Where do you keep your front-firing sub?

echoofformless

I have always found it awkward that we are expected to place a sub off to the side somewhere when we can't have it right between the front speakers. A friend of mind mused that maybe a sub would be great right behind the couch where it will both be centered and also give some great rumble to the seating area.

But I am reticent to try this out because I feel like maybe some of the punch and articulation will be lost as the driver fires directly into such a thick, absorptive object like a couch. But then again I'm using Monitor 70's which can go pretty low on their own and my crossover is set at 60hz; so the sub in my case is generally just handling the very low bass in the first place.

So where do you all keep your front-firing subs? What sort of results have you had with moving them around the room?

FYI - I'm running a PSW 505

Inspector 24

Mine are front and center. Each is right next to the towers, which turns out to be the best two spots across the front wall I could find.

Works well. It's a big room so I don't have pound you in the face bass, but makes for a very balanced sounding system.

echoofformless

Ah, but you are using two subs. I would do that if using two subs. I'm using one.

Syndil

Sub placement is dependent on room acoustics, so there is no one answer that will work for everyone. I have a friend that has his sub next to his couch, as his room is small and that was really the only place it could go, but it is not optimal acoustically. Mainly because people sitting on the side of the couch next to the sub get a lot more boom than anyone else in the room.

If you do put your sub closer to you than your fronts, I hope you have some sort of room correction available to you as you will need to add delay to it to compensate for the sound from the sub getting to your ears before your fronts.

classic carl

On each side of my front towers.

echoofformless

Funny thing is that the long cord required to connect the sub to the receiver in order for it to be behind the couch creates the exact amount of delay that it needs.

Syndil

Uh, no. The speed of propagation for electrons in an analog circuit approaches the speed of light. Unless your cable is several thousand miles long, it's not introducing any perceptible delay.

bms

I place my subs in the front corners of the room. The pb10 is front firing, but the 16-46 is a down firing cylinder. My room is huge with a vaulted ceiling and very open to other areas of the house (Ed Mullen described it as "lossy"). This configuration produces tons of room shaking bass when needed.

cnh

There are some who use two subs who manage to position one behind the couch for the effect you are referring to. That depends a lot on the layout of the room and whether that second sub will reinforce the first or cancel it out.

On another note. I have an old POLK PSW12 sub that was a BXXXH to place. Like its smaller brother the PSW10 it has a LOT of PORT noise once it gets going. And it is easy to over drive. This sub drove me nuts for months and the reviews on the Polk site were always lukewarm but I persevered and I found that the BEST placement for this sub was at a right angle firing across the plane of my L/C/R speakers from one wall to the other wall. In that position, what is considered a mediocre sub with a LOT of chuffing and port noise actually plays fairly nice! Who would have thunk it? There is something about this placement that cuts the port noise to almost none!

So live and learn, and don't be afraid to try what is counter intuitive!

cnh

tonyb

Behind a couch ? Absolute worse place to put a subwoofer. Play around with positioning the sub somewhere on the front stage in your room. Each room is different so what works for other posters may not work for you. Experiment with placement, that's the best advice anyone can give you.

Inspector 24

Pretty much front and center here. Just left of the center channel. Turns out to be a pretty good spot in my room.

Mikey081057

HT Left front corner slightly toed in. Works well in my room .

2 Chan Center

westmassguy

Two front subs on the outside of my 2As, and a 3rd tucked behind the couch for some rumble. 50 Hz crossover, and all carefully adjusted with SPL Meter.

Sumerian

1 Sub near the fire place on wooden base

badchad

I'm guilty of having my sub behind the couch and in the corner. It's there mostly because of aesthetics.

I kind of like the fact that as you enter the room, you don't see the sub. Once the first roar, or explosion of a movie hits, people usually tend to look around thinking "Where the heck did that come from?". It's a subtle beast.

Sure, I could probably place it elsewhere for better performance, but I feel like I get enough out of it already.

ViperZ

People used to think that my subs (dual-10") were speakers, considering that B&W CDM1 speakers are tiny compared to the subs (NHT SubTwo). I used to have subs beside each speaker, but now after room calibration, one sub is in front right corner of the room, 2nd sub is on the left of the couch, almost back left corner of the room.

leftwinger57

echcoofformlesss, it's funny that you mentioned putting the sub behind the couch.When the co.I worked for became a Bose distributor and did the 3 room systems while under construction sometimes we mounted the sub under the floor joyce either behind or under the couch w/ the designers plan, and then used a floor type a.c. vent to allow for flow.It did work and was specifically designed to fit on 16'' centers.Most here do not like Bose of any type or model except some who go for the 901s , just saying what I installed.My sub is down firing and was bothering my neighbor so much going up the walls I had to move and adjust the thing.....

drumminman

Both HT and 2 channel: 1 sub between front speakers facing listening position. Blends well, good articulation, you wouldn't know it's there except for the great low end.

ryanmx48

I actually bought an entertainment center with a big compartment in the middle, directly underneath my center channel, where I "housed" it because it looks nice and neat. I guess it sounds good, but I'm no audiophile. Should I try different placement? Is it bad to have it in the tv stand like that?

mr_natural78

ryanmx48 wrote: »

I actually bought an entertainment center with a big compartment in the middle, directly underneath my center channel, where I "housed" it because it looks nice and neat. I guess it sounds good, but I'm no audiophile. Should I try different placement? Is it bad to have it in the tv stand like that?

I'm curious about this as well. I am about to start building a new entertainment wall unit and thought of doing the same with my psw505 so it was right in the middle under the tv and center channel.

pitdogg2

mr_natural78 wrote: »

I'm curious about this as well. I am about to start building a new entertainment wall unit and thought of doing the same with my psw505 so it was right in the middle under the tv and center channel.

might want to rethink that a little. If you plan on putting other gear in there also like CD/DVD or anything with a hard drive. You may induce enough vibration that the other gear may not like at all. You'll also be loading the space it is in like corner loading which will increase bass greatly and could be very un-natural bass.

zane77

I've got mine just outside the A9's (LR) but a little further from A7's (Wide LR) sounds pretty good there. not quite in the corners but close.

20hz

I have had many sound problems in my living room , I have a adjoining dining room that leads to a kitchen that ties into a hall and that's the same hall that's end the end of the living room .
so the only smooth sound I got was putting the sub in the furthest corner from the hall ( behind the tv ) I had to go big 4x12" woofers but the sound is deep and consistent anywhere I do rumble down the hall and kitchen also but before I was getting cancellation .
Also my sub is up-firing so I was concerned about losing since the woofers were not close to the ground but it is awesome !

aboroth00

20hz wrote: »

I have had many sound problems in my living room , I have a adjoining dining room that leads to a kitchen that ties into a hall and that's the same hall that's end the end of the living room .
so the only smooth sound I got was putting the sub in the furthest corner from the hall ( behind the tv ) I had to go big 4x12" woofers but the sound is deep and consistent anywhere I do rumble down the hall and kitchen also but before I was getting cancellation .
Also my sub is up-firing so I was concerned about losing since the woofers were not close to the ground but it is awesome !

Have you considered using something like an Auralex Gramma or subdude? I've actually made my own once with good results. I'm actually using a Gramma now for a James Loudspeaker L4000P with good results. It smoothed out the bass and I have it in the front right corner of the room. There's no undue vibrations, just clean bass presented in the front soundstage.

outofhand

I use one sub and out in front is the best place I found...i'v tried different spots around the room one day and the best spot hands down is in front. mines in between the front tower and the center.

mantis

What you need to do is learn about sub placement and then go from there. Not everyones room is perfect for perfect placement so you have to do the best you can to get it to sound it's best.
As far as putting a sub off to the side awkward doesn't even make sense to me. As a Professional, I have placed hundreds of subs maybe thousands in such places with excellent results. Some subs actually perform their best in such spaces in rooms with less then ideal places. Some rooms this is the ideal place.
As mentioned above, room acoustics should pic the sub placement. You really should get your read on and learn about why subs get placed where they do. I will say this, they are the most flexible speaker in a home theater system as you almost can place it anywhere in the room and get it to perform. No other speaker in the system is that flexible.

I suggest the following reading
http://www.soundandvision.com/content/bass-management-boot-camp
http://www.crutchfield.com/S-rPQzyiUBwTk/learn/learningcenter/home/speaker_placement.html
http://www.dolby.com/us/en/consumer/setup/connection-guide/home-theater-speaker-guide/index.html

am_dew

Does anyone have any comments regarding putting a PSW-10 on a small end table to minimize the potential impact to my neghbor in the apartment downstairs from me? Generally speaking, will doing so help or will it make no difference?

aboroth00

am_dew wrote: »

Does anyone have any comments regarding putting a PSW-10 on a small end table to minimize the potential impact to my neghbor in the apartment downstairs from me? Generally speaking, will doing so help or will it make no difference?

The small end table will probably dissipiate some of the energy from the sub but it will also cause the end table to rattle which is also annoying. If you're looking something to decouple the sub from the floor to keep the floor from transmitting energy you should look for something along the lines of a subdude. I use one myself and it greatly helps keeps the bass inside the room.

http://www.auralex.com/sound_isolation_subdude/subdude.asp

am_dew

aboroth00 wrote: »

The small end table will probably dissipiate some of the energy from the sub but it will also cause the end table to rattle which is also annoying. If you're looking something to decouple the sub from the floor to keep the floor from transmitting energy you should look for something along the lines of a subdude. I use one myself and it greatly helps keeps the bass inside the room.

http://www.auralex.com/sound_isolation_subdude/subdude.asp

Thanks. I had not thought about the table possibly rattling...good point. Re: the Subdude...I've heard about them...there seems to be some controversy on another forum about whether or not the Subdude works as advertised, but it seems there a lot of people who swear by them so I guess I'll get one and find out for myself.

aboroth00

am_dew wrote: »

Thanks. I had not thought about the table possibly rattling...good point. Re: the Subdude...I've heard about them...there seems to be some controversy on another forum about whether or not the Subdude works as advertised, but it seems there a lot of people who swear by them so I guess I'll get one and find out for myself.

Whether it'll improve the sound varies on your environment, suspended floor, concrete slab, so on. However, it will isolate the sub from the floor as it's intended. The foam transmits very little from the sub through itself and into the floor so the room rattling effect no longer happens. I've built my own, bought a gramma and subdude and they all work similarly. My floor is a concrete slab and I still get benefits. Windows don't rattle, bass isn't heard throughout the whole house.