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Placement of subwoofers

Hi All. I would appreciate your views as to the placement of subwoofers in my system. I attach 2 pictures of my room for your reference below:-

https://drive.google.com/file/d/18w78TPuX5b9NnpA0msXvWH5Pt1ytL0NF/view?usp=sharing

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1zo9AMKBQ07HHJHxbAPcAaB8s_NCtK6Fz/view?usp=sharing

Based on the reading that I have done, I understand that the subwoofers should be placed alongside / parallel to the main speakers, and not behind them. If this is so, should the subwoofers be on the inside or outside of the main speakers? Right now they are positioned on the outside of my main speakers, but they are behind them by 1 to 2 feet. I feel that this is a system weakness and have been contemplating relocating my subwoofers as a result. 

Also, my subwoofers are placed very close to other bulky furniture, which leads me to wonder as to the effect on the sound emanating from the subwoofers. Will this effect or otherwise block the sound from my subwoofers? 

FYI due to the WAF, I unfortunately have limited choices in the placement of my subwoofers. 

Any input would be welcome.

Thanks!

128x128dcpillai

Showing 1 response by agirard

agirard's avatar
agirard
15 posts
 

I have two Rel T5/x paired with my Dynaudio Special 40 bookshelves.

My first experience with subwoofers, I initially followed Rel's guidance and put them in the corners of the front wall.

That produced lots of bass boom, prompting an all-day exercise, moving them all around my listening space (a living room like yours) to try to get upright bass transients clean and clear.

I ended up with them out in the room, on either side of the couch where I listen.

Strongly suggest (as others have) a room mode calculator like this one to try to understand where bass is piling up: Acoustic calculator: Room modes

That and a tape measure per Hans' room correction recommendations helped show me where to cut out certain bass frequencies below 300 hz with eq, in my case using Roon's eq feature. Roon eq is really useful because from your listening chair you can turn on and off the frequency band stops you assign based on your modes and room measurements and see how the sound changes.

Free basic room correction - YouTube

Can't say I've got a lot of boom now.

I also have the gain and crossover settings, that I set by ear, quite a bit lower than Rel's recommended starting point. This is likely due to my mostly square room, which I believe really accentuates the bass for me.

I'm no expert, just my experience. Happy listening.

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