Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Home Theater Sub Placement

I have a front firing SVS PB10. It's currently located in a corner behind my couch with the driver of the sub facing the back of the couch. I was checking out some pics of some other home theatre systems and quite a few had front firing subs with the driver facing into a wall. Do any of you front-firing sub owners place your subs this way or do you have the drivers facing into the open room?

i have the cerwin-vega LW-12 sub, and i have it placed in the right front corner of the viewing area. the woofer is facing out, toward the listener. i have adjusted the sub position several times, and it seems to get the best response when placed in the corner.. but, i have never tried turning it around and facing toward the wall.

there is a first time for everything.

bigjohn

My sub is down firing and it has been at 4 different locations in the living room. Sounds the worst there but it is now in location no.#2 due to the wife acceptance factor and it is mostly used for watching movies.

Hi there rdwarn. Corner placement is used to help use room acoustics to boost the bass signal. So not only is your subwoofer working, but the room is also working to your advantage. Having a subwoofer shoot at the wall sounds a little gimicky, like maybe someone is taking this method to the next level by having the LFE bounce off the wall. Simply placing it in the corner will do, I don't believe you need to face it against the wall. Besides, it looks kinda ugly with all those cables and knobs facing you (definitly low on the WAF).

Behind your couch in a corner is probably fine, but make sure that you're not blocking too much of the signal path. Maybe the low low LFE is passing through your couch, but if you have a high enough crossover (80 Hz) you may be missing some of the sound as even at that level the bass is somewhat directional.

Generally the best place to put a subwoofer (if you are using only one) is up with the front sound stage. But it comes down to what sounds best to you, and if you have a SPL meter and an Avia disk you can check where certain subwoofer placements cause spikes (boost in the Hz range's db).

In reply to:

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Having a subwoofer shoot at the wall sounds a little gimicky,

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Might be that the person just wants to protect the cone and/or grill from little fingers and paws?

I just moved my sub into a corner, with the driver facing away from the side wall firing mostly at my right M50 (if that made any sense...). I threw in my new calibration disc yesterday, and while I was in the other room getting the tripod, it started playing the "impress the hell out of the watcher" heavy bass/surround sequences at the beginning of the disc. The entire building seemed like it was shaking. Oops! When I started the calibration, the sub was 22 db louder than the other speakers. It had been fairly well calibrated in its former position against one wall firing outwards.

RD, besides Mark's rather practical thought about protection from prying fingers(or paws), keep in mind that the distance from the driver cone(not the back of the enclosure)determines room reinforcement factors and room modes are at a maximum right at the wall surfaces. With the driver maybe 1'-1 1/2' closer to the walls when facing them, excitation of the room modes is a little stronger and would result in slightly stronger bass.