I have found it is a matter of not over-doing it. I am not a fan of ports, especially rear ports, so I advise keeping them stuffed. (my experience below)
Main System, 15" Woofers, Horns, I am familiar with full range and Stereo Bass.
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Both subs and surrounds should not be obvious, (except designed directional action, helicopter fly over, crowd noise ...).
Surrounds: not obvious, but they should surprise you how they were involved when you turn them off, the sound simply collapses to the front.
Subs, location not detectable, their ’fullness’ disappears when off.
1st, successful adjustable crossover
2nd successful adjustable volume.
i.e. Home Theater, Velodyne 10" 1,000 watt self powered sub. Jurassic Park Dinosaur Stomp, oh yeah. But otherwise never muddy.
i.e. Office System, B&W bookshelf speakers and Velodyne 12" self powered sub, doing what the 6-1/2" woofers shouldn't even try do to.
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Consider where eq to separate bass, or separate highs?
Home theater, full frequency to front mains, then:
center to center, surround to surround, sub line out to sub line in, which filters highs,
This keeps full range to your front mains, very important when using ’Direct’ or 2 Channel, you still get the bass to your front mains. Cable ’invents’ strange mixes, I often find 2 channel sounds better.
Office, small 6-1/2" mains: amp speaker wires to sub, sub filters bass out via adjustable crossover, then speaker wires to bookshelf. Then the bookshelf do not try to make bass they cannot do without distortion and poor volume.
Rear Vents Mistake
I inherited a big Fisher Console with horn tweeters, horn mid, and 15" woofers,
So, lets build separate enclosures for them. I duplicated eveything, simply relocated the front panel with drivers, crossovers, insulation into the new enclosures. Wonderful.
Then, being a young whiz kid idiot, I thought, I’ll make larger enclosures, more cubic feet, and a rear vent, get even more out of those monster 37lb woofers.
Engineers at Electrovoice (before mergers ... were still in NYC and Bucanan, Mich), My AV Consultant (I designed a lot of Conference Centers, AV rooms) My Furniture Manufacturer, we all got enthusiastic.
Whoopee, for a while, then sensibly stuffed up the ports.
....................
Location.
My very heavy mains are on 3 wheels (never wobble, more weight per wheel), and perform pulled out of corners, and away from side walls, toed up slightly. toed in for wide enough center imaging for two listeners. They roll into the corners when I expand the dining room table for holidays.
I mention it, because, if the front mains are heavy enough, that can solve situations like you mentioned, limited choices of location. Solid, spikes, 3 wheels, I’ve done them all.
Main System, 15" Woofers, Horns, I am familiar with full range and Stereo Bass.
.............................................
Both subs and surrounds should not be obvious, (except designed directional action, helicopter fly over, crowd noise ...).
Surrounds: not obvious, but they should surprise you how they were involved when you turn them off, the sound simply collapses to the front.
Subs, location not detectable, their ’fullness’ disappears when off.
1st, successful adjustable crossover
2nd successful adjustable volume.
i.e. Home Theater, Velodyne 10" 1,000 watt self powered sub. Jurassic Park Dinosaur Stomp, oh yeah. But otherwise never muddy.
i.e. Office System, B&W bookshelf speakers and Velodyne 12" self powered sub, doing what the 6-1/2" woofers shouldn't even try do to.
......................................
Consider where eq to separate bass, or separate highs?
Home theater, full frequency to front mains, then:
center to center, surround to surround, sub line out to sub line in, which filters highs,
This keeps full range to your front mains, very important when using ’Direct’ or 2 Channel, you still get the bass to your front mains. Cable ’invents’ strange mixes, I often find 2 channel sounds better.
Office, small 6-1/2" mains: amp speaker wires to sub, sub filters bass out via adjustable crossover, then speaker wires to bookshelf. Then the bookshelf do not try to make bass they cannot do without distortion and poor volume.
Rear Vents Mistake
I inherited a big Fisher Console with horn tweeters, horn mid, and 15" woofers,
So, lets build separate enclosures for them. I duplicated eveything, simply relocated the front panel with drivers, crossovers, insulation into the new enclosures. Wonderful.
Then, being a young whiz kid idiot, I thought, I’ll make larger enclosures, more cubic feet, and a rear vent, get even more out of those monster 37lb woofers.
Engineers at Electrovoice (before mergers ... were still in NYC and Bucanan, Mich), My AV Consultant (I designed a lot of Conference Centers, AV rooms) My Furniture Manufacturer, we all got enthusiastic.
Whoopee, for a while, then sensibly stuffed up the ports.
....................
Location.
My very heavy mains are on 3 wheels (never wobble, more weight per wheel), and perform pulled out of corners, and away from side walls, toed up slightly. toed in for wide enough center imaging for two listeners. They roll into the corners when I expand the dining room table for holidays.
I mention it, because, if the front mains are heavy enough, that can solve situations like you mentioned, limited choices of location. Solid, spikes, 3 wheels, I’ve done them all.