Subwoofer Placement

[WorldLeader]

Hey, i recently purchased the Logitech z-5500 5.1 home theater system, and i have a question regarding speaker placement. These speakers a high powered and the sub is pretty boomy, and i want to know if i could put the subwoofer behind a large, solid wood bookshelf without drastically effecting the sound quality. here's my room:

---------------------------
+.............................+
+.............................+
+...........sub..............+
+.............{+}...........+
+....===========.+
+....= *===*===* =.+
+.............................+
+.............................+
+.......+...........+.......+
+.......++ sofa++.......+
+....*.....................*.+
+.............................+
+.............................+
---------------------------

The ==== block is the bookshelf
The ( * )s are the satalites
and the sub is behind the bookshelf

How much will this effect the sound quality?

 

[Buckeyefan 1]

Is the sub currenly on the floor, or on a shelf? A sub should be in a corner, on the floor. Moving it closer, or away from that corner (inches, not feet) will control the boominess. If you remove the sub too far from a corner, you'll lose quite a bit of bass. If you have your Logitech surround speakers hooked up to a PC, try using an eq to drop some of the midbass in your subwoofer (ie 100-500Hz range).

 

[WorldLeader]

The sub would be on the ground, although i could move it in front of the bookshelf and in the corner. The sub is very heavy (50+ lbs) and i wouldn't want to put it inside the shelf unit. It is hooked up to my DVD player, but has an EQ feature to adjust the subwoofer output, but i'm not sure if you can adjust the spectrum w/ out a computer, although my iMac would fit next to my TV nicely...

 

[jfabes]

Hey, i recently purchased the Logitech z-5500 5.1 home theater system, and i have a question regarding speaker placement. These speakers a high powered and the sub is pretty boomy, and i want to know if i could put the subwoofer behind a large, solid wood bookshelf without drastically effecting the sound quality. here's my room:

How much will this effect the sound quality?

Try it and see. Remember, the key to a sub IS its placement. A great sub in the wrong location yields bad results. What I have always found to work is this: put the sub where you will be sitting (on the couch for ex). Then crawl around on the floor, behind the bookshelf, in the corners, etc., and look for the sweet spot. For all you know, behind the bookshelf w.r.t where you are sitting could be a cancellation point. Best thing to do is experiment.

For me, I have found that my sub sounds better in the front of the room, with my towers and tv, as opposed to next to me in the corner. Depends on room acoustics though...