Is there a way to test a subwoofer on a laptop?

[stickspike]

Just got a used subwoofer. I connect it to my laptop via 3.5mm jack, I can hear it making sounds when it's not plugged all the way in, but once I plug it all the way in, it gets recognized as 'headphones' and I can't get it to play anything. Any solution?

 

[staticV3]

Which subwoofer?

 

[stickspike]

Which subwoofer?

a REL Quake. it actually has a 3.5mm jack on the back(weirdly enough), so I just plugged 3.5mm to 3.5mm on my laptop; thought that would work

 

[staticV3]

a REL Quake. it actually has a 3.5mm jack on the back(weirdly enough), so I just plugged 3.5mm to 3.5mm on my laptop; thought that would work

Yes that is the intended use case:


Some possible reasons why it doesn't work:
-wrong cable construction -> use a regular TRS Stereo cable
-subwoofer is set up wrong -> play with the knobs
-theres an HPF APO active on your laptop's jack -> use foobar with Wasapi Push output
-the laptop's headphone out has an inherent bass roll off -> try Apple A2049