How to Install Bose Acoustimass Cube Speakers Without the Subwoofer

The surround speakers for the Bose system are very small -- 2.5 inches -- and easy to place. You can mount the speakers to the wall, put them on stands or simply hide them in plain sight. The size of the speakers does reduce their ability to pump out sound in the lower registers, which is why they're mated to the Acoustimass bass module. Using just the cube speakers without any lower-end speaker will give you a high, weak sound.

The frequency of sound is measured in hertz. Human hearing can pick up audio from about 20 Hz on the low end to 20,000 Hz in the upper range, so speakers must cover that range of sound, in general, to produce a realistic effect. The Bose cube speakers can produce sound as low as 280 Hz and as high as 13.3 kHz. Anything below 280 Hz needs to be produced by a woofer or subwoofer or you won't be able to hear it.

Speakers and surround sound tuners have a resistance rating measured in ohms. Ohms are symbolized by the Greek letter omega: Ω. The greater the amount of ohms, the more resistance the speakers have to electricity; the lower the amount of ohms, the less resistance. Both the speakers and the tuner need to have compatible ohm ratings so that the tuner doesn't overheat or the speakers don't overdrive. The Bose cube speakers have a rating between 4 and 8 ohms, so if your tuner works on those ratings, you can connect your speakers to it.

The crossover on a sound system is the point at which the same frequency of sound is produced by both the high-frequency speakers and the low-frequency speakers. Most high-frequency speakers are called tweeters -- Bose calls their cubes "Twiddlers" -- and the low-frequency speakers are woofers. In order to hear the full range of sound by plugging your Bose surround sound speakers to a system without the Acoustimass module, you will need a crossover set to 280 Hz or above so that your woofers and subwoofer produce the sound from 280 Hz down to 20 Hz.