Audio Kinesis Swarm Subwoofer Awarded 2019 Golden Ear Award by Robert E. Greene

hleeid:"@noble100  - Your guess is accurate regarding my room/listening position. Still trying to figure the shelf situation for experimenting.
I know it will be worth the effort though."

Hello Hans,

     Okay, I think I can help with the shelf/sub experimenting locations.  Here's what I suggest for experimenting for best locations for your rear pair of subs/shelf locations in likelihood of success order (according to my somewhat inexperienced opinion):


Experiment#1:  
A.  Place a shelf/sub along each right & left sidewall, with the closest edge of each shelf 2' away from the nearest rear corner of the room.
B.  Determine the exact distance the top of each shelf needs to be from the ceiling allowing for a sub laying on the shelf with the driver facing the ceiling and about 2" away from it. 
C.  Mount the shelves and place a sub with the driver facing the ceiling on each shelf.
D.  When completed, hook up all 4 subs to the amp, set the Volume control on the amp at halfway (12:00), set the Crossover Frequency to approximately the lowest rated output of your main speakers and set the Phase Control at "0". Note: you will fine tune all 3 of these settings for optimum performance once you determine which exact sub positioning you most prefer.
E.  Play some music with good and repetitive bass while sitting at your desk chair and then walk all around your room analyzing the quality of the bass.  Write down your impressions of the bass under the heading of "Notes on Experiment#1 Bass Response"  with separate notes for "Seated at Desk" and "Room in General".

     I'll continue listing more experiments starting with Experiment#2 tomorrow evening.  I've got a meeting from 10am to 1pm tomorrow so I need to get some sleep now.  I hope this helps.  Hopefully, Duke will chime in as you experiment, too.

     Has the complete Swarm kit been delivered?  If not, when is it expected?


Thanks,
 Tim

Thanks Tim!  
No need to rush on Experiment#2.  Duke told me he needs about 8 weeks ordering cabinets, amp and build time.

I will probably end up placing shelves along each right and left sidewall as you mentioned in step A.  
Probably will place a shelf on the back wall while i'm at it.(If I am going to drag out tools, measure and mark, drill, etc anyway)

With the floor subs under the mains, and one ceiling facing sub in a corner, that leaves just one sub to experiment with.

Unless I'm missing something, ...

@Duke - Do you place the subs directly under the main speakers?
If so, facing which way?

Thanks,
Hans

Hello Hans,

     Okay, my next experiments were going to be:

Experiment#2: Same as Exp#1 but face the drivers toward the wall instead of the ceiling. Deep bass sound waves are very long (a 20 Hz soundwave is about 56 feet long) and will continue reflecting off of room boundaries (walls, ceilings and floors) until they run out of energy.                 Whether these soundwaves are initially launched upward toward the ceiling, or sideways into a wall, causes their pathways to differ before reaching your ears located at your desk chair.  You'll need to determine if sub positioning and driver facing direction results in the bass sounding different to you and which you prefer.

Experiment#3:  Place a shelf/sub along each right & left side of your rear wall, with the closest edge of each shelf 2' away from the nearest rear corner of the room and with the sub drivers facing the ceiling.

Experimet#4: Same as Exp#3 but face the drivers toward the rear wall instead of the ceiling.

     It's important for you to understand that positioning a sub in a corner will increase that sub's perceived amount of bass produced because the presence of two walls in such close proximity reinforces the reflection of the long bass soundwaves it launches that radiate in a 360 degree pattern. 
     I understood this and specifically avoided corner placement of my four subs, keeping them at least 2' away from any nearby corner, because my goal was the smoothest, most natural and highest quality bass attainable without bass overemphasis.  
     However, your goals may differ from mine and you can experiment with placing at least one sub in a corner with any of your configuration scenarios.  If you do so, I know Duke recommends reversing the polarity on at least one sub that's not positioned in a corner.  
     I hope this info helped a bit.  Lots to learn but your experience gained from experimenting will probably be the best teacher.  

Best wishes,
    Tim

Honestly Hans the advantages of four are so great you can put them just about anywhere and still get great bass. I've moved mine around, played with phase and impedance (wiring for 4, 8 and 16 ohms) and a bunch of stuff and yes it does matter. But compared to how big a change you get moving one sub around the difference when moving one of four is small. It will help to keep this in ind because compared to the major errors just one sub always has when you go to four it puts you right from the beginning into fine-tuning. In other words prepare to be amazed and understand why those of us with four (or more) are such enthusiastic DBA proponents.

@millercarbon 

Yes, I feel I have a basic understanding of the reasons behind the advantages of the Swarm/DBA concept.

Landing right into the "fine tuning" stage makes sense now.

So after everything is set up, I look forward to some listening comparisons:
   
1) Swarm off
  
2) Swarm on but with just one sub (one of the subs under the main speakers) powered on to simulate a traditional single sub setup.

3) Swarm on (all subs on)


@noble100 
 
Really appreciate you taking the time coming up with the experiments! 

I plan to install shelves long enough to span each wall (left, right and rear) but with a 2' clearance from each adjacent wall.
That should accommodate all 4 experiments. 

Would it make sense to experiment positioning the subs on the floor to face the floor (on tall spikes) instead of facing the wall?


Thanks,
Hans