TauRus Posted January 26, 2007 Share Posted January 26, 2007 I am curious to know if there is any correlation between the type of floors and the sub type (front/rear firing vs down firing)? Sound dispersion will probably be dirrefent when you place your sub in a basement HT area (carpet above convrete floor) vs let's a family room (carpet floor in a frame house, above basement). Therefore, is a particular type of subwoofer design more optimal for particular type of floors? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DrWho Posted January 26, 2007 Share Posted January 26, 2007 short answer = no, but I've gotta get some sleep... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mas Posted January 26, 2007 Share Posted January 26, 2007 A very short answer.... The depth of the carpet is essentially invisible to the low frequency wavelengths which are ~56 feet long at 20 Hz. {Edit: But that being said, I am sure that someone is marketing magical flooring guaranteed to make your subwoofer sound better.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DrWho Posted January 26, 2007 Share Posted January 26, 2007 The only real concern would be the difference in sound transmission levels through the floor. Subs are essentially omnidirectional, but there is going to be more energy directly in front of the driver versus say behind the cabinet. How important is it? Well unless your floors are vibrating there is going to be effectively no difference. But if your floors are vibrating, then I think you've got more issues than 1dB difference at the listening position or a few extra dB of transmission to the floors below. [] Btw, side-firing will always be better than down-firing due to the effects of gravity and the momentum of the diaphragm (assuming equal drivers in both situations). Sure, there's some tricks manufacturers will do to make the cone behave more linear when down-firing, but they introduce other nonlinearities and more cost. That said, I know of plenty of down-firing systems that outperform side-firding systems - it's a wonderful world of compromises. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TauRus Posted January 26, 2007 Author Share Posted January 26, 2007 Mike and Mark, Thank you guys for the responses. You basically confirmed what I guess was the correct answer: for the basement setup the subwoofer type would not be as important parameter compared to its overall performance. However for the family room setup I would probably need to get a front/side firing sub. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mas Posted January 26, 2007 Share Posted January 26, 2007 Mike is of course right again! But on a normal well built floor, you should not notice much difference in the sound you hear. It is, however, a well known fact that sound, especially low frequency energy, has substantial mass and is thus greatly affected by gravity. That is why a subwoofer always sounds best near the floor and why those in the know are often found crawling around on their hands and knees listening to subwoofers. At least that is how I remember it... but then I was one of those folks sitting in the back of the class goofin' around... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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