subwoofer position

[Alain et Michelle]

I came across an interesting article in Stereophile guide to Home
Theater.

the author state that the best position for subwoofer placement is half
the room lenght and halk the room height. His assumptions are that
subwoofers intereact acoustically with rooms and how to smooth out
bass response by placing them in room nulls.

Has anyone tried this ? any comment on that affirmation?

in all the books that i read, it was either mentionned to put the sub
at ear lever at listening position and crawl on the floor untill you
find the best bass response or put the sub near the front speakers

alain

[Derek MacPhail]

"Alain et Michelle" > wrote in message
news:270620031411156742%alainetmichelle@sympatico. ca...
> I came across an interesting article in Stereophile guide to Home
> Theater.
>
> the author state that the best position for subwoofer placement is half
> the room lenght and halk the room height. His assumptions are that
> subwoofers intereact acoustically with rooms and how to smooth out
> bass response by placing them in room nulls.
>
> Has anyone tried this ? any comment on that affirmation?
>
> in all the books that i read, it was either mentionned to put the sub
> at ear lever at listening position and crawl on the floor untill you
> find the best bass response or put the sub near the front speakers
>
> alain

The *best position* is one of preference. Make sure you have enough cable
and set test your subwoofer in different positions to see where you like it
best.

For me - a married guy - I had one of three choice. A) Near the front of
the room next to the HT system, B) Next to the couch in the corner, or C)
Not in the house - leave the sub at the store. ;)

Mine is now beside the couch with a cute little "tea cosy jacket" -
admittedly, my design - and a glass top to blend with the decor. The
"jacket" and turning it into a useable end table rated extremely high on the
WAF chart. :)

Cheers, Derek

[Nousaine]

Alain et Michelle wrote:



>
>I came across an interesting article in Stereophile guide to Home
>Theater.
>
>the author state that the best position for subwoofer placement is half
>the room lenght and halk the room height. His assumptions are that
>subwoofers intereact acoustically with rooms and how to smooth out
>bass response by placing them in room nulls.
>
>Has anyone tried this ? any comment on that affirmation?
>
>in all the books that i read, it was either mentionned to put the sub
>at ear lever at listening position and crawl on the floor untill you
>find the best bass response or put the sub near the front speakers
>
>alain

That particular article was quite misleading. I've done complete room maps of
over a dozen listening rooms and the optimal position for a single subwoofer,
with one exception, was in a corner.

I've also done the same with multiple subwoofers and a single sub in a corner
simply outclassed 5. Subwoofer Secrets Jan 1995 Stereo Review.

However that experiment did not examine the possibility of mode-cancellation
using 4 subwoofers at the 1/2 distance between side walls compared to a single
corner placed unit. I'm currently investigating this paradigm and so far, it
seems that a single corner placed unit beats 4 at the 0.5 wall locations by a
fiar margin at the optimal listener position in this room in boh smoothness and
maximal SPL (except below 20 Hz where the extra piston area and amplifier
power) give the 4 an advantage. The latter effect is position independent BTW
because it's below that lowest axial mode in most rooms.

The author of that article seems to be on a bandwagon to support previously
held beliefs and seemingly hasn't confirmed his assertions with real
measurements made in real rooms.