sub confused?

[hchytd]

What the heck?

I am hearing alot of opposing thought on best subwoofer placement, if/when one has one sub. Many say place in corner (front or rear) and others say avoid corners? Help please!

-Tiffany

 

[AVRat]

Take a look at these articles, they provide good info:

http://www.audioholics.com/techtips/setup/loudspeakers/crawling_for_bass.php
http://www.audioholics.com/techtips/setup/loudspeakers/SubwooferplacementP1.php

 

[bpape]

Corner placement will provide the most output due to maximal reinforcement of all room modes/SBIR gains.

For the same reasons, corner placement very rarely provides the smoothest flattest response from the sub.

A lot depends on what you need. If you have an undersized, underpowered sub for the space that you have (think a 10" sub with a 250W amp in a 20x25x10 room or something that opens up to the rest of the house) then corner placement might be preferable to help with sheer output understanding the loss of flat response.

If you have sufficient 'woofage' to easily fill and pressurize your space, then going for smoother more extended response would be my goal.

 

[hchytd]

Thank you!

I really appreciate y'alls guidance here...

-Tiffany

 

[ScottMayo]

A trick I like is to put the sub in the chair you usually listen in (raised up a foot or so if feasible) and then walk around (well, crawl around) the room, listening for where the bass sounds the best. (This won't be where it's the loudest, generally.) That's where you want to put the subwoofer. A good place to check is right between your main speakers, back a few inches if possible. That often works out well.

 

[zumbo]

Another thing that needs to be taken into consideration is the sub design.

Ported. If so, front or rear?

Down firing.

Front firing.

Sealed.

So, not only does it depend on the room, the sub design will have alot to do with how it performs it what location.

My sub is front firing, and ported in the front. It performs best in the left corner of my room. If the port(s) were in the rear, it may not work so well in the corner. Don't know.

I agree with AVRat and Scott about "crawling for bass" from the link provided by AVRat. It works well. But, the outcome all depends on the sub, room, and preference.

 

[flexodude]

What if your sub is to big to put up in the listening position, is there another way to do the test. I have a HSU STR-3, its huge, I ended up putting it angled in the corner beside the seating area and it sounds great. Its to big to move around so I just put it where the manual suggested.

 

[ScottMayo]

What if your sub is to big to put up in the listening position, is there another way to do the test. I have a HSU STR-3, its huge, I ended up putting it angled in the corner beside the seating area and it sounds great. Its to big to move around so I just put it where the manual suggested.

Cardinal rule of HT: If you like what you hear, you're done.

With a sub in the corner and seating against a back wall, you'll likely get lots and lots of bass output.