Placement of subwoofer

[swirvin08]

I have been in home audio for about 3 years. Currently I have a pioneer 92txh, I have klipsch 7.1 reference system for speakers and I have a definitive supercube 2 for a subwoofer. Recently I removed a love seat from my theater room which in turn changed my acoustics.

I know my speakers are properly placed. My question is, my subwoofer placement. I have tried the trick where you place your sub in listening position and walk around the room and that did not yield good results for me. According to the subcube manual placement of the sub should be 2 - 4" from back wall and corner for best sound. Currently I am going to try 3" from side and back in corner. My gain control is currently set at the third position up being that my pioneer autocal. does not accept anything higher.

Does this sound correct and does anyone have any good insight for me? Also, does it matter when subwoofer is spiked in carpet, should the subwoofer sit up higher (a bit off floor) or level with floor?

Thanks.

 

[j_garcia]

A ~1" difference up or down will not make a meaningful difference to the response, IMO. Though distance from the wall can make a noticeable difference, depending on your room. I had to move my sub about 1ft from the corner before I got a clearly audible change in response.

When you do the "walk around the room" you actually have to crawl to about the level where the sub will be, and it is more easily determined with an SPL meter, not just your ear.

Your listening position affects what you hear as well. The distance I sit that gives me good response from my mains also gives me a bit of a null from the sub...

 

[MDS]

According to the subcube manual placement of the sub should be 2 - 4" from back wall and corner for best sound. Currently I am going to try 3" from side and back in corner.

They often recommend a back wall and a corner but a lot of people prefer the sub to be placed up front near the main speakers. Sometimes we are limited in where we can place a sub.

I can only place the sub in two positions: in the front to the left of the main speakers and in the back, basically directly to my right side. I currently have it in the back position. It is a corner but not really the 'back wall' - it is a corner made by a small divider that separates the living room from the breakfast nook area with the patio door.

I haven't had a lot of time to determine if there is any big difference in sound between the two locations but after calibration I think the sub sounds just fine in the back corner position even though it is to my right and some people fear that it would be too localizable being that close to the listening position.

 

[Midcow2]

Calibration and distance from wall ...

They often recommend a back wall and a corner but a lot of people prefer the sub to be placed up front near the main speakers. Sometimes we are limited in where we can place a sub.

I can only place the sub in two positions: in the front to the left of the main speakers and in the back, basically directly to my right side. I currently have it in the back position. It is a corner but not really the 'back wall' - it is a corner made by a small divider that separates the living room from the breakfast nook area with the patio door.

I haven't had a lot of time to determine if there is any big difference in sound between the two locations but after calibration I think the sub sounds just fine in the back corner position even though it is to my right and some people fear that it would be too localizable being that close to the listening position.

I wonder if OP has gone back and calibrated the sub. An Velodyne SMS-1 can make the calibration pretty exacting.Placing your subwoofer near a wall will generally result in more bass, and placement near a corner — where three room boundaries come together — will get you even more. Keep in mind that even though the bass increases as you place the sub near a wall or corner, the quality of bass may be slightly "boomier" and less controlled. Aim for a spot where you get a compromise between quality and quantity of bass.
Temperature can also affect the sub perfromance as well as the type of music being played.Sometimes we can't place a sub the optimum distance from a wall and there is some iterative manual placement tuning involved.