[kelly]

What's the general rule on subwoofers: should they go on the floor, on a stand, on a piece of granite? I'm considering building or buying some kind of stand for my center channel that would house the subwoofer beneath it. This way both the sub and centerchannel would be located near the center of the room (beneath a projector screen). Any thoughts?

 

[tom hankins]

You might want to leave yourself some options on placement of the sub. Both quality and amount of bass you get is very dependant on where your sub is. As far as on a stand or floor I've seen them on amp type stands or spikes or right on the floor. I think vibration would have alot to do with what you set it on.
By vibration I mean the amount the sub is getting.

 

[kelly]

I'm considering mounting a shelf to the wall and sitting the center channel on that shelf so that the sub could go anywhere under that. I don't think giving the subwoofer side walls to reflect off of would be a good idea and maybe spiking the sub would be best.

I don't really want to put the center on a shelf but my R and L speakers are too far forward to mount it to the wall.

 

[tom hankins]

I think I would get the sub first and move it along the wall you plan on using it near and seeing where you like it best before you commit to building anything. Bass will increase as you move it closer to walls and corners. You don't have to worry about it reflecting off a wall towards one area though since bass is non-directional. It doesn't travel like other frequencies.

 

[Ph34rful]

In a corner on the floor is generally the best. However there is no substitute for a little experimentation!

 

[Howie]

What sub do you plan to get? Whether the subwoofer is front-firing or designed for corner loading is important too. Nothing beats experimentation but for example if you get a Rel sub they'll tell you to put in in the corner that would produce the greatest amount of bass. With other subs this corner loading might make things too boomy hence making it hard to integrate.

So what's the sub, what purpose is it used for and what kind of bass are you looking for? Where would you be setting your crossover?

There are generally 2 rule of thumbs. One is to place it in the corner. Another is to place it a few feet into your listening room (away from sidewalls and the front wall). This in general should give you the smoothest bass response although perhaps not the loudest.

As for what it's sitting on, yes spiking the sub is the best if you have thick carpets. There are specially designed sub stands but I don't know how well that works.

How far forward are your speakers? What difference would it make in terms of distance between mounting the center channel to your wall and having it on a shelf?

 

[kelly]

My front speakers stick out quite a bit as they're identical to the center in the top portion but have a side-firing woofer in the bottom.

I presently have the center channel sitting on a coffee table which I didn't want to use anymore pushed against the far wall. That kind of works out for now because I'm able to put video game crap in the storage underneath. I know sitting a speaker on a shelf isn't the best thing to do, though. Of course, it's probably not any worse than when the thing was hanging on for dear life balanced on top of my old TV.

I haven't completely decided on which sub and it will be a little while to be honest. My immediate concern is for having a shelf for the center channel but I wanted to think about the sub in the future so that I didn't get a center channel stand that got in the way of the sub.

I'll probably not have the corner available as an option as I currently have my rack there and will probably have to keep it there.

The two subs I'm considering right now are the Hsu VTF-3 and the Velodyne HGS15. My speakers are NHT VT-2 in the front and VS-2 in center and rear.

 

[tom hankins]

Kelly, I don't no if this will help or not, but shouldn't the center channel be either right above or below your TV screen? Isn't that the rule of thumb for center channel placement.

 

[CRESCENDOPOWER]

Quote:

Originally posted by tom hankins Kelly, I don't no if this will help or not, but shouldn't the center channel be either right above or below your TV screen? Isn't that the rule of thumb for center channel placement.

Well, I would think so beings that its primary purpose is on screen dialog.

 

[kelly]

Quote:

Originally posted by tom hankins Kelly, I don't no if this will help or not, but shouldn't the center channel be either right above or below your TV screen? Isn't that the rule of thumb for center channel placement.

I don't know how to say this a nicer way but... DUH.

Did I not say in a previous post that it was right below the screen and in the middle? "Oh wait, it's a CENTER channel? WHAT was I thinking!"

 

[tom hankins]

I thought you said you had it on a coffee table against the far wall, and no longer on top of the TV.I guess I didn't understand what you ment. Sorry but I thought since you had no idea of where to place your sub you might not no anything about center channel placement either. Thats why I stated the obvious. I guess your smarter than I thought.

 

[kelly]

Quote:

Originally posted by tom hankins I thought you said you had it on a coffee table against the far wall, and no longer on top of the TV.I guess I didn't understand what you ment. Sorry but I thought since you had no idea of where to place your sub you might not no anything about center channel placement either. Thats why I stated the obvious. I guess your smarter than I thought.

The far wall from my seating position is where the projector projects.

 

[SuperGiraffe]

My REL Strata III is supposedly designed to go in a corner, but I don't care for the way it sounds in the corner I have it in -- a little boomy, as you'd expect from corner placement. I also have a problem in that the sub is downward-firing, but I live in an apartment with a suspended hardwood floor. I use the supplied spikes to raise the sub a bit and couple it better to the floor, but I'm pretty sure my downstairs neighbors hate me. Unfortunately, I can do nothing about the placement of the sub, but I am considering getting a granite or hardwood slab to place beneath the woofer.

BTW, never heard the HSU subs, but was very impressed with both the Velodyne HGS and SPL series subs I auditioned. Unless the HSU is just amazing, I don't think you can really go wrong with the HGS15. It sounds and looks great!

 

[kelly]

The Hsu comes highly recommended but its lure is that it's half the price of the HGS15--it might be more fair to compare it to the HGS12, but it still costs less than that. The Velodynes may be easier to come by used, though.

I live in an upstairs apartment too. I wonder if putting it on top of a piece of granite or something would lessen the transfer through the floor without making sound weird for me.

 

[carlo]

kelly,

The general rule of thumb is to stick the sub where you plan on having your listening chair/sofa/whatever. Play a low frequency signal and walk around the room, the spots where the bass is where you want it are the spots where you should consider putting the subwoofer. This is an easy and no fuss way of figuring out good placement without crunching numbers on nodes and stuff.

But I know you like reading cool stuff, so HERE is an article from Bob Katz specifically about sub woofer placement (also part of AA's FAQ). Excellent.

Something to consider, if you do care about vibration and stuff, is that rack in the corner is right where the bass will be the strongest. Since you said the rack isn't going anywhere experimenting with cheap dampers (I'm talking stuff you can DIY easily) would be worth your time. Just my opinion of course.

Last tip is move your listening chair closer to the rear wall, the closer to a wall you are generally the louder the perception of the deepest bass. Of course how this affects the rest of the frequency spectrum might be negative, but another thing for you to try.