How sensitive is actual placement of subs?

[amusingisthedawn]

I am torn between putting the sub underneath the tv directly in the center of the mains or putting it to the right side of the room facing perpendicular to listening angles. I have the tv on a far wall and to the right of the tv is a closet (large 2 door)...I have my components in the closet and right now, the sub as well. Is this the best placement, or is it desired to have it in the center of the listening area?

The closet has no doors and the sub is about 3 inches(speaker forward) poking out of the closet.

[jamesV]

You can always do the crawl around the room test to find out where the best location is to put it. You place the sub in your listening position and crawl around the room to see where it sounds the best to you. So when you place the sub in this location you will have the best sound from it. Now you can go thru this and find the location is not practical and have to decide where the second best place to put it. Just remember if someone in your family walks in on you doing this WE don't know what you are doing and you are on your own trying to explain it.... []

James

[amusingisthedawn]

haha

i know this and have done this...but honestly...i just wanted someone to say...it's better one place than the other. in general, i have heard directly in center front of listening position is not the best place to put a sub...

[Thaddeus Smith]

klipsch suggests corner loading their subs ..dolby says you shouldn't. from what i recall, you also shouldn't place a sub in the middle of a wall ..rather, it should be in one of the 1/3rd-ish points of the wall length.

[Xki]

I agree with Klipsch and thaddeussmith. Is that possible here?

When I finally got 1 sub, I was shocked by the directional nature of the low frequencies. All the thumps were coming from right where the sub was: right of center. Ok. Hmmmm.....

Moved the sub to center. So, the low end was centered but, this position was really boomy. To the side, 1/3rd ish, sounded great.

It was time to do the "crawl around"! Found the sweet spots. The corners were actually pretty good but there was something missing. Probably because my sub is relatively low end (KSW-12) and not made for corners. (Makes me want to audition a Klipsch corner unit.)

Finally got a second sub and have them on the front wall at 1/3 and 2/3. Life is good.

I suppose just what frequencies you are letting through to the sub has a lot to do with placement. I have mine set at ~50Hz and you CAN tell where the bass is coming from with just 1 sub. The corners are for the La Scalas, then the subs just off the edges of the 50" display. If you are cutting off the freq. lower, say ~30Hz, the closet just might be fine.

Additionally, it always surprises me how what I thought was a pretty dead room isn't dead at all. EVERYTHING can be a reflector with the right frequency.

[dtel]

I always put them in the corner or a few feet away ?

They are very sensitive, they whine, cry and just complain if mistreated, and even smell funny like my last one I blew up.

Put it where you want then move it around a little and you will see how much of a difference it makes. When within a few feet of a corner sometimes 6" makes it sound different.

My last one was built like an end table but it had wheels on the bottom and the legs were about a 1/4" off the floor so it could be rolled around. It was easy to just move it inches, it makes a big difference. If it's on a front wall sometimes moving it closer and farther from the wall even changes the sound.

Sorry not much help here, but until you have one on wheels thats easy to move it's hard to believe some of the differences.

[Xki]

IThey are very sensitive, they whine, cry and just complain if mistreated, and even smell funny like my last one I blew up.

Perfect. Absolutely perfect. []

[SWL]

klipsch suggests corner loading their subs

I believe SVS suggests this also to get the most out of what the sub can offer.