Subwoofer placement usually requires a bit of experimentation to get a proper placement. The low frequencies produced by a sub woofer are omni-directional and generally cannot be pinpointed, however that does not mean it can be placed anywhere for the best effect.. There are a few things to keep in mind.
- The reaction between the walls and room acoustics
- Distance from the walls.
- Placement of furniture.
- Carpet or hardwood floors.
1. The reaction between the walls and room acoustics
Low frequencies tend to bounce off of walls and carry for further distances easier than higher frequencies (an example is a booming car stereo), you hear the bass long before you hear any treble. A variety of factors effect room acoustics room shape, curtains, rugs, shape of ceilings, textured ceiling etc., so there can be no one single rule where to place your subwoofer, so the first rule of thumb is that you will have to adjust the position by testing.
Subwoofer placement is often subjective to the listener and exact placement not only can take some time but it can also be frustrating. To do these placement procedures, make sure that your speaker cable is long enough to reach all around the room.
2. Distance from the walls
I've found that keeping the subwoofer approximately 1 foot from the edge of the wall with the air tube pointed toward the wall, provides the best effect. Experiment for the best positioning.
3. Placement of furniture
The placement of your furniture, can change the sound of not only your subwoofer but your entire surround sound system as well. Furniture can deaden or mute sounds, causing a bad effect. Try moving the chair, painting around a bit, or you may want to change the positioning of speakers, raising or lowering them a few inches may make quite the difference..
4. Carpet or hardwood floors
Carpet will deaden sounds and hardwood floors will make them echo. Again this will also effect your other speakers as well as your subwoofer.
Here are a few techniques to properly position your subwoofer.
The Subwoofer Crawl
A time honored placement procedure is to place the subwoofer on the couch or chair that you normally watch your movies or listen to music. You then play a CD or Movie scene that plays a lot of Bass or low pitch sound effects. While that is playing, crawl around on the floor until the subwoofer sounds the best. This is where the subwoofer should be placed.
Pros : This can have a great effect and actually show you the best positioning of your subwoofer.
Cons: The best placement of your subwoofer might just be in the middle of the floor. Takes a while to crawl all around. Takes a long time to determine.
Skirting the Edges
A more realistic approach to placing your subwoofer is by skirting the edges of your room. Start by placing the subwoofer in the front left corner of your room, listening to a CD or Movie scene that plays a lot of Bass or low pitch sound effects. Sit down in your listening position and make a mental note of how good the bass sound. After a short while, move the subwoofer to the near left of the TV, sit down and listen again. Continue doing this in a clock wise manner until all of the positions are covered. Leave the subwoofer where it sounds the best.
Pros : Since you are going to have the subwoofer in the edge of the room anyway, might as well test only that position. Much faster than crawling around on the floor.
Cons: This may not find the optimum position of the subwoofer.
Bounce the Corners
Easy enough, place the subwoofer underneath each of your speakers, front left, front right, surround left, surround right and center. Keep the subwoofer wherever it sound the best.
Pros: Easy to accomplish. You might end up doing this anyway to keep some order in your room.
Cons: The best bass sound might not be realized, however you just might find the right spot.
Out of Sight, Out of Mind
The author of this article likes this method the best. Simply place the subwoofer behind the listening position (i.e. The couch) and turn the subwoofer down to 25%-50% from the remainder of the speakers. When the subwoofer kicks in, the effect is nice and you will get a slight vibration on heavy bass notes.
By using one of these subwoofer placement tips, you should be able to find the best place to install your subwoofer to provide the best effect for your surround sound system.
(C)2008 Andrew Dansby
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