Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Home Theater Subwoofer Orientation - does it matter?

Apologies if this is a re-post as my laptop crashed when I hit 'send' earlier today.

To my question - I am wondering if anybody has experience with subwoofer orientation? Not just placement via the 'subwoofer crawl', but also the orientation (rotation?) of the sub. I don't recall ever reading anything about this aspect of tweaking your system. I did a quick search in the forum and didn't find any relevant hits. Is there anything to be gained or lost by rotating the sub on a spot? Does it even matter? Any experiences out there?

Personally, I don't care about my subs orientation at all as long as it's happy.

Was that helpful?

OK, seriously... it probably doesn't matter much. The sub frequencies are omnidirectional, so the only change would be moving the driver / port position within the room a few inches. Some have reported better response after doing that, but it's more about the position than the orientation.

I'm all very PC about sub orientation, as long as they make ME happy!

So, aesthetics aside, there would likely be no issue with orienting a sub 'backwards' to allow easier access to all the controls on the back?

That actually seems like a good idea for initial setup to make things easier, then just turn the sub 180 for the final position. Interesting...

Moving the driver even a foot can change the overall frequency response to change at some freq's. I've seen nulls/peaks vanish by moving my sub only a foot or less. Whether your ears can tell, that is a different story.

Even if you move yourself a few ft to the left/right can make a difference, which is why I use multiple subs.

If you point the driver in to the wall, there is a minimum clearance you should observe so that there is no driver loading. I seem to remember 6", but am not certain.

OK, thanks as always for the info.
I am thinking of experimenting with a rear corner placement of my EP500 when it arrives to obscure it from view a bit - I think my wife is going to kill me once she sees this thing (it's bigger than the DSP-3100 we had originally planned on and that sub she saw in person). This is what made me think of the question as I can 'point' it down the back wall or the sidewall or somewhere in between.
I'll see what works and go from there. I am looking forward to this. Well, the sub and speakers, not my wife killing me!

That's an easy fix.

Show her pictures of the EP600 and EP800 and let her know one of these was your initial choice but due to her concerns you opted for the 'much smaller' EP500 ... all because you are a thoughtful and caring husband.

Or..

Do like I do, "Look here woman, learn to live with it or else ... dammit."

Yep, that's what I do.

So, Rick, were you able to fit your HT in the doghouse?

Or, just grow some nuggets.

The 3100 is quite small, did you wife happen to get a look at that 3200? The EP500 and the 3200 are about the same size. So far as subs go, even the EP500 and 3200 are still small.

Hi Jay,
No she did not see the 3200. I did see it and auditioned it next to the 3100. Good to know the 3200 and EP500 are about the same size (I never really compared the physical specs).
From my wife's perspective she'll have seen the smaller sub in a large room then at home she'll be presented with a larger sub in a small room, hence the anticipated reaction. In reality she'll bug me for fun but let's face it - she's on board with building a dedicated HT from scratch with all new equipment - she'll be fine! (Famous last words?)