Todd Welti is one of the foremost experts on subwoofers, and his top choice is four subs placed at the midpoint of all four walls. But he also said two subs at the midpoint of either the front/back or side walls is still very good. I’d start with that for placement and use something like a miniDSP/REW to do the fine tuning. I’d recommend reading Welti’s work to see his research that led to his conclusions. I think this video hits on a lot of the key points if you’re more of a visual learner. Hope this helps, and best of luck.
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I recall a few years back when a respected engineer concluded that the "optimum" number of subwoofers in a space is .... fourteen!! That’s only about a dozen more than most mortals can cram into a space. Not to mention budget and "wife acceptance factor." But, boy, just about every square inch of the room would be "the sweet spot" -- as far as the low end is concerned. Back in the days of serious car audio competition (yes, SQ was a factor in the EARLY days) the folks at Rockford Fosgate came up with what they referred to as "transfer function." They sent plans on how to build a small tower bass enclosure that would sit in the driver’s seat with the woofer located at the approximate driver’s (the one that aims the vehicle, not the raw speaker) ear level. Then, induce a bass signal into the box and physically move a mic around the vehicle. The loudest measurement was the best place to put the woofer. Often, we had to choose "Plan B" due to the impossible logistics of building an enclosure in the ideal location. (Like where the passenger likes to place her Kohl’s shopping bag). It’s kinda of the "crawl around the room and see what happens" process -- in reverse. Those with a little time on their hands might want to try this, just for fun. Or, use room analysis software, which would be faster, more accurate, but less fun. Nobody invites friends over for "room correction" parties. As an alternative, having 7 of your closest friends moving about on hands and knees to see who wins the "I found the hot spot!" competition would be far more entertaining.
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In my last house, I had 2 subs integrated very well after many, many REW sweeps and sub placement, settings, etc. Flat down to 20Hz before any sort of roll-off. Then I got a god deal on another sub and I thought adding it would/ could(?) make the system better. After much experimentation and testing, the third sub did nothing at all for that system. I only had a few areas I could place another sub and none of them offered any sort of advantage. So I guess the answer is, it depends. As usual around here. |
These are two pretty good articles that Mike linked for you. Not to speak for Mike, but the first one, possibly a bit dated, appears to explain why sub to main speaker integration is so critical and the best way to accomplish the job is with an electronic crossover, preferably one with DSP. I personally agree with this solution. There are, of course, other ways of doing integration that are simpler and cheaper, but they are also more limiting. The second article attempts to show how using multiple subs can improve the bass response of your system especially when used with an electronic crossover with DSP. It also has excerpts from a study by Todd Welti that was devised to determine the optimal amount of subs in a system and the best location for them in a room. The link to the full study results, which may be easier to understand, is the first link that I posted in my first post. (See post #6 above) There is also a segment in Mike’s second article that talks about how room modeling software can help to determine the best locations for your subs in your room. There is a lot of good information in the responses above and most of it is fairly similar, so if you are not getting the information you thought you would or were looking for, you may want to re-word your question so we can give you better responses. |
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