Using A Soundbar And Subwoofer To Elevate Your Experience

October 1, 2025

KEF XIO Soundbar mounted to a wall next to it is a KC62 Subwoofer

Without a lot of expense or the hassle of extra gear, a soundbar can turn your humble television into an exciting home entertainment system. A quality soundbar can do wonders for your home movie nights and regular television experience, but until now soundbars left us all a little disappointed. Especially when it came to spatial effects like Dolby Atmos or DTS:X, and most especially when it came to the deep bass effects that are such a part of the cinematic experience.

The home theatre world has been waiting for a transcendent product. One that stays true to the popular soundbar form factor, is easy to set up and elevates the soundbar listening experience into the realm of high-fidelity.

By bringing all of KEF’s advanced engineering and acoustic performance experience to a soundbar, XIO transcends what the world thought was possible in a soundbar. With XIO you can easily enjoy true cinematic spatial effects, crystal clear dialogue and exciting cinematic and musical soundtracks that until now even the most expensive soundbars were barely able to approach. With twelve drivers, KEF’s proprietary Music Integrity Engine^® (MIE) for Cinema, solid streaming platform and multiple ways to connect, your television will instantly become a complete home theatre system. Within minutes of opening the box you’ll have the kind of sound system that makes you want to order-in and stay at home on movie night!

You can take your soundbar to the next level by adding a subwoofer to give you the lowest of the low frequencies that small drivers simply can’t produce.

If you’ve never owned a subwoofer before, setting one up may seem daunting and too technical, but for a soundbar-based system a subwoofer is actually quite easy to set up. You don’t have to spend a ton of money to match your soundbar’s performance (check out KEF’s Kube MIE line!), and you don’t need a giant box taking up space to get the kind of sound that will make you want to stay home on movie night. The other good news is that subwoofer placement doesn’t have to be a technical challenge. Since bass frequencies are not very directional, you don’t even need to have the subwoofer near the soundbar to make your system sound great. In fact, with KEF’s KW2 RX Receiver you can place your subwoofer anywhere in your room! Your subwoofer may end up out of sight, but it will still make a massive difference in the performance of your soundbar.

Since you don’t necessarily need to have the subwoofer near the soundbar to get the results you want, you can find the best spot in your room and then just optimise the setup with a few simply tweaks and tricks. The simplest trick is to move the subwoofer around the room until it sounds – and looks – best. Of course, cabling and power considerations need to be taken into account, but the KW2 RX Receiver is an excellent tool to help make subwoofer placement even easier.

Once you’ve found your spot, adjust the subwoofer volume or gain until you can sense it or feel it, but not necessarily hear it as a separate speaker. When it is properly tuned with your soundbar, you should hear a natural room-filling sound that focuses your attention on the television screen without distraction. Don’t be afraid to experiment with the angle of the subwoofer because sometimes even a few degrees either way can make a huge difference in bass response.

Soundbars and subwoofers are the perfect team to make the sound of your television bigger and more exciting without breaking the bank. With KEF’s new XIO soundbar and the Music Integrity and KEF Connect app, getting your soundbar and subwoofer seamlessly integrated is incredibly simple – you’ll be enjoying movies and music like never before.