SVS PB16 Placement

[Steelers252006]

Got my room painted yesterday, am thinking the sub should go in the corner to the right of the TV. Your thoughts? Four pics included.

 

[Steelers252006]

Pics...

 

[WaynePflughaupt]

The left corner would be better. Subs usually do best in or near a corner with uninterrupted boundaries in both directions. This typically gets the best extension, output and minimizes nulls (although the unusual sloped ceiling might introduce one). Often corner placement gets you a peak in the frequency response, but that is easily tamed with a parametric equalizer.

Regards,
Wayne A. Pflughaupt

 

[Danzilla31]

Very very nice look!!!! Love the repaint! Yeah I'd say left corner as well but don't be afraid to experiment.

Every room is different try both corners and the midwalls on both sides Even the back midwalls on both sides of the couch and back corners doesn't have to be near field either.

Just experiment till you get the best sounding response.

Don't forget to put that beast on carpet sliders it'll be easy to slide around that way

And buy those SVS isolation feet! Not because they change acoustics but because they give you some clearance to get your fingers under it!

Buy the 6 pack!

 

[WaynePflughaupt]

Don't forget to put that beast on carpet sliders it'll be easy to slide around that way

Or, flip it upside down for the sliding / testing locations exercise. That’s what I’ve done and it works great on carpet.

Regards,
Wayne A. Pflughaupt

 

[snakeeyes]

Try left corner. But worth trying both.

 

[ryanosaur]

Just a counterpoint suggestion...
Corner loading your sub isn't always the best option. Nothing wrong with it, just not always the best.
...And you have a sub that will get plenty loud without that.
Though crude, I am a big fan of the Subwoofer Crawl. The basic premise is that by putting the sub in your LP, and yours ears where the sub might live, you will hear how it will perform in those locations when you are ultimately in your LP. You might have to move your couch out of the way to do this, and you will need to be patient! It took me a little bit to actually HEAR what was going on. But if you keep your mind and your ears open, you will start to hear the difference in locations. One of my corners not only amplified the bass, but made a proper mess of it, too: very boomy/muddy sounding. I found another potential home where the bass completely died: would have been a horrible place to put the sub as that is what I would have (not) heard in my LP (any bass)!
To be successful, you need to disconnect your other speakers. I found music with good bass worked best for me, though I tried test-tones, rhythmic test-tones, and pink noise. A lot of people have mentioned using Daft Punk's Get Lucky very successfully for this because it has a prominent bass line performed through the whole song. I used the Gorillaz album Laika Come Home which is dub remixes of their other work and has some good bass in it.
Find two or three good locations where the bass sounds clean and punchy. It shouldn't be muddy, boomy, or quiet. If your corner cleanly amplifies the bass without the problem I had, DO IT! But mark those locations somehow and switch positions with you in your seat, and the sub in its new home. and listen. It should sound the same! Sometimes, you might want to experiment with moving it a few inches in different directions. You may find aiming it away from your LP and towards a wall provides better sound yet. (Low Frequency waves are omni-directional: that's why you can have down-firing subs, up-firing, put it behind your couch, etc. Those waves are BIG and will go wherever they want, unlike a tweeter you can block with your hand!)
Lastly, keep you mind open about potential spots to put it. the best spot might be where you thought least likely to have your sub. But if you are willing to try it out, you may be very well rewarded with excellent bass response!
Cheers!

 

[Grandzoltar]

Try the corner closest to left of your seating area.(left while sitting on couch). This is called near field placement. It’s also farthest from your doors and longest wall space and close to your couch you will really feel the sub frequencies with that placement.

 

[Steelers252006]

Also had a guy measure my room real good yesterday, estimated it at 375 square feet. It has eight feet ceili

The left corner would be better. Subs usually do best in or near a corner with uninterrupted boundaries in both directions. This typically gets the best extension, output and minimizes nulls (although the unusual sloped ceiling might introduce one). Often corner placement gets you a peak in the frequency response, but that is easily tamed with a parametric equalizer.

Regards,
Wayne A. Pflughaupt

Leads to a couple more...of sub is placed in left corner, should it be toed in? Also, the wall my TV is on is at least 16 feet long. Should the TV be centered in the wall for the best sound? Been playing with it all day. Currently I DO have it centered with the Ultra Towers in each corner toes in. And, finally, does it matter should the sub be say eight to ten feet away in the left corner as opposed to say four to six? Is there a limit on how far is too far?

 

[ryanosaur]

Leads to a couple more...of sub is placed in left corner, should it be toed in?

Not necessary. Again, omnidirectional soundwaves.

Also, the wall my TV is on is at least 16 feet long. Should the TV be centered in the wall for the best sound?

More than anything, I would try to get at least 2-3 feet say from your speaker and a corner/wall, like you have it in the photo. No closer to that closet.

Currently I DO have it centered with the Ultra Towers in each corner toes in.

That is something you can experiment with... toed in at your ears/ toed in crossing in front (weird, yes, but I've seen it) / toed in slightly so that you can still see the inner-sides of the speakers (aimed past you and crossing behind you) / or perpendicular to the front and back walls. Every speaker and room is a little different.

And, finally, does it matter should the sub be say eight to ten feet away in the left corner as opposed to say four to six? Is there a limit on how far is too far?

This can be complicated. Because the Low Frequency Soundwave are so big, it is easy to find yourself in nulls. (This is why multiple subs come into play.) There are places in a room where a person could somewhat accurately predict problems. Say if your room was 20' x 20' x 10', and your sub was in the front wall, and you were on the back wall, you would be in a null most likely. Your room isn't like that!
As I said before, I would crawl out the best 2-3 spots for your sub based on your main LP. You can guess placement, and you may guess wrong. My example is valid: corner placement isn't always the best. Every room and scenario are different. With your ceiling, especially so: it may help or hurt your cause. My instinct is that you should shoot for 7-11' away from LP, and the distance from sub to each speaker should be different and irregular. Also, since you have some low frequency source on that front wall with your speakers, I would personally look to put the sub elsewhere and potentially benefit from exciting a different room mode than what your speakers might. My instincts say right wall where your file cabinet is, or left wall just to the near side of the window, further from your speaker. My next spots would be to look near the corners of your back wall, but not necessarily in the corners. Still try them out in the corners, but be willing to experiment!

 

[Steelers252006]

Not necessary. Again, omnidirectional soundwaves.

More than anything, I would try to get at least 2-3 feet say from your speaker and a corner/wall, like you have it in the photo. No closer to that closet.

That is something you can experiment with... toed in at your ears/ toed in crossing in front (weird, yes, but I've seen it) / toed in slightly so that you can still see the inner-sides of the speakers (aimed past you and crossing behind you) / or perpendicular to the front and back walls. Every speaker and room is a little different.

This can be complicated. Because the Low Frequency Soundwave are so big, it is easy to find yourself in nulls. (This is why multiple subs come into play.) There are places in a room where a person could somewhat accurately predict problems. Say if your room was 20' x 20' x 10', and your sub was in the front wall, and you were on the back wall, you would be in a null most likely. Your room isn't like that!
As I said before, I would crawl out the best 2-3 spots for your sub based on your main LP. You can guess placement, and you may guess wrong. My example is valid: corner placement isn't always the best. Every room and scenario are different. With your ceiling, especially so: it may help or hurt your cause. My instinct is that you should shoot for 7-11' away from LP, and the distance from sub to each speaker should be different and irregular. Also, since you have some low frequency source on that front wall with your speakers, I would personally look to put the sub elsewhere and potentially benefit from exciting a different room mode than what your speakers might. My instincts say right wall where your file cabinet is, or left wall just to the near side of the window, further from your speaker. My next spots would be to look near the corners of your back wall, but not necessarily in the corners. Still try them out in the corners, but be willing to experiment!

I can hear Shady in my head...bear in mind this is one heavy SOB of a sub!!! Lol!!!! I guess I can still stick it on my couch and try the sub crawl.

 

[ryanosaur]

I can hear Shady in my head...bear in mind this is one heavy SOB of a sub!!! Lol!!!! I guess I can still stick it on my couch and try the sub crawl.

Don’t put it on the couch unless you really want to. No need. I would pull the couch out of the way, though and put it as close to where you will be sitting though. Just pull it into the room so you can check along that back wall. Once you start to hear the differences in sound, it will go kind of fast... it’s just getting to that point that you need patience. It will teach you a lot though about bass and how it behaves. A tip that worked for me: start along a wall and move back and forth, slowly, into a corner. Once I started to hear the effect of the corner, it got easier to detect more subtle changes. If you have a dead spot, move back and forth a few times. You’d be surprised how a little change can make a difference.

 

[Grandzoltar]

The closer to a corner the more reinforcement to certain frequency. I would use room gain instead of amp volume to give the sub more headroom. If you have sub calibration your eq will balance these out and blend with your speakers seamlessly.

 

[Grandzoltar]

There’s an article on dual opposing subwoofers like the old Epik empire at data-bass.com. Although sub frequency is Omni directional you can get a higher spl with your woofer pointed at your listening position. That’s why with your sub localized at the seating position it gives you the end of the equation and bounces around and depend on room artifacts gives you your ideal starting position. But if you find your placement to be on the side wall mid way tilting your sub 15 degrees toward your couch will not make a difference let alone look awkward.

 

[shadyJ]

Since you have furniture in that room, it should be possible to get a PB16-Ultra in there. One extra challenge of moving that thing around is doing so without scuffing the finish. It's probably easier to do that with the Black Oak finish rather than the Gloss Black, but the gloss finish is so much sexier. Remember, it can't be just carried up by two people. You absolutely need a dolly or a shoulder strap system. It's not a sub you can pick up and lift by hand, even with another person. And you might strongly think about getting some SVS Sound Isolation Feet for them, not to isolate the vibrations or whatever, but just to make them easier to move. The stock feet are barely there, and they only elevate the sub by 1/2 inch. I talk about this in my PB-4000 review and Monolith 15" review. They use the same feet. Those feet are not good enough for the size and weight of those subs, and with the weight of the PB16-Ultra, it can be hazardous.

 

[Ed Mullen]

Great discussion here on sub location.

REW is the best of course - it will drive placement with empirical data. Avoiding nulls at the MLP is the first priority.

Corner placement excites all room modes, which is my preference for a starting point - if the AV processor can EQ the subwoofer channel (like XT32).

Sub crawl is usually an option but not with the PB16-Ultra - it's just impractical to place that sub at the MLP. So that leaves moving the sub around to available locations in the room.

While the SoundPath Subwoofer Isolation System feet are indeed much taller, they are so grippy that dragging the subwoofer with them attached can damage the feet or even tear out the threaded insert from the cabinet.

Furniture sliders under the feet work well - get smooth ones for carpeting and get padded ones for smooth floors. Then the sub can be pushed around without damaging the feet/cabinet.

 

[Steelers252006]

Great discussion here on sub location.

REW is the best of course - it will drive placement with empirical data. Avoiding nulls at the MLP is the first priority.

Corner placement excites all room modes, which is my preference for a starting point - if the AV processor can EQ the subwoofer channel (like XT32).

Sub crawl is usually an option but not with the PB16-Ultra - it's just impractical to place that sub at the MLP. So that leaves moving the sub around to available locations in the room.

While the SoundPath Subwoofer Isolation System feet are indeed much taller, they are so grippy that dragging the subwoofer with them attached can damage the feet or even tear out the threaded insert from the cabinet.

Furniture sliders under the feet work well - get smooth ones for carpeting and get padded ones for smooth floors. Then the sub can be pushed around without damaging the feet/cabinet.

What is REW?

 

[ryanosaur]

Room EQ Wizard is a measurement program that many use to dial in their systems... it helps analyze the acoustics you experience in your room much more accurately than Audyssey does, for example.

 

[Steelers252006]

Room EQ Wizard is a measurement program that many use to dial in their systems... it helps analyze the acoustics you experience in your room much more accurately than Audyssey does, for example.

Is that an app?

 

[ryanosaur]

https://www.roomeqwizard.com/
For use with a calibrated USB microphone like this: UMIK-1