Subwoofers - Front Firing or Down Firing - Which Sounds Best?

I know the experts say it ain't so but my old mirage with 2 opposite side firing woofers does a really good job without needing any room correction software. That said I needed a sub to double as an end table in the family room and bought an entry level paradigm 15" with arc that doesn't draw to much attention to itself.

I know the experts say it ain’t so but my old mirage with 2 opposite side firing woofers does a really good job without needing any room correction software.

I’m no expert, but I’ve also never felt this was a must. Rooms vary, and subs vary in how deep they go, as does placement, and choices of material to play. I’ve lived in one apartment where EQ was 100% necessary due to a 20 dB peak in the 25-30 Hz range. 20 dB!! In this apartment with an open layout, and bass traps I only need to do modest adjustments.

Room acoustics, equalization, and placement are good tools to have handy when this doesn’t work out. Far better than attempting to fix problems with power cables or cycling through subwoofers.  Also, the one thing almost all automated tools do very well is set up the crossover points and delay/phase matching. That's a real tough one for many.

Best,
E

noromance: I know you have a lot of concrete in your rack. But if it's sitting on bouncy floors, what then?

Well what then is mass equals inertia. That much mass simply cannot be moved very fast without a great deal of energy. Way more energy than a bouncy floor. That much mass can only be moved slowly. The effect of massive concrete and damping sand combines to drive all energy into a very low fundamental resonance frequency range. You can see this in action. Stamping or jumping on the floor does move the rack. But it moves very slowly, and very subsonic, around a few Hz.

The response of this massive rack on a suspended wood floor is actually better than a lightweight rack on a solid concrete floor. Because the lightweight rack is subject to vibrate from acoustic energy. Also I lived for years on concrete enough to know even concrete slab can still move and if it does the lightweight rack will transmit that energy right up to the table. A massive rack will absorb and dissipate that energy into its mass.

So that's what then.
btw, I never have recommended "using any old subs". What I have said is they don't need to match, and more is better than few. Which is true.

Love my down firing REL T/5i. Everything it’s cracked up to be. Hi-level Speakon input, 120 W A/B power with precise rotary click control of volume and roll-off, corner mounted, with a unobstructed plane of 100 year old maple extending 20 ft in front of it. Super fast long-throw lightweight 8" speaker.

The REL compliments my towers, creates a base source that is centered in the sound stage between the towers despite a distant position on the sub. I am amazed at how close this experience is to John Hunter’s claimed performance. Great company, great products, IMO.

The fact that the listener can’t locate the sub once everything is adjusted in the room is magic to me.

     Since I use physically time-aligned B&W 803's, I have my subs positioned to be in phase with the main speakers.  To do this, I measured the center of the B&W magnets, which are all the same, and the subs, then measured where to place the subs.  Of course, I then had to determine whether to place the subs inside or outside the speakers, and finally decided on under them. It worked the best, largely because my speaker room floor is several inches lower than the living room into which it is open through a 12' x 14' hole in the wall (Actually, a lack of a wall).     Otherwise, I would have to use a high chair, but I might just have done that, but probably would have kept them between the speakers.