is there a preferred location for a subwoofer?

[Mega2000]

right now I have mine bout 6 feet to the right of the TV. This one guy keeps on telling me I need to put the sub in the very back of the room. I was thinking about moving it to the side of the room to line up with where I sit shooting it sideways towards the couch. will any move make much of a difference? I use my system for about 90% movies and 10% music.

 

[jeffsg4mac]

May I suggest reading my article on this very topic

 

[The Nerdly Guy]

(url removed) also has an article about this. It's not as accurate as jeffs, but it is simple and written in a way that tech-challenged people like me can understand. Here's the link: url removed

Edit: Stop posting links to your site on our forums. 6 in one day. You must think people are stupid. - Admin

 

[Francious70]

Yea, uhh... the best place is... uhh... In my living room! That's right, you can put it in my living room.

Or on the moon, whichever.

Paul

 

[Buckeyefan 1]

right now I have mine bout 6 feet to the right of the TV. This one guy keeps on telling me I need to put the sub in the very back of the room. I was thinking about moving it to the side of the room to line up with where I sit shooting it sideways towards the couch. will any move make much of a difference? I use my system for about 90% movies and 10% music.

I still like the crawling for bass on this site. It's too simple and works great!

Subwoofer Placement Procedure

1) Connect the "Sub Out" of your Receiver / Preamp Processor using an RCA cable into a Y-cable into the "L" and "R" inputs of your subwoofer. Note: Unless otherwise stated by the manufacturer, be sure to utilize both inputs of the sub as many subs sum the "L" + "R" inputs to yield a 6 dB gain from the input voltage of the processor.

2) Place the Subwoofer in the most common location of your listening area. (Usually your couch, chair, or bean bag).

3) Play a bass heavy CD or other format (not 8 track!) that you are familiar with and turn the volume up so that the sub is really working.

4) Now get on your hands and knees and pay homage to the subwoofer (just kidding). Seriously, for the next part of this set-up, prepare to do some crawling (this is the part that could get you committed, but its all worth it!)

Note: The reason why you should crawl is that standing will put you about 5 feet off axis (depending on how tall you are) with the sub and thus will change the characteristics of the sound enough to potentially cause you to place the sub in a non optimal position.

5) Crawl around the listening room and listen for when the sub seems to sound the best. (IE. Listen for depth, loudness, tightness and definition)

6) If possible, place the sub as close to this position as you can. This will ensure you have chosen the best location in the room.

7) Now get off your knees and calibrate your system.

For Example:

a) Adjust crossover point on the sub for optimal blend with main speakers.

b) Adjust gain control of sub to tonally balance your system.

c) Repeat A + B until satisfied.