Subwoofer positioning

[Gareth55]

Hi All - I have an SVS PB-1000 subwoofer (which is amazing!!!!) and I had a question on placement. I tried various positions in the room and settled on the below. I was watching planet of the Apes last night and the bass to me felt quite boomy. Any suggestions on what placement I may wanna try
- Note - Unfortunately I cant get a second sub at this time as I don't have a receiver which supports two subs

My room is a rectangle with two door openings on the long right wall, I have the sub placed in the front middle with the port/woofer pointing horizontally into the front left wall (solid wall which has some faux brick panels) - With this placement it seemed that I got the most consistent volume across all three seating positions.

 

[lovinthehd]

Without dimensions and diagram/photo, kinda hard to comment. Did you do the sub crawl from your main position (who cares about the other two? )?

 

[TLS Guy]

Hi All - I have an SVS PB-1000 subwoofer (which is amazing!!!!) and I had a question on placement. I tried various positions in the room and settled on the below. I was watching planet of the Apes last night and the bass to me felt quite boomy. Any suggestions on what placement I may wanna try
- Note - Unfortunately I cant get a second sub at this time as I don't have a receiver which supports two subs

My room is a rectangle with two door openings on the long right wall, I have the sub placed in the front middle with the port/woofer pointing horizontally into the front left wall (solid wall which has some faux brick panels) - With this placement it seemed that I got the most consistent volume across all three seating positions.

All receivers support two subs. You just use a Y-connector.

 

[lovinthehd]

Well, some receivers can support two subs at different distances, but like TLSguy says, they can all support 2 (or 4) subs with the use of splitters (as many ".2" receivers only have internal splitters rather than the ability to set level/delay for two subs).

 

[mtrycrafts]

I would say that without EQ capability someplace in the chain, it will be hard to tame the sub.
At best, you may be able to reduce the boominess by location or a 2nd sub but I'd think it still be somewhat boomy.

 

[lovinthehd]

@Gareth55 what avr are you using?

 

[Gareth55]

I am using an Onkyo model from a few years ago, Onkyo TXSR333

 

[lovinthehd]

I am using an Onkyo model from a few years ago, Onkyo TXSR333

Not much in the avr to help out (no Audyssey, not even their AccuEQ), altho it does have the phase matching bass boost feature, are you using that?

What about room dims and seat locations etc?

 

[Gareth55]

Thanks lovinthehd. I actually am not using the PM bass, I thought when I first received the receiver that it was a kind of bass boost and after getting the SVS it wasnt necessary. Should I be using this for movies and music? Will it put added stress on my fronts to provide more bass? (my fronts are the TSX 220B so not very powerful with one 6.5inch)

 

[lovinthehd]

What is your crossover setting? Assume your speakers are set to small when using the sub...

Don't really know what the phase matching bass boost does...but I'd try it with and without and see what I prefer.

 

[William Lemmerhirt]

Have you used an spl meter to level match everything? It’s important to establish a baseline every time you move it anywhere. Then if you like more/less bass, adjust accordingly. Also, iirc the pb1000 is a little higher Q design. Basically it sacrifices a little driver control for output. I would verify levels, as I feel adjusting by ear is a little arbitrary.

 

[Gareth55]

I have all of the speakers set to small with a crossover of 80 hz. I'll experiment with the PM Bass to see what difference it makes.

I have used some spl meters which I downloaded from my phone, perhaps I should invest in a proper one!

 

[William Lemmerhirt]

I have all of the speakers set to small with a crossover of 80 hz. I'll experiment with the PM Bass to see what difference it makes.

I have used some spl meters which I downloaded from my phone, perhaps I should invest in a proper one!

IMO a good spl meter is always a good investment. Here’s the response curves of two different phone mics. You can see why they would not only be Accurate in the lower register but also inconsistent from phone to phone.

 

[lovinthehd]

IMO if you have a laptop or other suitable device that can accept a usb measurement mic, and download RoomEQ Wizard (REW), that would be far more useful than just an spl meter....

 

[William Lemmerhirt]

IMO if you have a laptop or other suitable device that can accept a usb measurement mic, and download RoomEQ Wizard (REW), that would be far more useful than just an spl meter....

Totally agree. The difference being cost of entry and learning curve