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Distributed Bass Array Speaker Placement

I recently moved to a new house with a large basement room with the dimensions of 18’ x 28’ x 8.5’. Mains are Wilson-Benesch Vectors placed a good distance from the side and front walls. They are crossed over to a 4-speaker distributed bass array with a JL Audio CR-1. Low pass and high pass are both at 80Hz with a 4th order slope. There is no option for delaying either the mains or the subs. More details are available on my Audiogon system page.  

 

My research (https://www.audioholics.com/subwoofer-setup/multiple-subwoofer-setup-calibration-1) indicates that a good arrangement is to place each subwoofer in a corner or at ¼ of the room width on the front and back walls. I am concerned that this placement could make the time delay between the mains and subwoofers output audible.  My question is will placing the subs ¼ of the room length on the side walls provide most of if not the same outcome as placing them on the front and back walls or in the corners? This would be my preference since it will make the subs pretty close to equidistant from the main listening position. Or something entirely different?

I do not wish to employ DSP.  Been there, done that with my Devialet 400 and my goal here is to go pure analog. It sounds pretty amazing now and is certainly superior to what I had before. 

 

 

 

 

tcutter
jpan
126 posts
 

I have a DBA from James Romeyn, which is based on the Audiokinesis Swarm system.

Basically, you can do it (it’s a free country) but it will not be optimized. Since you have the four subs I highly recommend you find a way to do it right. You will be very happy you put the time and effort into it.

If you Google either James Romeyn or Audiokinesis then you’ll find a manual way to do this. It’s a detailed step-by-step process. The other way is to use software to analyze the acoustics of your room and then guide the optimal placement of the subs.

A final option is to work with someone like J. R. Bosclair (Wallytools) either in-person or remotely. He is awesome to work with. (I recommend giving him a call.)

Don’t just place them where you *think* they should go. Take the next step. It will totally be worth it.

Good luck.

 

 

tcutter OP
96 posts
 

I have Romeyn's DBA and appreciate what you suggest. 

To rephrase my question, how important is time delay in the placement of a subwoofer system? Many suggest it's very important and many of these same folks use DSP to accomplish it. I cannot do that.

I appreciate your pragmatic approach to the matter. I am still curious as to the answer to my question. 


 

 

soix
9,456 posts
 

I’d ask @audiokinesis in on this as he’s pretty much the authority on a DBA array. 

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