HELP - Subwoofer placement

Hey there,

Wold you consider wall or ceiling mounting in front of the fireplace?

Next to the couch IS the best place for the sub.  I don't think adding a second sub is going to be worth the effort to get right.  I DO think that you are going to need EQ or room correction to get any of this right.  You need EQ to balance the main speakers and high pass filter them.  This will reduce the problems you are going to have with one being very close to a wall and the other not.

To integrate that single sub you'll need a good DSP based EQ to clip strong room modes and blend them in with the mains.  Otherwise you'll probably be caught between muddy/boomy bass and no bass.  How exactly you do this depends on the rest of your system.  Roon can help you, as can devices from miniDSP, or you can get a receiver with it built in.

If you were up for room treatment, I'd suggest it on the right and behind the couch, and big bass traps on the two corners on the left.  I assume due to other circumstances none of this is an option. :)

One sub. Set on it or put it right behind your sitting chair. That is what you're looking for. You want to feel it through your bottom. You picked the right type of sub.. Now add about 100lb on top of each sub or like I said, set on it.. It will really couple and rattle the joint..

Merry Christmas

Thank you, @erik_squires.

The ELACs have a high-pass/crossover setting (choice of 60 or 80hz, currently at 80) and also the option to “EQ” with a switch +1/0/-4dB for each of HF, MF and LF so I have set the right one at -4dB for LF to account for the corner placement. That way it’s not boomy.

As to your questions about wall/ceiling mounting and bass traps, I think you already know the answer 😂 The speakers are tolerated where they are. Previously I had one where the sub now is, but just off the cabinet, so I could sit in the other portion of the sofa and have both speakers closer together (current toe in is 45 degrees) and with no walls/corners directly behind. But that was deemed ungainly lol. And I am not moaning - this is our reception area for guests so it cannot be turned into a technical audiophile listening room. I am looking into “artistic looking” room treatments but with little hope. (NB: behind my current listening position is a window and there are two more on the right wall, so there it just makes things worse and prevents room treatment due to lack of surface, blinding the windows with Rockwool not being an option 😅)

I am a little puzzled by your opinion on second sub. Yes, it probably would require room correction by eg MiniDSP (between pre and subs), but presumably having two subs in “opposing” corners should help in smoothing out the general room response. Or are you just concerned that room shape + mains + 2 subs would be too complex? It seems these days a bit of REW + Dirac shouldn’t be too hard to manage, but I am inexperienced.

Lol @oldhvymec I am just trying to get a little bass extension and free up my 5-1/4’’ woofers to focus on mids, not get gut-churning bass, hence the switch from DefTech to REL ($300 btw). Though I did manage to seriously worry the missus when I once dimed the DefTech with some bass test tracks 😬