settings > Accessibility > Audio & Visual and check Balance and Mono Audio. On Android, open Settings > Accessibility and look for audio adjustment, where you can change the balance or combine both channels. Names and menus vary by manufacturer.
Rattle, buzz or silence: what the result means
Most results fall into one of five patterns. Match yours before you buy anything.
- A rattle at one frequency only: something is resonating. On a phone this is often the case or a loose cover; in a car it is a panel or door trim. Hold the tone at that frequency and press on parts until the rattle stops.
- A buzz at every frequency from a phone speaker: usually fluff, dust or debris in the grille. See how to clean a phone speaker safely.
- Muffled or crackling sound after the phone got wet: water may still be sitting in the grille. Try the water eject sound and read why a speaker crackles after water.
- Distortion only at high volume: most small speakers reach their limit in the bass first. Turn it down; it is not a defect.
- No sound at any frequency: start with the volume, mute, Bluetooth and output settings. Our guide to a speaker with no sound works through them in order.
Bass test on your phone with Wring
A browser can only use the phone's normal stereo output; it cannot pick the earpiece or the bottom speaker on its own. The Wring app for iPhone and Android adds a speaker test that plays the speakers separately or together on compatible phones, a tone generator and a dB meter, plus Water Eject and Dust Clean for when the grille is wet or dusty.
Wring is free with ads and usage limits; Pro removes both.
What not to do
A steady test tone tires your ears more than music at the same level, and bass feels quieter than it really is. The American Speech-Language-Hearing Association warns that sounds at 85 dBA can damage hearing after about 8 hours, and that louder sounds do it faster.
- Don't test at full volume. Start low and raise the level only as far as you need to hear the tone.
- Don't hold a phone speaker against your ear while a tone is playing.
- Don't run a subwoofer at a level where you hear clacking, slapping or a hard thud. That is the cone hitting its limit, and it can damage the driver.
- Don't loop deep tones for minutes on end through a small speaker. A short test tells you everything.
When to take it to a repair centre
Get the device checked if a phone speaker still buzzes at every frequency after careful cleaning and drying, if a speaker makes a scraping sound even at low volume, or if a subwoofer has power but produces nothing at any frequency with the cable and settings confirmed. A scraping voice coil or a torn cone cannot be fixed with sound. If the phone is still under warranty, contact Apple or the phone manufacturer before opening anything.
Quick answers
What frequency is a good bass test? 40 Hz for a subwoofer and 60–100 Hz for headphones and Bluetooth speakers. For a phone speaker, sweep from about 100 to 300 Hz and listen for buzzing, not depth.
Why can't I hear 20 Hz? Most speakers can't play it at a useful level, and many people feel 20 Hz more than they hear it. That is normal.
Can a bass test damage my speakers? Not at moderate volume. Damage comes from high levels held for a long time, especially deep tones on small speakers.
Is there a free bass test online? Yes: the tone generator plays any frequency from 20 Hz to 20 kHz in your browser, with nothing to install.