Bass test is silent, but your speakers work: what to check
If an ordinary speaker test plays but a 60 Hz tone seems silent, do not assume the subwoofer is broken. The two sounds ask different things of your playback path. Keep your device volume low, check that this page can play an ordinary tone, then compare a higher bass tone on the same output. A short, controlled sequence tells you more than turning the volume up.
Start with the path, not the subwoofer
Run the WaveLocus low-frequency check and press “Play 440 Hz path check.” This brief tone uses the same browser audio engine as the bass reference. It does not verify that a subwoofer is receiving a signal. If you hear it, you have established only that this page can send audible sound through the current browser and selected output. If you do not hear it, stop testing bass for the moment. Check browser mute, system output selection, device volume, and the ordinary speaker test again.
The browser can generate a specified pitch with a Web Audio OscillatorNode. What reaches your ears depends on the rest of the path. An operating system, audio interface, receiver, crossover, speakers, room, and listening position may all matter. A visible “Audio playing” cue means the test signal is active in the page, not that the speaker physically produced it.
Try an upper-bass reference without chasing silence
With the same output selected and the physical volume still low, choose 160 Hz upper bass and play one short tone. Then choose 60 Hz and play again. The site caps each low-frequency reference at a modest digital level and uses short fades. Digital dBFS is not a sound-pressure reading at your ear. Do not increase the amplifier or device volume simply to force the 60 Hz tone to become audible. A sudden stronger signal or a return to ordinary audio could then be unpleasant.
If 160 Hz is audible but 60 Hz is not, the browser playback path is working for at least the upper-bass reference. The lower frequency may be reduced somewhere later in the path. A small speaker may not reproduce it strongly, bass-management settings may route it elsewhere, or the room may make it much quieter at your seat. These are possibilities, not findings about your particular hardware. If both bass references are silent while 440 Hz plays, inspect the selected endpoint and documented device settings before changing cables.
Use one result to choose the next test
Check routing before replacing equipment
A browser stereo tone is sent into the selected output path. It is not a dedicated cinema LFE signal. Whether a receiver sends low-frequency content to a subwoofer can depend on its speaker and crossover configuration. Yamaha's speaker configuration documentation is one example of equipment-specific bass routing. Follow the manual for your own model rather than copying someone else's setting. If your receiver or powered subwoofer has a built-in test tone, that is a useful separate reference. It may take a different route than browser stereo audio.
Do not reach behind an amplifier while a test is playing. Stop audio before checking an external cable or selector. If a connector is damaged, loose in an unsafe way, or unfamiliar, do not improvise a fix. A working ordinary speaker channel and a silent browser bass signal do not justify swapping hardware at random.
Keep the room comparison fair
Low frequencies can change a great deal with position. Genelec's monitor placement guidance describes how room reflections and placement can create strong peaks and dips. If it is safe to do so, leave the tone, device volume, connection, and crossover setting alone. Listen at your normal seat, stop playback, move to a second position, then replay the same brief reference. Record whether the observation changed. You are comparing places, not measuring the room with a calibrated microphone.
If the result changes with position, write exactly that. “60 Hz was weak at the desk but audible one metre away” is more useful than “the subwoofer is defective.” If it does not change, the position comparison has not identified a cause. Try one different documented factor next, such as the selected output or a known equipment setting, while keeping the reference unchanged.
Save the two observations
The low-frequency check lets you label each short playback as present, absent, weak, intermittent, a rattle, or unsure. After two listening observations, its before and after selectors fill automatically. Choose what changed and save a controlled comparison only if you kept the reference settings the same. The results stay in your browser unless you download the evidence JSON. You can also download a generated WAV reference pack for a second player. That pack is a portable stereo reference, not a recorded measurement or LFE-channel file.
What this test cannot tell you
It cannot measure physical loudness, frequency response, distortion, hearing thresholds, amplifier output, or whether a discrete subwoofer channel is wired correctly. The absence of a heard bass tone is a report about the complete setup at that moment. It is not a component diagnosis. If a speaker strains, rattles loudly, or becomes uncomfortable, stop. If a controlled comparison still leaves the path unclear, carry the two observations into guided diagnosis and isolate one more factor.
Sources and method
This guide combines a same-page audible path check with short low-frequency references and a one-factor comparison. MDN documents browser tone generation; Yamaha illustrates that bass routing is equipment-specific; Genelec documents placement effects. None of those sources establishes how your individual setup performs. No calibration or physical validation is claimed.