Best setup for two subwoofers.

Duke,

Thanks and I'm glad posts like we've put here can be informative for each of us and others here. This is to be a fun hobby for us audio/video geeks as Scott Wilkenson would likely say. Too often, too many of us fret needlessly over things that can just take the fun out of the hobby.

I remember first hearing and reading about Dr. Toole back when I was a young kid in the early 80's. We had a KICK A$$ audio magazine here in Canada back then called Sound Canada and it was quite simply one of the finest audio magazines at the time and guys like Ian Masters, Dr. Toole and others wrote cool stuff in it often. Even though much of Dr. Toole's stuff was over my head then, today as a hobbiest and one who tries to keep an open mind I've learned things from him and other respected persons in the field.

If I may, I was very much anti-multi channel for music until recently. I got my Oppo BDP-83 with the AIR Record sampler Blu-ray and that was an aural revelation for me in how good properly engineered multi-channel sound can be. Mark Waldrep was also on Scott's podcast a while back, check it out to get his ideology on AIX Records and their efforts at making superior quality, hi rez multi-channel sound.

For me when listening by myself with a stereo LP, CD or tape, well I think that sounds the best if you can sit in the stereo sweet spot and you play back a good stereo recording. But a proper, hi rez multi-channel recording on good consumer gear that is properly setup and calibrated KICKS REGULAR STEREO'S A$$! 1-2-3 years ago I'd never admit to that. But having heard hi rez multi-channel sound on an AIX Blu-ray sampler disc with my modest but well setup system BLEW ME AWAY!

Well I sided tracked things bad enough, back to your regularly scheduled programming, LOL!

Thankyou all for the help. You really helped me understand the question I had and took me to a level beyond what I knew existed. I will try my best to experiment with the methods mentioned. Ill post results as to what other sub I pickup and how well everything is working together, as well as my placements. Thx again.

Gozren, I tip my hat to you for wading through all that and finding something useful. We kinda went off on a tangent or three there.

Very best of luck with your project... and if you get a chance to listen to the interview with Dr. Toole (episode 14 at the link Les creative edge posted), it's great stuff.

Duke

Bottom line here is you have so many variables in play here, it's gunna be nearly impossible for anyone to discern practical application here. I mean,it's all relative here, and any setup needs to balance out, with all issues addressed, and all variables qualified and considered, relative to "truth".
How big is this space? Can 2 subs even work in his room? I haven't seen it. How's the construction? What's the layout? How many seating positions in play? What's the lifestyle of the listener(s)?
Not considering all of the above -even knowing none of the variables - my simple answer is that you're likely going to run into fewer issues (phase, frequency response, comb-filtering, localization,etc ), and get the best integration and bass/sound quality running multiple subs (ok, in this case, two) if you try and keep a set of subs up near the front/center of the room or setup, near the center channel speaker. I would set them side by side in the middle of the front of the room (or stack 'em just off room center axis), along front wall, for a likley rock solid integration with a multi-channel system, and you'll have great off-axis phase integration with the main speakers, (if adjusted properly relative to mains/center), good integration, blending, etc, and you'll properly deal with modes 1 & 2 in the bass response (smoothing out the bottom). Anything else, and today's superb digital EQ's/DSP integrated into many AV recievers and pre-pro's is taking care of smoothing out things even further, fixing phase, level matching, response, yada, yada.
While you can put subs all around the room, in various places - with benefits one way or another - you'll be dealing with phase issues from seat to seating position and sub to speakers, challenging speaker to subwoofer integration from all seatting positions, distracting localization of upper freq's, obtrusive subwoofer speakers cluttering your space, etc.
Bottom line, keep it simple. And, of course, I know nothing of your room and associated equip.
Stick with what I'm advocating, and it'll likely fit very well, regardless of what your seutp is, and all the variables of which I know nothing of.

When all is said and done, your goals here should encompase these important points - if performance is at the forefront of your target: even base response from the woofers- with no major holes (peaks avoided and knocked down, if EQ'd), proper phase and near seemless integration between speakers and subwoofers from all your seating positions (there's always going to be some level of compromise, all things considered - but, obviously, you're striving for the least amount of compromises), proper level matching between woofers and speakers, and try and avoid frequency filtering by placing subs distances where you'll be canceling a frequency that's in a critically covered spot by the subs (1/4 wavelength of the distance betweeen them)
After that, you're only concern is the lifestyle choices with having gear all over your floor! Subs can look awefully unsightly stacked all over the house. Er at least so my girl says...