Turning the Corner

Evanguy2004

My set up is a Denon AVR 1706 Studio 10 Polks, Center Speakers plus my new PSW111 Polk Audio Sub Woofer.

The room I use is roughly a 20X24 cathedral ceiling great room. The question I have is currently I have my sub woofer on the side of the room that is next to the dining room. Thus there is an open entrance next to where my Polk Audio PSW111 is sitting (next to my left PA studio 10) leading into this room away from all corners. On the other side of the room (To the right of my PA Studio 10) is a corner behind my reading chair. I'm thinking this might be an ideal place to put the PSW111? Does anyone have some good success stories of moving their sub woofers from an open archway middle along the wall scenerio to a corner? Does that make a big difference in the sound? Does it sound good? Of course if I did this type of set up I would need to buy a longer RCA jack to reach this spot. Please share your stories...Does it sound boomy or primo?

danger boy

no two rooms are exactly the same.. while I have had great success with a subwoofer in the corner along a wall.. it may not be the same case for you.

try it out in different spots in your room. It's not uncommon for a subwoofer to be placed away from the other speakers. I think mine is about 12 feet from my fronts and center. it's one of the only places I can hide it in a corner out of site. it sounds excellent to me.

Evanguy2004

Thanks Danger.....This will be my goal this weekend is to find a longer RCA cord and play around with it. Is the rule to make sure that the Sub Woofer is always inline with the other main speakers? In other words you would never want to put the sub woofer in the middle or back of the room if your main speakers are in front?

apphd

As db said no two rooms are the same, but corner loading a sub should give you some more extension and a little more volume. But it could lead to the boominess you are concerned with. In which case you may want to play around with the gain and AVR settings a little. I would think the location near the archway and in the size room you describe is probably not optimal. Have you tried the trick with placeing the sub in your listening area and crawling around the room to see where it sounds best? What is it you are trying to improve on?

danger boy

Evanguy2004 wrote: »

Thanks Danger.....This will be my goal this weekend is to find a longer RCA cord and play around with it. Is the rule to make sure that the Sub Woofer is always inline with the other main speakers? In other words you would never want to put the sub woofer in the middle or back of the room if your main speakers are in front?

a subwoofer being a mono audio signal, you have flexibility. i have mine in the right rear corner of the room. and this is where that phase switch comes in.. once I moved my subwoofer from the front of the room to the back. I had to adjust the phase dial. the phase was off because of the increased distance I moved the sub.

how to set up the phase on your subwoofer by Danger Boy.

first find some music with a good average paced beat.. listen to the song so you get acoustomed to the beat of the music.. then starting at zero rotate the phase knob 1/4 turn and listen to the music's beat again. if the subwoofer is thumping out of sync with the music from your front speakers.. continue to rotate the phase switch till your sub is thumping to the same beat as the music.

In my case the subwoofer was now in phase by turning the phase knob 3/4 of a turn and during music in movies the bass was exactly on with the front speakers.

apphd

Evanguy2004 wrote: »

Thanks Danger.....This will be my goal this weekend is to find a longer RCA cord and play around with it. Is the rule to make sure that the Sub Woofer is always inline with the other main speakers? In other words you would never want to put the sub woofer in the middle or back of the room if your main speakers are in front?

I would say, there are no "rules" when it comes to audio, just guide lines.:D

My understanding is if you have your sub intergraded correctly then output should follow the "rule";) for bass (which is: bass is non directional) and not be able to localize where it is anywhere in the room.

Evanguy2004

Very good info. I am now undertanding the Phase toggle better too and when to use it. On the PSW111 you only have the option of "0" and "80" or is it "180". Right now since the PSW111 is very close to my Polk Audio Studio 10's I have the Phase at "0". It doesn't look like I have all of those options of spinning a Phase dial. It is either one toggle setting or the other. However I get the message. Very good information. I am going to try this corner space and see how it goes. If it becomes boomy then I will lessen the Dbs on the AVR.