Subwoofer in the corner? Forget about it


Since installing new horn speakers, I have been learning a little about extracting their best performance. They require some effort and knowledge to get right - and the effort is the easy part.

Following "common wisdom", I placed the sub in the left corner, to the rear and outside of the left main speaker. The result was a disaster.

Boomy, one note bass, little tone and texture, very uneven response at different locations in the room, and no musical connection. This wasn't good enough for screening reruns of "Deuce Bigalow: Male Gigolo" on a HT set-up.

I repositioned the sub to the midpoint of the right-side wall. Now, it is a little forward and to the side of the right main speaker. Initial results are promising: Lower bass output (expected going from 3 corner boundaries to 2 wall/floor boundaries), coupled with musical LF, toneful and engaging. The difference between just moving alot of air and making proper musical bass is huge.

Here are two articles I found interesting:

http://www.harman.com/wp/pdf/multsubs.pdf
http://www.audioholics.com/techtips/setup/loudspeakers/SubwooferplacementP1.php

both use models and measurements to confirm my listening experience - corner loading the sub is loud and rough, compared with other locations. And multiple subs are smoother than a single sub. Now, I just have to bite the bullet and make room for another refrigerator sized horn sub in my listening room.

scott

Listening room: 15' x 18', suspended wood floor
Music used to evaluate sound:
Rachmaninoff, piano concerto 2
Astor Piazolla, Adios Ninos
Saint Saens, organ symphony 3
Rodrigo, concierto de Aranjuez
Doctor John, Duke elegant
Joe Pass, Portraits of duke Elington
skushino

Showing 1 response by seurat

The boomy bass problem can exist because of: 1) Poor sub design; 2) room related problems (sound field and standing waves); 3) struture problems.
1)Most sub use large excursion cones, wich are more dificult to control, facing to speaker cone towards the floor loads the cone with an air load (increases the mechanical impedance of the load), wich will enhace the damping properties of the system (the cone will move in a more controled way). Facing the sub to the floor will extend the sub lower frequency range by use boundary reinforcement.
Sub design dont stop here, there are more parameters to account.
2)A uneven bass response can be a result of the sweet spot position in the sound field. Try change your sweet spot or the subs position.
Standing waves is a room geometric issue.If you excite some of the room modes, you will have uneven frequency response. You can deal with this problem by using tube traps or a judiciously use of furniture. Try using the sub with a lower level in order no to overexcite some of the room standing waves modes.
3)Struture-borne sound is created by the motion of the struture surface (wall). The sub excites the wall, the wall vibrates and excites the air. In this particular case putting the sub in the corner is a good option because of the increase of rigidity and damping created by the various wall intersections (do a nuckle test in the midwall and in the corner). This problem could be the most difficult to resolve, it could lead to wall work.

Redwoodgarden - "A good sub in the corner will allow a recording of a 64 foot organ pipe bring out a sensation of an external heart massage. Nice!" - Not in your room, because of room dimension limitations. The notes lower than the lowest room mode will only be perceived in a nearfield audition (close to the speakers).

In the end this issue can be challenging or frustrating. Adopt the challeging view. Try a scientific approach: do some reading, make your calculations, do the necessary changes, do some music test and then report here.