Bass Boost - Collection of Circuits For All

9/15/2020 Bass boost - collection of circuits for all
Bass Boost circuits
This article is dedicated to methods of boosting bass for systems where it's desired.
Bass is a troublesome frequency, but we feel dissatis ed when listening to a setup that doesn't
have enough bass.
I've now setup and used a number of bass boost circuits, and they can lift the low-end for systems
which use small speaker (i.e. portable), or systems which have reasonable sized bookshelf speakers,
but response below 100Hz need a little help, especially when listening at low volumes.
Speakers are usually constrained by Hofmann's Iron Law - Small cabinet, High ef ciency, Bass
response - pick any two!
For small/miniature speakers, especially portable ones, physics plays a restriction. The speakers in
a small box/cabinet with a small baf e are going to struggle reproducing frequencies ef ciently
below 200Hz, and drop quite rapidly after 100Hz. Remembering that small, portable, speakers
need to have some ef ciency so they can respond with low, battery powered ampli ers. Otherwise,
at their size, they'd overheat with big ampli ers.
For small 'hi- ' speakers, i.e. bookshelf ported or non-ported speakers with 4 to 5 inch drivers,
these can do quite well, but response is often quoted down to 70Hz only and I still prefer a lift of
bass below 100Hz, especially when I'm listening at low volumes such as when I'm working and
listening to the radio. In these cases, the normal tone controls don't work so well as the bass
adjustment can be too 'boomy' as it's lifting too much above 100Hz.
Bigger speakers are ne, and my main system running oorstander speakers does not have a bass
boost. Those setups with subwoofers also do not need them.
But for other setups, here, I've presented some solutions to boost the frequencies required. It's
almost like a loudness lter, fresh out of the 80's! But they do not boost treble.
Note that boosting bass has a downside though - the power ampli er will require more power to
give the speaker higher voltages at these frequencies. This will reduce your overall volume, causing
distortion to kick in a sooner once you whack up the volume, so these circuits are more suited to
improving sound quality when you're listening to music in a hotel room (or improving the sound of
many TV speakers) rather than partying with friends.
https://electro-dan.co.uk/electronics/bassboost.aspx 1/18
I also don't recommend these for hi- systems connected to vinyl/phono record players. The bass
boost will amplify the troublesome rumble frequencies (below 20 Hz), causing distortion and
dynamic range to suffer.
Ultra simple - passive bass 'boost'

This circuit isn't a true bass boost, it's a passive circuit which actually cuts the frequencies except
the bass, leaving the bass close to the original level.
It's a dead simple circuit (showing one channel only), with a bene t of being symmetrical so it
doesn't matter which port is in/out.
My example has a loss of 8dB for frequencies above 1kHz, about 2.6dB loss around 100Hz, and a
minimal loss (0.6dB) for bass around 40Hz or lower. Below is the simulation output:
Passive-BassBoost Simulation
Magnitude Plot
1.2 V
1V
800 mV
Voltage
600 mV
400 mV
100 Hz 1 kHz 10 kHz
Frequency
PartSim.com
How it works is higher frequencies can travel through the capacitor, and that portion of the higher
frequency output goes to ground through R3. Larger frequencies begin to look like DC to the
capacitor, and so are blocked from being bridged to ground, attenuated only by R1/R2.
The switch can be used to short the capacitor, therefore making all frequencies go through R3 -
removing the bass boost, but still giving the same cut in frequencies. You could bypass the circuit
altogether as an alternative, but this would give a surprise sudden boost in overall volume.
In my scenario, the quite dramatic cut in sound level is noticeable once in use, it is ⅖ the input level
after all. The power ampli er I use and the TV headphone output has enough power though to
reach comfortable listen volumes (and a bit more). The bass is noticeably warmer, but being a
passive circuit, it has lifted a little too much above 100Hz, but the result still sounds better with
than without.
This is the problem with passive circuits - the overall cut may be unacceptable, and also the
impedance of the input and output can affect the result.
If less 'boost' is required, you can increase R3 to a larger value, so less overall level goes to ground.
Given the simplicity of the circuit, it may not even need a PCB. I managed to squeeze six resistors,
two capacitors, two 3.5mm jacks, and a slide switch to defeat the 'boost', all in a small 4 x 3 x 2cm
project box, and wired it point-to-point.
I use this on my small TV in the second bedroom which is hooked up to a small PAM8610 ampli er
(10W+10W) and some cheap Eltax speakers from 2009. It's tiny, hangs round the back of the TV
and since it's un-powered, only two 3.5mm jack cables go to it.
Passive bass boost box
With cover off
Initial soldering of components
Active version
Here are some better versions. Unlike the passive circuit, they actually boost the bass.
The rst version is a simple non-inverting boost that would be ideal for tting into diy or other
ampli ers that are driving relatively small bookshelf speakers.
It relies on a single op-amp (per channel), and this must be driven from a split power supply. Split
power supplies have a positive rail, a negative rail, and a ground line (0V). Typically they are +/-12V
or +/-15V. Op-amps need split supplies to allow them to output an AC signal, where the AC audio
signal goes positive and negative to the ground reference.
The above circuit shows just one channel for simplicity. It also does not show the power supply
connections - these go direct to the op-amps power supply pins, and should be bypassed with a
100µF capacitors to ground, and a 100nF capacitor directly across the positive and negative rails.
Put these as close as possible to the op-amp supply pins (pins 4 and 8 for a dual op-amp).
With the values shown, you'll get an 6dB boost at 50Hz, rising to 7.6dB at 20Hz. At 100Hz, it's
3.5dB, leveling out around 250Hz.
The choice of op-amp is not critical. If you're building a stereo version, go for a dual op-amp for
convenience. Typical parts are TL072 and NE5532.
BassBoost Simulation
Magnitude Plot
3V
2.5 V
2V
Voltage
1.5 V
1V
10 Hz 100 Hz 1 kHz 10 kHz
Frequency
PartSim.com
I built and used a similar response in my bedroom ampli er, which is connected to a radio and a set
of small bookshelf speakers. The extra low frequency lift was kept subtle and works well. For me,
it's a cheaper and more convenient option than adding a subwoofer, but granted you can get better
results by adding a subwoofer.
Single supply non-inverting version

The above circuit is simple and recommended if you have a split rail power supply available, but
typically the kind of systems that need a bass boost are small systems, running off +12V, +5V or
just batteries where the negative terminal is ground, zero volts.
The next circuit supports just that, and operates on a single 5V power supply for convenience, and
can even operate down to 3V. It will boost the input signal for lower frequencies so that your power
ampli er receives a larger signal for these frequencies, and subsequently your speakers.
The goal for this version was to make a very small, battery operated circuit which you can squeeze
into small speakers, and improve the bass response.
As a reminder, op amp circuits are simpler to build with a split power supply. In my hi systems I use
+15V, -15V and a ground 0V. Split supplies are required for an AC signal to go positive and negative
to the ground.
But for battery operated / single supply circuits, we can do either of these options:
Use two batteries in series, with the 0V line taken from where the negative terminal of the rst
battery meets the positive terminal of the second. This has a disadvantage of also requiring a
split power supply when powering off the mains and makes operating off, say, a USB port
dif cult.
Use a splitter - a simple voltage divider (such as Project 43 on sound-au.com) can split the
battery or USB port providing a half voltage for the ground. This becomes a problem when the
source supplies the signal and power ground though - such as a laptop supplying USB ground
and audio ground via the headphones port. Suddenly the headphone port gets 2.5V - not ideal!
Use a splitter to offset the input signal to the op-amp, creating a virtual ground reference. The
circuit below does that. It offsets the signal by adding half the voltage (i.e. 2.5V for 5V) to the
AC signal. This allows the AC signal to go negative up to -2.5V and positive up to 2.5V.
The third option is used here. This allows me to connect any battery, USB power source or single
supply PSU without a worry.
There are some disadvantages to using this method - so for hi- , I recommend split supplies, but
this circuit is not really hi- !
You need to use some more components. For split rail operation you can reduce the component
count.
Less stability - uctuations on the power supply, hiss and hum can be injected into the input
signal.
Low frequency cut-off - there are high pass lters in the circuit (to block DC) and these
therefore have a -3db cut-off point where low frequencies start to fall off. For really small
speakers though, we can use this to our advantage! This is because we can cut frequencies
below around 30Hz, since those kind of speakers are never going to get there anyway, so why
waste power!
Op-amp choice
If this circuit is built with a +12V or higher single supply, or a +/-6V (or higher) split supply, the op-
amp itself is not critical as it can boost without clipping. NE5532, TL072, or even a humble 4458
will work OK if you have +12V available.
With only a single supply of 5V or lower though, these typical op-amps cannot work as they can
only reach 2V to 3V of the supply voltage. The 2.5V DC offset is already within the limits and won't
allow an up to +/- 1V AC signal to run through it.
We need something more modern. Rail-to-rail op amp exist and many of these will suit the
requirements. I went for the LMV358 (not to be confused with the LM358) as it is one of the
cheaper rail-to-rail op-amps. This is a dual op-amp, but comes in a 8SOIC package (or even smaller -
but these are really dif cult to solder for DIY!). Standard DIP rail-to-rail are rare, but you can buy
SOIC to DIP adaptors cheaply and I did just that to prototype this circuit on a breadboard, and I
brought 10 of them for experiments, backup and potential future use.
The small size has an advantage - with a few other surface mount and back soldered components,
the PCB can be made very small! See inverting version below. I'm quite happy with the LMV358
choice - however be aware that this chip has a maximum supply of 5.5V, so the application is limited
to USB power or 3x 1.5V batteries. For my speakers, I'm either using a PAM8403 ampli er which
has the same voltage restriction, or a bridged TDA2822 which shouldn't take more than 6V single
rail, so I didn't mind.
Non-inverting - bass boost for small speakers

This is the circuit that I use in my PAM8403 mini speakers. It provides a fair boost to bass and
makes the speakers sound better instead of an overpowered mid range sound. This is the circuit I
recommend you use as it works well.
Circuit operation
So, how does it work? Here are some pointers:
R1 and R2 make a voltage divider to get the 2.5V DC offset which is applied to the AC signal
after R3. The suggestion is 100k (for upwards of 5V), or 33K (for down to 3V) for battery
operated devices to reduce power consumption. Lower values for R1/R2 reduce hiss and
improve stability at the expense of power consumption. The goal here is battery operation and
USB operation, so lower consumption is better for longer life and more volume on the amp
when required!
C1 is to reduce hum on the DC output of the divider. 180nF or upwards will work effectively.
Don't go too large otherwise the time to stabilise when the circuit is switched on will increase. I
used 1uF in mine, removing any noise above 0.2Hz.
R3 is a 1M Ω resistor to match the high input impedance of the op-amp. It's needed so that C1
does not remove the audio signal.
Capacitor C2 acts as a DC blocker, so our 2.5V offset applied to the signal does not ow back to
the source, where it may do damage. It is also a high pass lter used to cut frequencies from
160Hz and lower. The value of 10n gives me roll-off after 63Hz when combined with the boost,
so my boost is not boosting frequencies below this frequency as much, since small speakers are
very unable to produce those frequencies anyway. If you do not need this though, make C2
100n or higher.
C3 sets the boost frequency. At low frequencies, C3 blocks the signal, forcing low frequencies
to go via R5 instead. This is the part that makes the op-amp boost the bass. If you want to switch
on/off the boost, you can add a 'defeat' switch to short over C3.
R5 and R6 set the bass gain. With 12k and 22k, the gain is 1.83 (5.2dB).
C4 is another DC blocker. It also forms a high pass lter with the impedance of R6. I used 3.3uF
to give a comfortable cut-off of 4Hz.
Finally, C5 blocks DC from output signal (this has a 2.5V DC offset on a 5V PSU). Again it forms
a high pass lter with the impedance of the ampli er this circuit is connected to. Make C5 large
enough to cope with a variety of ampli er impedances. 1uf with a 10k amp impedance (fairly
typical) gives a cut at 15Hz.
R4 gives our circuit a lower input impedance, which is required for some sources, particularly if
they were designed to drive headphones.
You can experiment with the frequency and boost of the bass by adjusting C3 and R5. With 47nF
and 22k, the response will look like this:
BassBoost-bat Simulation
Magnitude Plot
3V
2.5 V
2V
Voltage
1.5 V
1V
Frequency
PartSim.com
Note the signal starts to cut again below 63Hz. If this isn't wanted, increase C2 to 100nF or higher.
Here is what the response will look like with 100n input capacitor.
BassBoost-bat Simulation
Magnitude Plot
3V
2.5 V
2V
Voltage
1.5 V
1V
Frequency
PartSim.com
The above circuit is for one signal. To build a stereo version, duplicate everything except for R1, R2
and C1 - the creation of the 2.5V offset can be shared for both channels.
Remember, though not shown, bypass capacitors are needed on the supply input to ground. Add a
100nF and a 100µF capacitor close to the op-amps pins 4 and 8 (smaller capacitor being the closest
to the op-amp).
Single supply Inverting version

The schematic below shows the circuit for one channel. It is in an inverting con guration - these
give us the ability to cut as well as gain (non-inverting can only gain), however if you are intending
to combine this bass boost circuit with other speakers or a subwoofer, you will be out-of-phase
with these, which can cancel out soundwaves.
Therefore, this circuit is intended for use with speakers on their own, but a simple inverting buffer
following this will put the phase back as required.
It's bene t over the non-inverting version above is two components less per channel, and for single
supply operation, inverting con gurations are typically more stable. The other bene t is being able
to attenuate the signal too - allowing you to build a cross between cutting the non-bass
frequencies, but bootsing the bass ones in the case where you want some serious bass lift without
causing the op-amp to clip.
How does the inverting one work? Here are some pointers:
R1 and R2 make a voltage divider to get the 2.5V DC offset which is applied to the AC signal
after R3. The suggestion is 100k (for upwards of 5V), or 33K (for down to 3V) for battery
operated devices to reduce power consumption. Lower values for R1/R2 reduce hiss and
improve stability at the expense of power consumption. Once again, the goal here is battery
operation and USB operation, so lower consumption is better for longer life and more volume
on the amp when required! The output of the voltage divider feeds into the positive input of the
op-amp - in a split supply, this positive pin is usually connected to ground, but here we connect
it to our 2.5V virtual ground.
C1 is to reduce hum on the DC output of the divider. 180nF or upwards will work effectively.
Don't go too large otherwise the time to stabilise when the circuit is switched on will increase. I
used 1uF in mine, removing any noise above 0.2Hz.
Capacitor C2 acts as a DC blocker, so our 2.5V offset applied to the signal does not ow back to
the source, where it may do damage. It is also a high pass lter used to cut frequencies from
160Hz and lower. The value of 470n gives me roll-off after 63Hz when combined with the
boost, so my boost is not boosting frequencies below this frequency as much, since small
speakers are very unable to produce those frequencies anyway. If you do not need this though,
make C2 2uF or higher.
C3 sets the boost frequency. At low frequencies, C3 blocks the signal, forcing low frequencies
to go via R5 instead. This is the part that makes the op-amp boost the bass. If you want to switch
on/off the boost, you can add a 'defeat' switch to short over C3.
The normal gain I made close to unity - this is R5 and R3 divided by R6. As the 39k and 18k
resistors both contribute to the non-bass frequency gain, resistors in parallel are calculated as 1
/ ((1/39) + (1/18)) - which gives 12.3k. Therefore normal gain is around 1.025.
R6 and R5 set the bass gain. With 39k and 12k, the gain is 3.25 (5.2dB). The reason it does not
reach this is because in the frequency response graph below, the cut of frequency from C2
takes effect.
Finally, C5 blocks DC from output signal (this has a 2.5V DC offset on a 5V PSU). Again it forms
a high pass lter with the impedance of the ampli er this circuit is connected to. Make C5 large
enough to cope with a variety of ampli er impedances. 1uf with a 10k amp impedance (fairly
typical) gives a cut at 15Hz.
R4 gives our circuit a lower input impedance, which is required for some sources, particularly if
they were designed to drive headphones.
The response is I kept similar to the inverting version above, but using standard capacitors and
resistors easy to obtain. Feel free though to adjust the resistors and capacitors in use.
BassBoost-bat-Inv Simulation
Magnitude Plot
3V
2.5 V
2V
Voltage
1.5 V
1V
Frequency
PartSim.com
Inverting - Full schematic

Below is a full schematic for a stereo version and provisional values that you can start with.
I've added a switch to turn off the boost, achieved by shorting out C1. When shorting C1, you'll get
a modest cut in volume which should hardly be noticeable with a 1M resistor for R3. R3 and R2 in
parallel gives 44.8k giving a gain of (44.8 / 47) = 0.95. A normally closed or push to break switch
would give you a button that you push in for bass boost. It needs to be double pole for stereo.
Alternatively, the bass boost can be switched off by bypassing the circuit altogether using a DPDT
switch to bypass the stereo signal. The signal would change phase however, as this circuit inverts it
when active.
In addition to the schematic above, you should add bypass capacitors across the op-amps negative
and positive pins (pins 4 and 8). This would be a 100nF ceramic capacitor and 100uF electrolytic
capacitor, shown in the full schematic below. These capacitors should be as close as possible to the
op-amp pins.
This schematic also has added bypass capacitors on the 1/2 V supply - C2 is 100nF but to give
better performance, C8 is added which is a 100uF electrolytic.
The circuit shown gives quite a lot of boost - R3.1/R3.2 is shown as 1M ohm - this gives good results
but do experiment. During my tests, I found that this circuit runs better placed after a volume
control. Connecting directly to the source can sometimes cause problems and I found that whilst
connecting directly to TV or a portable radio was absolutely ne, connecting to the headphone out
for mobile phones caused one channel not to work, and the other to be slightly distorted. This is
because R4 from the basic circuit is not present.
To solve this, put this circuit after a volume control. Shown below is how I also added a low pass
lter too in order to eliminate high frequencies and reduce the load on the source. Shown with 1k
and 6.8nF capacitors, frequencies above 23kHz will be -3dB down. I however used 10nF which will
be down -3dB at 16kHz - which good enough for music and TV use and I doubt my small speakers
will reproduce frequencies above this anyway. You can adjust the resistor and capacitor to suit - the
-3dB point is calculated with 1 / (2πRC). 820 ohms and 10nF will be another good combination -
19.4kHz -3dB point.
With this, connecting mobile phones to the speakers worked perfectly, with good bass boost.
Alternatively, if you already have a volume control in your ampli er, you may get some success (not
tested) by just putting a 10k resistor between the input and ground.
Response of the version above is shown here:
BassBoost-bat-Inv Simulation
Magnitude Plot
4V
3V
Voltage
2V
1V
Frequency
PartSim.com
PCBs
The PCB is a drilled and etched one. Layout is not particularly critical, avoid ground loops on the
board and bring the ground points to a single point, just like you should on all audio boards.
The boards here are manually drawn with an etch-resistant pen and etched in ferrite chloride. This
is cheap and easy, and actually very reliable and easy to solder, but you may have the equipment to
do better than this. On the other hand, making this on veroboard/stripboard prototyping boards is
also ne, just get an adaptor if you are using a SOIP chip like the LMV358.
PCB - non-inverting
To see my non-inverting version, see my PAM8403 portable speakers article. Note that some
components are excluded such as the DC blocking capacitors on input (since a transformer is used)
and capacitors on the output too (since the PAM8403 already has them).
PCB - inverting
This is the ultra-small version.
I had and used 100nF surface mount capacitors for the input capacitors C3 and voltage divider
capacitor C2. This reduces size further too.
Below is the etched layout before soldering.
My drawn PCB version. I always like to draw the board layout with pencil on paper rst so I can
make corrections. I then punch holes with a compass point so I can reverse and use this paper
template as a template for drilling the board.
Soldered side of the board.
Top side of the board.

.
Note that my PCB design can be improved further and you should also consider these points:
Swap the position of R4 with the capacitor - the capacitor should be between the voltage
source (the two resistors) and the drain (op-amp)
The 100uF capacitor C6 should also be between the V in (source) and the drain (op amp) rather
than the position I put it. I later soldered this to the bottom of the board close to V in and
Ground but you can include it in the design.
Note that my board used 2.2uF capacitors instead of 1uF at the outputs - these will work just as
well.
With the custom PCB, SOIP op-amp, surface mount resistors and reusing the voltage divider for
both stereo op amps - the result is a very small board. Light and easy to squeeze into any project,
and improves the sound of my small speakers, making them sound warmer and bigger than they
actually are!
I've tested this circuit on USB power and two slightly used AA batteries (giving less than 3V) - both
have worked ne.
Some references that helped me with this circuit:
http://www.partsim.com
https://sound-au.com/articles/eq.htm
http://www.antonine-education.co.uk/Pages/Electronics_5/Filters/active_ lters.htm
http://ta2020.huuryuu.com/usbDAC_e.html
http://electronics.stackexchange.com/questions/153911/single-supply-op-amp-audio-ampli er
http://www.swarthmore.edu/NatSci/echeeve1/Ref/SingleSupply/SingleSupply.html
http://stompville.co.uk/?p=470
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Josef_Anton_Hofmann
Content date May 2016, updated May 2018 and Sep 2019
© Electro-dan. All rights reserved.
Feel free to print material you may need, but if you want to use information on your own sites and for business purposes,
please E-mail me or link to my site using this address: www.electro-dan.co.uk
Information I supply on this site and by e-mail cannot be guaranteed to be correct - it will be to the best of my knowledge. If
you do spot a mistake anywhere on this site - please let me know and it will be xed.
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9/15/2020 Bass boost - collection of circuits for all

Bass Boost circuits

Ultra simple - passive bass 'boost'

100 Hz 1 kHz 10 kHz

Passive bass boost box

With cover off

Initial soldering of components

10 Hz 100 Hz 1 kHz 10 kHz

Single supply non-inverting version

Non-inverting - bass boost for small speakers

10 Hz 100 Hz 1 kHz 10 kHz

10 Hz 100 Hz 1 kHz 10 kHz

Single supply Inverting version

10 Hz 100 Hz 1 kHz 10 kHz

Inverting - Full schematic

10 Hz 100 Hz 1 kHz 10 kHz

template as a template for drilling the board.

Soldered side of the board.

Top side of the board.

© Electro-dan. All rights reserved.

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