Under Yamaha HS monitors
Yamaha HS8S
Yamaha's 8-inch sub for the HS monitors: clean, controlled low end, with little headroom for loud 808s.
Photos: Yamaha
4 of 4 reviews recommend it54 owner reviews read
Choose it if you mix or produce at home on Yamaha HS5, HS7 or HS8 monitors and they miss the lowest octave. Your interface feeds the sub's balanced XLR or jack inputs, its XLR outputs feed the monitors, and a low cut on those outputs, set between 80 and 120 Hz, keeps the deepest bass out of the monitors. It has no RCA inputs, reviewers and owners say it needs careful level and placement to blend, and two owners found it runs out of headroom on loud 808s. For RCA sources or more output, look at the KRK S12.4.
- Best for
- Home studio producers adding low end beneath Yamaha HS5, HS7 or HS8 monitors.
- Skip it if
- You play loud, bass-heavy music, or your sources only have RCA outputs.
What people praise
- Fills in the low end beneath Yamaha HS5, HS7 and HS8 monitors
- Clean, tight bass without boom or muddiness
What to know first
- Needs careful level, placement and room treatment to blend
- Isolated faults: hum, a rattling driver, heat at sustained high volume
Video reviews
- 30KillaBeatzJun 2021Recommends
Under other monitors, or from RCA outputs
KRK S12.4
A 12-inch studio sub with deep, clean bass and more output than most rooms need; big and heavy at 28.3 kg.
Photos: KRK Systems
Only 2 professional reviews so far, 2 recommending it14 owner reviews read
Choose it over the HS8S if your monitors aren't Yamaha's, your controller has only RCA outputs, or the room can take more bass. It takes XLR, jack or RCA inputs, its balanced outputs feed the monitors with the bass below its four-position crossover filtered out, and a sensitivity switch suits consumer gear. Owners say it blends easily with KRK and Yamaha monitors, but the evidence is two professional reviews and 14 owners, it weighs 28.3 kg, and the grille is sold separately. Skip it if you share walls with neighbours.
- Best for
- Producers adding deep, clean low end beneath existing studio monitors.
- Skip it if
- You share walls with neighbours, or need to move the sub around.
What people praise
- Deep, powerful bass that stays clean and controlled at high volume
- Blends easily with existing KRK and Yamaha monitors
What to know first
- Very large and heavy at 28.3 kg, with no handles, awkward to move and place
- Auto-standby divides owners; a rear switch turns it off
A compact stack for mobile gigs
Bose F1
A compact powered sub with two 10-inch drivers and a built-in stand for the F1 Model 812; pricey for its size.
Photos: Bose Professional
4 of 4 reviews recommend it36 owner reviews read
Choose it for mobile gigs when you want the least to carry. Reviewers and owners agree one person can carry it, and its built-in stand raises the F1 Model 812 above it with channels to hide the cables, so there is no pole to bring. Its two XLR line outputs, switchable to a 100 Hz high-pass, also feed other powered tops, and owners run it under Bose S1 Pro and L1 systems. It is expensive for its size, the stand suits only the 812, its inputs take line level only, and Home DJ Studio suggests a larger woofer for big sub-bass, which is the Thump18Sv4's job.
- Best for
- Mobile DJs and bands who carry their own PA and use the F1 Model 812.
- Skip it if
- You need deep sub-bass for large rooms, or a pole mount for other tops.
What people praise
- Deep, punchy bass from a compact box with two 10-inch drivers
- Light and compact enough for one person to carry and fit in a car
What to know first
- Expensive for what it is
- Built-in stand only suits the F1 Model 812; other tops need a separate pole or stand
Video reviews
- HappyRider ReviewsOct 2018Recommends
Bigger rooms and dance floors
Mackie Thump18Sv4
Mackie's 18-inch sub for the Thumpv4 range; Bonedo rates it highly with Thump15v4 tops, but one review doubts its 1,400 W rating.
Photos: Mackie / LOUD Audio
Only 2 professional reviews so far, 1 recommending it3 owner reviews read
Choose it over the F1 Subwoofer for bigger rooms and dance floors. It has high-pass modes matched to Mackie's Thump12v4, Thump15v4 and Thump GO tops and a variable 80 to 160 Hz mode for any other speaker, and its full-range XLR outputs feed a second sub. Bonedo found its 18-inch driver adds the depth a full-range box lacks, with solid rather than bloated bass, and reviewers and owners say it made an obvious difference to an existing rig and is simple to set up. The evidence is thin: two professional reviews, both of it under Thump15v4 tops, and three Thomann owners; Bonedo's only criticism is the undamped cabinet, and Dj Jay Book, on units Mackie sent, doubts the 1,400 W rating after the system clipped easily. It weighs 31.9 kg and has no rigging points, so it stays on the floor or stage.
- Best for
- Thump12v4, Thump15v4 or Thump GO owners who want a matched sub.
- Skip it if
- You want proven output figures, or a sub with rigging points.
What people praise
- Deep bass that made an obvious difference to an existing rig
- Simple to set up and use
Video reviews
- Nick SpinelliApr 2026
Also considered
- JBL EON718S. The 18-inch sub JBL designed with its EON700 tops, with DSP set on its screen or in an app; all three reviews, from a JBL dealer and two YouTube channels, recommend its deep, powerful bass, though one owner found it distorts sooner than an Alto TS18S. It isn't a pick because on 9 November 2026 no shop tracked here had it new in Germany, France or Spain.
- Mackie ThumpSub GO. The battery sub for Mackie's Thump GO, on hot-swappable GB-200 batteries in two bays. All six reviews recommend its punchy bass for its size, and five sources say one sub runs short outdoors or at party volume. It isn't a pick because on 5 November 2026 Amazon had it out of stock in the UK, Germany, France and Spain, and no other shop tracked here had it new.
- Mackie Thump118S. The 18-inch sub for Mackie's Thump tops, with Flat, Deep and Punch voicings or a variable 80 to 160 Hz high-pass on its outputs. It isn't a pick because the evidence is one professional review and four owners, single owners report outputs failing within a year and bass too shallow for EDM, and Mackie now also lists the newer Thump18Sv4, the pick for bigger rooms. Its inputs are XLR only.
- KRK S8.4 and S10.4. The smaller subs in the S12.4's series, with the same XLR, jack and RCA connections, per KRK's manual. Neither has a record yet.
How to choose a powered subwoofer
Match it to your speakers
A maker's own sub is the easy choice because it is built for that pairing. Yamaha's manual describes the HS8S beneath HS5, HS7 and HS8 monitors, Mackie optimised the ThumpSub GO for the Thump GO and gives the Thump18Sv4 high-pass modes matched to its Thump12v4, Thump15v4 and Thump GO tops, and Bose builds the F1 Model 812's stand into the F1 Subwoofer. For the speakers themselves, see the best studio monitors for home DJs, the best powered speakers, the best portable PA systems and the best DJ speakers.
Check the connections
Every pick sits between your source and your speakers: the mixer or interface plugs into the sub, and the sub's outputs feed the speakers, filtering out the deepest bass so the speakers don't have to reproduce it. Check the inputs before you buy. The KRK S12.4 takes RCA as well as XLR and jack, the HS8S takes XLR or jack, the Thump18Sv4 and the Thump118S take XLR only, and the F1 Subwoofer's inputs take line level, so a microphone needs a mixer first. A pair of monitors plus a sub needs four cables, two in and two out; see audio cable types and the best XLR cables.
Compare power and weight like for like
Makers don't quote power the same way. Mackie gives both a peak and an RMS figure for the Thump18Sv4, 1,400 W and 470 W, and Yamaha quotes dynamic power, so the figures in the spec comparison don't line up directly. Weight matters more than it looks on a gig: check that one person can lift what you buy, or that the sub has handles and a pole mount.
Set the crossover and level
The crossover is where the sub takes over from the speakers. KRK's manual says to start at the highest of its four settings with small monitors and work down, and to use the third or fourth setting with larger ones. Start with the sub's volume at minimum, raise it slowly, then match the monitors' level to it, KRK advises. If the bass sounds thin where sub and speakers overlap, try reversing the phase or polarity: the HS8S, the S12.4, the F1 Subwoofer, the Thump18Sv4 and the Thump118S have a switch for it. If the sub hums, KRK's manual points to ground loops.
Where to put it: the subwoofer crawl
Bass changes a lot with position in a room, so a sub needs placing by ear. Arendal Sound's guide describes the subwoofer crawl: put the sub where you usually stand or sit, play a bass-heavy track you know, then move around the room at floor level, listening for where the bass sounds best. That spot is where the sub goes. The front and rear ported speakers guide covers how a speaker's port affects where it can go.
How these picks are made
Each pick is the subwoofer with the strongest evidence for its situation. The evidence is what professional reviews conclude and what owners report on retailer sites, compiled for each product, with every source linked on its product page. No subwoofer here was tested in a lab. Prices come from daily tracking across the retailers we link to, and the status beside each one compares today's price with the lowest recorded. The methodology explains the whole process.
