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Is Subwoofer Elevation a Viable Option?

I know this topic has had various discussions over the years, but despite a review of past comments, I could not get a definitive answer on its relative advantages and disadvantages. 

I run three subwoofers in my two channel system and am very pleased with the results, but some questions keep nagging me.

Because the sub is typically on the floor, along with all the furniture in the room, wouldn't low frequency waves be blocked/diffused a lot. Wouldn't the sound from a subwoofer benefit from an unencumbered dispersion of energy into the room?

Coaxial driver speakers have their "woofer" at ear height without causing issues. Why not ear height subwoofers?

Is it just because subs are large, heavy and require a power cable or are there sonic reasons for keeping subwoofers on the floor?

tony1954
veerossi
176 posts
 

Elevated on of my REL S/510's by stacking one on top of the other and it was a game-changer. Ended all my moving around silliness.

veerossi
176 posts
 

@artemus_5 REL's are made to be stacked (if desired). That's why they come with those brackets and screws. I attended REL's subwoofer seminar at Upscale audio and specifically asked REL rep about this.

gjfalls's avatar
gjfalls
53 posts
 

@veerossi  

REL's are made to be stacked (if desired). That's why they come with those brackets and screws.

Whereas I make no claim to be an expert on REL Subwoofers, I’ve owned a few and still have an older REL Six-Pack Line Array using REL’s S/812 subs stacked 3 each. The S/812’s are no longer in production but were made as part of the Serie S group of subs and designed for the Line Array stacking. To my knowledge there are only a few, compared to their full line of subs that are made to be stacked, however some owners choose to stack other models regardless that they weren’t designed to be stacked. All of the “Line Array” Subs are designed to be coupled together for stability and come with the coupling hardware, others do not. The older S/510, S/812, and currently S/850, S/550, Carbon Specials, No.31 Reference & No. 32’s. are the true “Line Array” stackable REL subs. Certainly the new Planars  are not stackable, nor are the new Classic 99’s.

celtic66
1,925 posts
 

One need consider floor material.  Linoleum, shag carpet, short pile carpet, stone, cement will all affect down firing differently.  My subs fire forward, but my little

JL Labs D108 is still on an Isoacoustic stand and sounds better that way in my system to my ears.

Experiment, always experiment.

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