10dB resonant peak at 40Hz

@cdc What are you using to verify that it was 40hz? Do you have an HVAC system near the room? As silly it my seems,  I have a 30hz peak in my room and it is similar in size so every time the AC unit is on which is right above the room, presents rumble at that frequency.  I use a RTA to measure room response every now and then when I change out speakers or subs for that matter. 

Another situation is consistent of balance of frequency response of a bass guitar or any matter of instruments that has frequency response that low. 

Yes, DSP would do it. I'm not using a sub.

@cdc You have a standing wave that is causing the peak. If you poke around, I think you'll find you also have some dips caused by the same issue.

The best way to break up standing waves is by using subs placed asymmetrically about the room. They must not be active above about 80Hz else they will attract attention to themselves. Because 80Hz has a 14 foot waveform (so 40Hz is 28 feet) the bass in your room is 100% reverberant before your ears can make out what bass note it being played. For that reason, the subs can be driven with a mono signal. 

Bass traps help, DSP helps (and can be pretty good about peaks but can't do anything about dips since they are due to cancellation) but both techniques together offer about a 5% solution if you have a dip. Subs offer about 95% effectiveness since they can break up the standing waves causing the problem; they work so well you may not need any other help.

This approach to dealing with standing waves is known as a Distributed Bass Array. If your main speakers make decent bass, you really only need two subs to sort things out.

@atmasphere 

My single sub with the HP filter is doing such a nice job, I'm considering adding a second. But I'm concerned that while two may fill the room more evenly, I'm inviting phase issues with two sources. I'm thinking that one reason a single sub sounds so good is the absence of two sources of low end interacting with each other and the room. 

I've already found that adjusting the phase on my SVS SB1000 Pro has a significant effect on the overall balance but with two it could get much more complicated. 

Your thoughts?  

Your thoughts?  

@mashif 'It depends'. If the subs are only active below 80Hz than interactions won't be a problem unless you place them side by side and operate them out of phase.

If you have only one sub (and its only active below 80) then its a matter of placement; you have to move it around bit by bit until you find a spot (which you may already have found) where all frequencies can be heard at the listening position. Two subs makes that go a bit easier; 3 even more so and you really don't need to go past 4.

My room has a pretty bad bass cancellation at the listening position and my speakers are flat to 20Hz. To break up the standing wave causing the problem I added two subs- one to the left of the listening position and the other to the rear and a bit to the right. It was pretty easy dialing them in.

Thanks for all the responses. So there are many options to address this problem.

Walking around the room, the bass is more resonant in the corners and near the back wall. I listen above 3 feet from the back wall and even there is audible.

My personal conclusion: this is a room, not a speaker problem. There is nothing wrong with the speakers per say. Second, I have not had good success with DSP as it changes the FR but also degrades the sound quality. Third reducing sound at 40Hz does not address the problem. Sure the hump is gone but I think I would loose bass quality as what is left is still a resonance and not music.

So looking into it as a room problem, I tried moving the speakers around and nothing helped. If there is some magic spot, I could not find it.

- One foot front the front wall.

- Middle (7 feet out) of the room.

- Speakers 5 feet apart up to 10 feet apart.

If you want to test your system, I play Madonna’s " I don’t search I find". When she drops that depth charge at 0:46 my room goes kaboom.

I heard back from GK Acoustics and they say "you’ll need a decent amount of coverage all over the surfaces of your room" with 10.5-17" thick panels to get any decent attenuation.

So it looks like Atmasphere’s "Distributed Bass Array’ is only viable solution.