PSA: Short Unused Speakers and Subs in the Listening Room

I think most people know this, but it’s important to electrically short speakers and/or subwoofers in the listening room that aren’t being used. This can be accomplished by connecting the terminals together with a spare speaker cable or jumpers.

I had a pair of passive, sealed subwoofers I didn’t have hooked up in the listening room. I could tap on the subwoofer cone and the room would energize with bass at the resonance frequency of the subwoofer. When I shorted the terminals with a copper wire and tapped on the cone, there was silence. It was quite remarkable actually.

Has anyone else experienced this? One question I have is if I should short a subwoofer that is not in any sort of box or enclosure. When I tap on it, it doesn’t seem to energize the room with sound.