I've brought home a new subwoofer and for various reasons (kids, pets, lack of floorspace) I would really like to place it off the floor somewhere. I could place it on top of the large bookshelf that my front speakers are in. That would put it between the fronts, but within 8 inches of the ceiling. All the placement diagrams I've seen have the sub on the floor. Is there some reason for floor placement, or do you think that I could get good quality sound from higher up? Thanks

My experience with subwoofers is that the higher up they are from your listening position, the less bass response you will get. On the floor, you will get the loudest, deepest bass. This is the reason it is put on the floor, contrary to midrange and tweeters which should be ear level as much as possible. I do not know the physics of why this is, this is just my experience. I also find you get more bass if your sub is place in a corner rather than the middle of a room.

good luck and happy listening !

Hi,
Ravi, you're correct. The reason you get lots of bass is that the subwoofer is not only adjacent to a room boundary, it's sitting on one--the floor! The rules of physics still apply: if you postioned the sub high up, in an upper corner of the room against the ceiling, you'd still get the same amount of bass as if the sub were on the floor in the corner. It's not the height that's a factor, it's the sub's proximity to adjacent surfaces. The closer the sub is to the floor or ceiling and one or two side walls, the greater the bass reinforcement.

The corner location will also tend to yield the most uneven bass, with some low frequencies emphasized and others almost missing. You can "tune" the subwoofer to the room by gradually moving it out of the corner along one or the other walls.

Regards,