Name: Minirig Subwoofer 3
Brand: Minirigs

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James

Site owner at Canadianomad

I sold everything 8 years ago to play professional sports & explore the world. After living in 7 countries, I made this to share everything. 100% authentic and strange!

Review: Minirig Sub3

Minirig 3, Minirig subwoofer. — My small Minirig collection

Minirig subwoofer sound quality

If you’re like me, you may be used to 8″, 10″, and 12″ dedicated subwoofers. Or maybe large studio monitors like the KRK Rokit-6 or M-Audio BX5a. Perhaps you’ve been to a festival or club with good soundsystem and love those low frequencies.

I’m very glad to report that the Sub3 nails them!

Portable-Battery-Powered-DJ-setup — 2 Minirig subs used in the Portable DJ setup to fill the low ends

You get a great filling in of both sub bass and midbass frequencies. Very impressive considering the 2L bottle size – anyone who knows acoustic engineering understands how difficult it is to put out low frequencies from a small enclosure and woofer.

Better than KRK Rokit 6’s

It hits lower than many 5 or 6″ studio monitors out there and the vast majority of Bluetooth speakers. It’s very often that strangers and friends ask me which speakers they are when I have them setup at their house or outdoors. In rooms you can feel the bass – this depends on the room and music choice of course.

Check out the Minirigs vs Studio monitors post to see more details about this.

Who would’ve thought that a battery powered subwoofer could do such a thing. DJ,s producers, listen up – a portable subwoofer is something you need in life. Trust me!

Minirig subwoofer frequency response

In a frequency sweep, I even felt the basses hitting as high as 300Hz! This is quite high considering it’s a subwoofer, but does a great job in filling in the mid-bass of the Minirig 3, especially at high volume.

In terms of lowest, the subwoofer doesn’t hit much below 40Hz and seemingly cuts off anything under 35Hz – understandably. Not that there are many songs out there that even go that low, but I figured I should mention that.

Minirigs-on-bike-basket — Couple subs and Minirigs on the bike – big sound profile!

There are ‘sweet spots’ at 50Hz and 60Hz, which lines up nicely with bass heavy tracks found in dub, dubstep, and drum and bass music. My kinda flavor!

Even at high volume this response hits very well and a surprising amount of air is moved. Really, this is the only portable subwoofer that I know of (available to consumers) and it a marvel on its own.

Minirig subwoofer portability

It’s about the size of a 2L bottle of soda. It’s built rugged, the carrying case will protect it from almost anything, lest you drop it on its face or side. Even then – it’ll likely be okay.

If you can fit a 2L in your bag, you can fit this. It’s very simple to setup and the lightweight nature of it allows you to place it in the ideal acoustical area for the space you’ll be in. Nice!

Minirig bike — 2 Minirig Speakers and Subwoofers in my bike basket

Name me another portable subwoofer – I’ll wait. Unless you want something like a Teufel Boomster, you won’t find much with a dedicated sub.

Build quality of the Sub3

Cannot complain. As I said in the Minirig 3 review – you get what you pay for. In this case you get thoughtful engineering, excellent build quality, and assembled by hand in Bristol, UK. Those sound boys over there know what they’re doing.

My only gripe would be the 3.5mm aux cable – I constantly stuff my rigs in a bag, have the cables at odd angles, and as a result they develop connection problems quickly. If you’re going to be doing a lot of plugging & unplugging and general wear & tear, I’d suggest coiled ‘L’ shaped 3.5mm aux cables.

Minirig subwoofer battery life

The main Minirig speakers have terrific battery life and the subwoofer matches it and often surpasses. I don’t know what sort of voodoo magic they’re using, but they’ve managed to use a very efficient driver which accepts a ton of power (40W RMS @ max) which seemingly sips battery life.

With constant use, expect to charge it every 5-7 days. Of course it can be used while plugged in via DC barrel plug to the USB charger. At 5V @ 1,500mA, it’ll top up entirely within ~3 hrs.

The Minrigs and Minirig Sub3 hosting good fun and hip-hop at the basketball courts. — Using the Minirigs to help shoot a music video outside

Connection options

You have a 3.5mm input, and 3.5mm output. You can use either one of the two – it doesn’t matter. Be default I always plug my aux cable into the jack nearest the driver/grill – that’s the high-gain one.

You can simply push the front-facing LED to switch between high and low gain. I wish there was a third gain setting to best tune the amount of bass with the Minirig 3’s.

Charging the Minirig Sub3 and Minirig 3 from one USB slot with DC5V

It’s not a Bluetooth portable subwoofer as the sub itself doesn’t accept Bluetooth, however anything that outputs aux will feed it signal – like the Minirig 3. Alternatively, use a splitter to feed signal to this portable subwoofer – the chip inside will automatically cut frequencies it needs to.

Minirig Sub3 vs Sub2

I have both the Minirig Subwoofer 2 and Subwoofer 3. The results are close but evident the longer you have them. They’re not night and day by any means and if you have a Sub2, you’ll be fine with keeping it.

As many reviewers and even spec sheets say, the Sub3 puts out ~25% more power and hits lower. I’d say about 10-15 Hz lower, is tighter, and a little bit louder.

One thing to note in the Sub2 vs Sub3 thing is that the Sub3 charges at a rate of 1,500mA @ 5V compared to 800mA @ 5V – almost double the speed. That hastening of charge speed is very nice.

Minirig speakers, Minirig subwoofer. Minirig 3 vs 2. Minirig Sub3 vs Sub2 — Minirig Sub3 vs Sub2 – guess which black sub is which!

Overall

I very, very much like my Sub3. I have 3 subwoofers and while there is diminishing returns after 2, I very much use them a lot. For impromptu DJ and party sessions, outdoor production times, or campsite beats, there’s nothing that can beat these.

The Minirig 3 + Sub3 combo is expensive but absolutely worth it if you’re a sound nut or audiophile. They’ll last the ages and put out very good sound both indoors and out. For the only real portable speaker with subwoofer out there (considering size), it’s your best choice.

I hope any new Minirig subwoofer comes with a 6″ driver or something and is ~5L in volume – I think that’d be unreal and I’d be the first to hop on board.

Thanks for reading my Minirig Subwoofer review – drop a question down below or on my social medias if you have anything you want clarified!

Consider donating a coffee-amount of coins via PayPal at bottom of this site if my article helped you 🙂

Minirig Subwoofer 3

A great portable battery powered subwoofer and excellent addition to the Minirig 3. Doesn't hit the extra low notes and costs quite a lot, but overall a terrific bit of kit!

Product Brand: Minirigs

Editor's Rating:
4.8

Pros

Tough
Bass output
Portable

Cons

Price
Gain settings

18 thoughts on “Minirig Subwoofer 3 review – is a portable subwoofer worth all that money?”

RandyP

May 9, 2024 at 1:24 pm

Thanks for this review, really comprehensive and gives me a feel for the best use of these speakers. I came across this review looking for options to add to my cheap and cheerful, but remarkably useful Numark Mixstream Pro battery powered all-in-one controller, with dreams of packing all into a couple of small bags and playing at parties away from power sources.

In line with my low budget setup, I’ve seen a few Minirig speakers on eBay, which could could be a good starting point, they seem robust and good quality at reasonably cheap and portable compared to the larger, more pro focussed and expensive speaker setups available (like Soundboks, Bose S1s, Mackie Thump Gos etc). Hope to start small then see where I get to, thankyou!
Wayne

April 20, 2023 at 1:06 pm

Would having a sub for right and one for left sound better than just one?
- James
  
  April 21, 2023 at 8:04 am
  
  Yes it’s quite a bit better at higher volumes
Chrell

March 5, 2023 at 11:15 pm

I’m looking for something to add some sub to my setup with 2 Soundboxes for small outdoor partys (about 50 people). The Soundboxes
deliver 126db- would the Minirig Sub 3 make a difference? Can’t find info on how loud they can play..
- James
  
  March 6, 2023 at 11:19 am
  
  Hi there!
  
  The minirig sub will not make a difference when 2 Soundbok’s are in the equation!
  
  Your best option would be an external power station (Bluetti for example) and dedicated powered PA subwoofer (Electro-Voice makes great bang for buck ones)
Andrew

February 7, 2023 at 11:21 pm

Bought one and regret it. There’s an audible hiss on quieter songs. It makes a loud pop whenever someone pronounces P on a podcast or audiobook. It can’t maintain Bluetooth connection reliably. Based on my experience, I think there are better options, especially at this price point..
- James
  
  February 8, 2023 at 9:11 am
  
  That’s definitely malfunctioning as neither of my 3 have the same issue. Contact Minirigs for an exchange!
Relic

January 8, 2023 at 6:08 pm

I can’t guess which black sub is which. But they’ve changed the black, right?
Would you tell us about the difference in colour?

Cheers.
- James
  
  January 9, 2023 at 9:27 am
  
  Yeah the black is in the second photo on the left with all the audio and lighting gear
- Hunor
  
  October 10, 2023 at 7:01 am
  
  Amazing review man, thanks for the insights!
Geoffrey

June 20, 2022 at 5:59 am

Thanks for your review. From what I gather the sub can be connected to any speakers via the 3.5 mm input? I’ve got some Edifier 1700BTS bookshelf speakers with a subwoofer out that I’d like to hook up to that bad boy. Minirig wouldn’t say it would definitely work . What do you reckon ?
- James
  
  June 21, 2022 at 1:39 pm
  
  Yep the Minirig Sub can take aux from anything 🙂
minirigger3

April 25, 2022 at 5:01 pm

thanks to your reviews i know own both the minirig 3 and sub 3 and it is truly, audio nirvana wherever i go
- James
  
  April 25, 2022 at 5:59 pm
  
  glad 2 help! Just wait until you get a second for stereo ;D
alex martin

July 8, 2021 at 7:12 pm

KRK Rokit-6 or M-Audio BX5a are not large studio monitors.
- James Cox
  
  July 9, 2021 at 8:46 am
  
  You’re right, they’re fairly compact
  
  but, compared to the Minirigs, they’re very large!
Giant Horse

June 8, 2021 at 8:28 am

Fantastic review, thanks a lot!
- James Cox
  
  June 8, 2021 at 11:27 am
  
  Welcome 🙂