How to Make Your Own Bass Blocker

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Fans of loud music sometimes use bass blockers to protect speakers from audio distortion and produce a crisper, clearer sound. Bass blockers filter out the lower audio frequencies from regular speakers leaving the sub-woofer elements to produce the bass sound. Make your own bass blockers with capacitors bought from a hobby or electronics store and connect them to your speakers at home.

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Step 1

Find the impedance of the speaker for which you want to make the bass blocker. You'll usually find this on a sticker affixed to the back of the speaker near the magnet. The impedance is the unit that is measured in ohms and it uses this symbol: Ω.

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Step 2

Decide which frequencies you wish to block. Most bass sounds are below 150Hz, so this is a common value to use.

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Step 3

Calculate the capacitor value in Farads using the following equation:

C = 1/ (2* pi * R * fc)

Where: C is capacitance in farads; pi is 3.14; R is speaker impedance in ohms; and fc is frequency cut-off or 150Hz.

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Step 4

Use your capacitance value to source the correct impedance capacitors. If you cannot find the exact value, remember that capacitors add in capacitance when joined in parallel; for example, connect a 250uF capacitor and a500uF capacitor to make 750uF.

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Step 5

Connect the capacitors to the speakers by splicing them in at any point before the signal reaches the speaker.

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Step 6

Use a soldering iron to connect the splices and electrical tape to cover them. If connecting more then one capacitor, remember to keep them in parallel by joining positive terminal to positive terminal and negative terminal to negative terminal.

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