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Subwoofer placement ideas (for those who can't sleep)

Posted by Richard BassNut Greene on September 17, 2003 at 20:16:51

I posted this somewhere else and then thought some here might be interested ... with a few additional details added for this sophisticated audience.

Please share where you finally located your subwoofer for the best bass in your room, and how much trial & error was involved.
My suggestion that it takes 13 months of trial & error may be an exaggeration.

Summary for those who don't want to read further:

(1)There is no generic optimum subwoofer location for listening rooms.

(2)Anyone who says so is either playing it safe (we know that by locating a sub between the main speakers, for example, at least you'll get good integration with those speakers, even though you will usually sacrifice frequency response and maximum output) ...
... or should have his head examined.
.
.
.
After 23 years of using and building subwoofers, the best advice I can give is that subwoofers should be placed in the vicinity of one (or both) of the main speakers. And that's not saying much.

The only exception is a room whose bass frequency response is really bad, and the sub owner is too cheap to buy a parametric EQ to fix the problem:
- A near-field sub right next to the listener can provide a better frequency response in problem rooms, even though that position compromises integration with the main speakers (no matter what Dr. Hsu says!)

You can stop reading here ... or risk falling asleep as I drone on:

If you ever find the best subwoofer position for your specific room and listening position, which I estimate takes about 13 months of trial & error and 9 arguments with the wife, the subwoofer should blend so well with the main speakers that you don't even notice
it's playing ... until you turn it off.

You can save a lot of trial & error time, and often turn a separate subwoofer into an advantage over full-range speakers, by using an inexpensive parametric equalizer such as a Behringer Feedback Destroyer (that you'd never want to use with your main speakers)
to dial in +/-5dB or better bass frequency response under 80Hz. at your listening position. That compares with +/-10dB or worse for a typical non-equalized sub (measured at the listening position using slow sine wave sweep).

For a rectangular room, a good position for an equalized mono subwoofer is usually in the front right quarter, or front left quarter of the room, in the vicinity of one of the main speakers:

-- Place the sub closer to the right (or left) speaker and it will integrate better with the main speakers, which tends to be a higher priority for music lovers.

-- Place the sub closer to a corner and it will play louder, which tends to be a higher priority for action video lovers.

- Place the sub a few feet from one of the main speakers (and a few feet closer to a corner) and you may like that compromise between the best possible integration with the main speakers, and maximum bass output.

In MOST home listening rooms, parametrically equalized bass heard at your listening position, even from an inexpensive $400 Adire Audio Rava subwoofer, will sound more realistic than bass from ANY unequalized monopole subwoofer at ANY price.
Not louder bass.
Not deeper bass.
Just a more accurate reproduction of bass instruments at your listening position.
Add bass traps and the bass gets even better.

Many people here may already know that dipole subwoofers can produce realistic bass w/o parametric EQ, and the good bass reproduction will not be confined to one equalized listening seat.

For output below 40Hz. the sub can be located just about anywhere in the room ... but that's not a typical subwoofer.

If there is significant output above 80Hz. a "subwoofer" should be located between the left and right speakers, although not necessarily exactly half way between the side walls, which happens to be a null for a room mode.

But a real subwoofer should have minimal output above 80Hz.,
or else it is really a woofer, not a subwoofer.
By "minimal output" I mean the bass at 150Hz. should be down at least 24dB (versus bass output below 50Hz.) so that male voices
(except bass voices) are NOT audible at your listening position
with the sub playing and the main speakers turned off.

For a real subwoofer from which you can not hear male voices,
a single mono sub can be located several feet from the left speaker,
or several feet from the right speaker ... and those positions can still integrate fairly well with the main speakers.
The only reason for placing a subwoofer off-center is to get a smoother bass frequency response. That can be estimated quickly for a variety of subwoofer positions by using a slow sine wave sweep from 20 to 100Hz. -- The sub location that produces the smallest frequency response deviations, and is in the vicinity of one of the main speakers, is usually (but not always) the one that sounds the best too.

Integration with the main speakers does deteriorate (except below 40Hz. where sound is really non-directional) as the subwoofer is moved further away from them ... but frequency response usually improves as the subwoofer gets closer to a wall/corner.

It's up to you to decide what bass attributes are most important to you and then obtain a good trade-off between integration with the main speakers, bass frequency response, and maximum bass output
(maximum output is usually from a sub location in vicinity of a room corner -- not necessary to jam the sub right into a corner -- a few feet away from the corner makes little audible or measureable difference).

So go forth with your 13 months of trial & error for subwoofer placement.

Or better yet, don't waste so waste time -- buy a parametric EQ for your sub and build as many Jon Risch bass traps as your wife will allow. It's unlikely that you would have too many bass traps until they take up at least 1 to 2% of the volume of your room ...
and the wife is threatening divorce.

The EQ will really help smooth the bass peaks and the bass traps will really damp the room ringing. And not only will your bass sound better, but you'll hear mid-range and treble details (microdynamics for you golden ears) that had been obscured by the bass frequency peaks and room ringing!

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