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

Hleeid : 
you say two subs under and then two aiming at the ceiling . Where on the ceiling . Above the speakers ? At the back corners ? Please advise .

I am kn the experimentation phase . I think i have nailed it . Partially of intuition and partly convenience. I happened to have a couple like new powered subs .jbl sp 150 .  Very versatile and adjustable . I went to the music store and bought the best mic cables they had. 100’ plugged into the back of my mac c46 from the balanced output 2 . Main 18” come off of output 1 . 
I found i barely had to have the subs on at all (the powered 10”). I was able to tweek my dual 18” up a bit . For some reason the new setup allowed it.  One sub is up 7’ on a heavy duty shelf above my oven in the kitchen laying on its side on a piece of foam woofer to the wall. In the other corner on the floor the second 10” on the floor on foam ,woofer to the wall behind a large oak bar area . Polarity reversed . Volume as low as possible without the sub thinking its of . I felt the cone and turned the dial until i could sense vibration in my hand . That is all . Now the airspace is so smooth its almost like you are wearing headphones but the stage is in front of you . Pretty cool i already had everything and never considered it before . 

.. music to movies to the news to radio on and on . Using a powered sub was the big thing . I honestly do not know how i would have achieved this result with out having adjustments . It sounds .. revolutionary. Thanks for your insight . It as it turns out is indeed mathematics as well as discovery. Over the last year tweaking  this system i have been imagining all the angles of reflection in this room (56x36x15) adding the subs almost seemed to erase the need for room treatment . As a matter of fact some of the adjustments on my c46 were then backed off a bit from their original settings for room correction !

I actually did hang out up in those areas . The oven is a built in double wall oven which is more structural than shelf actually . I shifted the sub into the corner and was up and down the ladder a dozen times setting adjustments while switching from misic to 

Ps. I’m not finished experimenting yet . I have cables still running cross country until i get a few days of listening in (100ft balanced mic cables )

Oddly enough my room is 56’ and 36’ deep . The waves can stretch their legs in here . After a day of listening and adjusting,  my main system included , I’m pretty happy with the sound . Soon as particular types of music come on I tour the room listening for the effects . I want a seamless integration of all components , anything less will drive my crazy. I do not want to be able to tell they are there. Right this minute i am listening to Robert Plant , In the Mood .  Very good track for repetitive bass notes with out extra sounds confusing things. Sound via a mcintosh mr78 tuner . My favorite station has the odd station identification that dips into the subsonics which all in all its a good place to get your bearings from. After I’m done tweaking i will turn on tidal with bluesound and see how i did. Try out a few ridiculous bass tunes . As well they have a selection of test tones .    My main subs are 12cuft 18” jbl 2245h , the enclosures are a greg timbers design . Powered by two mc2300 amps. I had divine bass response already . The rear subs really evened out the sound . As mentioned before i no longer feel the need for room treatments . It improved the highs reminiscent of the days when i built car audio systems in the late 80s .( jbl / harman amps ) You are in it, and not a bystander.   Thanks again Tim 

Yes Tim 
two 18” and two 10” .  In front of the 18s requires no augmentation from the 10” Its what they do for the rest of the room. By having them faintly adjusted so they are invisible to point at, creates sort of a swarm effect in areas that felt outside the sweetspot . More like you were at a live cabaret setting or even small concert venue . You are standing outside of the listening center or the imaging of left and right but none the less placed in the middle of the venue.  The listening chair  is dead center of the room in every way aimed at the middle of a 56 x15 wall . Kitchen to the far rear left bar to the far rear right . So i still have the makings of a “swarm idea” i just do not have all the subs running at the same output as the fronts .The effects of that would be undesirable for the rest of the room. They are connected to output 2 on my c46 . I can shut them on and off from my chair. I will try them adjusted up to reach the center seating tomorrow and report back. Tonight i played test tones with tidal to see how different frequencies acted in the room. 
Most every frequency had a standing wave in a slightly different location from each other . But most landed where i had each of the rear subs. (Rear subs off )  sound right to you tim ?  Felt like i should be putting them in the obviously quiet spots . A couple spots would almost cancel out. 

I went around my room today with one sub running a 30hz tone placed in the listening chair . I went around the room and identified all the hotspots with an iphone app like a spectrum analyzer. I like being able to reach around high and low to see actual numbers and readings.  Directly behind my seating area there is a wide  stairwell going downstairs .  I found a few 30hz hotspots down there. I put one sub there to try it . It really brought up the deepest bass impact without a ton of volume. Placing the sub as Tim suggests in the listening seat is a must . The whole  room is your subwoofer after. Its amazing what even one 10” is capable of with accurate room placement . I’m starting to think my dual 18” could have been more 10” instead . Although the nice part is i can dial them back and still achieve 20hz with authority.
 Been a very eye opening topic. 

I have 6 subs aligned now . And i can see the benefit of more of them. I set them in the obvious spots as per Tims suggestions. Unreal. I could see having 2 more still. Especially being it is a large room and they have to all be set quite low compared to the mains. The effect is there but not boomy if you walk out of the sweet spot.