2. speakers
  3. 147630-72968

Dual vs single sub

Sorry Im sure this is all over the forums but I only found old articles. Situation. I have Two SVS 3000s that arent really doing it for me. Thinking of trading it in on the Big one and adding another in a year or so. Any thoughts on Big single vs 2 Medium?
128x128bryantdrew
mijostyn's avatar
mijostyn
8,161 posts
 
Audiokinesis, If you create a linear array very little energy disperses off the top and bottom or in this case to the side walls minimizing that interaction. Because the woofers are up against the front wall there is only the primary wave and no separate primary reflection off the front wall. So, you have eliminated three primary reflections. The reflections from the floor and ceiling are scattered in time. The reflection that will cause the most trouble is the one from the rear wall. The only thing that really works here is just get rid of the back wall. I am fortunate in that I designed my media room without a back wall. It just opens up into the rest of the house scattering the rear primary reflection. The end result is that the bass intensity is even throughout the room and much less equalization is required. If you can't get rid of the back wall you will be stuck with a degree of "comb filtering." I am not sure if spreading other sub woofers around the room would minimize this or just create more complex patterns. In reality it only really matters at the listening position.
The best bass is bass you can feel.
audiokinesis
2,712 posts
 

"If you create a linear array very little energy disperses off the top and bottom or in this case to the side walls minimizing that interaction."

The array you described only tries to provide significant smoothing in one dimension, and it primarily does so at one end of the room (your four subs only approximate a line . The same number of subs arrayed differently can result in significant smoothing in two or even three dimensions (if you elevate one of the subs so that it’s closer to the ceiling than to the floor), and this smoothing will extend throughout the room.

"The only thing that really works here is just get rid of the back wall. I am fortunate in that I designed my media room without a back wall."

Relatively few people have that option. I have a hard enough time selling four subs without also requiring customers to remove their back wall! In other words, regardless of how well what you are doing works for you, it is not a generally-applicable solution.

"I am not sure if spreading other sub woofers around the room would minimize this or just create more complex patterns."

More complex patterns of modal behavior is how modal smoothing naturally occurs in a large room. The reason a large room has smoother (faster, better, more natural-sounding) bass than a small room is that the larger dimensions result in greater de-correlation of the in-room bass energy. Greater decorrelation = smaller and more numerous peaks and dips. A distributed multisub system mimics large-room modal behavior in a small room.

Duke

audiokinesis
2,712 posts
 

Editing timed out before I could fix one sentence; here’s how it should read:

"The array you described only tries to provide significant smoothing in one dimension, and it primarily does so at one end of the room (your four subs only approximate a line source; each sub still behaves as an omnidirectional point source).

Duke

ozzy's avatar
ozzy
7,204 posts
 
As I stated earlier I have 4 JL Audio F-113 Subs. The JL mic is placed at the listening position and I calibrate each sub individually. Then a little fine tuning with the DEQX for delay, gain, crossover, phase and crossover slope and then by ear.

ozzy
millercarbon's avatar
millercarbon
12,531 posts
 
millercarbon,

     Yes, you'll be amazed just how well it works. Have you given any thought about positioning your 4 subs in your room? If not, I can detail the process I used that worked out very well.

Let me know,
    Tim  


The one sub I have now was a nightmare to place. Because: one! With one you can move it around forever and never find the right place. I know. I tried. With four though....

From what I read they seem to work best distributed asymmetrically around the room. I'm thinking one front wall near the left corner, one right wall near the front corner but further from the front than the left one is from the side. Asymmetrical. Then one along the left wall further back than the sweet spot but not far enough back to be the same distance from the back corner as the front right is from the front corner. More asymmetry. Finally the right back one same deal, maybe a little further back than the one on the left. More asymmetry, more modes, more better.

As cool as it would be to play 3D asymmetry I think putting one up on a stand near the ceiling is aesthetically speaking a bridge too far.

I don't mind wire on the floor which is good because drilling holes is for me a tunnel too far. 
More to discover