Subwoofer Placement with Middle of the room Seating position

[vybhav1908]

Hello Geeks

I have recently setup my home theater in the living room. I have one subwoofer (Velodyne Impact 12) and Polk speakers. Unfortunately I have got the wiring done in such a way that my sub can only be placed in the left corner of the rectanglular room and can be moved left/right by 3 feet, which I guess isn't a big issue than the one coming up. Due to my surround speaker wiring and mounting my seating position has to be in the middle of the rectangular room, which after some research I found is not a good location for right bass performance. :sad:

Since this can't be changed now, at least for some years I would like to request some tips that if could not completely resolve the 'middle of the room' issue but could better the performace a bit. I am expecting tip on these lines - furniture placements, subwoofer rotation at its axis, settings over the AVR, settings on the sub, or any other out-of-the-box trick. Would any of these or any other method effect the bass performance? Or is it impossible to get good bass in the middle of the room. Any suggestion could be a life saver for me and others facing similar issue.

Regards
Vaibhav

 

[efernand1]

Hi

Seems to be a little tricky matter.....for starters you will need to pump up the sub levels first as you don't have a corner to reflect off the bass effects.....

Secondly, you would need to try to angel the sub differently and use for sometime to see any significant change in performance.....as a measure, use the same song or movie scene to know the difference.

Last resort is to place the sub as much as possible to a nice corner and manually run the sub cable and power cable outside along side the wall which may be an ugly thing but no choice....

I am sure there would be some videos on youtube or solution available on google which you can additional refer to for best results.

 

[kaptan]

I should say sub is the sensitive equipment in home theater. Itwill provide best results only when it is placed in the right position and calibrated well. So I suggest u not to compromise on placement. You have got a great sub, try to position on the best place in the room to get the optimal performance.

 

[sdurani]

Middle of room length and width is where you'll find the largest peaks and nulls in the room. Peaks can be brought down with EQ (but that will make the sound worse in other locations). Nulls (cancellations) cannot be EQ'd away; the only way to get rid of them is with placement (subwoofer and seating).

 

[vybhav1908]

@sdurani: Please correct me if I am wrong, what I understood from your post is it is possible to get a good performance in the middle of the room. My seating position is the very center of the room (both lengthwise and breadth wise), will this hold true still?

@kaptan: I surely will, but for sometime I will have to live with the setup (although not the right one) I have currently, slowly Ill try to make changes more suitable.

@efernand1: Hello, how are you? I will say I don't get very very bad performance in my seating position, I can hear some heavy bass (in ear), it just doesn't punches me on the chest where i sit, although it does in the other places of the room. I do have the left corner of the room to place the sub and have the freedom to rotate (change angles) which I tried with little improvements. I will play around with these more.

I also wanted to ask this:
- I haven't yet run the audyssey calibration due to time constraints, planning to do that during the weekend. Should I be positive about the outcome? Does that do any good with the bass (I know it does justice with the crossovers)
- Would sound absorbers like carpet/rug/sofa/curtains etc. help further?
- What if I change my seating position from middle of the room to a couple of feet backwards? The surround speakers would now also be a couple of feet ahead of my ears (neither in-line with the ears nor behind). I know not a good idea for movies.

Vaibhv

 

[sdurani]

@sdurani: Please correct me if I am wrong, what I understood from your post is it is possible to get a good performance in the middle of the room. My seating position is the very center of the room (both lengthwise and breadth wise), will this hold true still?

Not "good performance". My post simply pointed out that you can use an equalizer to pull down peaks (but this will make the sound worse in other seats). There's nothing you can do about nulls (cancellations) at this location.

The middle of the room remains the worst location. Only way to address the problems properly is by moving the seating and subwoofer.

 

[Vinay2013]

i have found that a slight diagonal left/right can have big impact. Audyssey calibration should improve the performance but it should be complemented with minor tweaks to your liking.

 

[kaptan]

Tryvto place the sub in the back of your seating position. 3/4th from the the side wall so it is mot in the middle of the room. Set the subs volume at like 10oclock ot 11o clock position. Then run the audessey on the receiver. After running the audessey calibration increase the volume on the back of the sub according to your taste. Important thing is do the calibration on a silent environment to be precise during mid night to get best possible calobration results.

Try to set the crossover to 80hz in your receiver before runnong calibration. Also set the front speakers to small.

 

[sud98]

Hello Geeks

Due to my surround speaker wiring and mounting my seating position has to be in the middle of the rectangular room, which after some research I found is not a good location for right bass performance. :sad:

Regards
Vaibhav

Not able to understand the compulsions of the seating in the middle of the room. Can you share some pictures?

 

[kcnanand]

I for one had thought that corner of the room is a good place to keep the subwoofer and your wiring is done to the left corner of the room.
also found this on the internet
The Art of Subwoofer Placement – SVS

 

[vybhav1908]

Not able to understand the compulsions of the seating in the middle of the room. Can you share some pictures?

I am bound to sit in the middle of the room because my surround speakers are wall mounted on the either side in the middle of the room. I assume my ears should be in a straight line with them. I get expected bass if I sit around 3 feets behind my current seating position, but in this case my surrounds are ahead of me (neither in-line or behind my ears)

Is it possible to leave the surrounds ahead of me and still get good surround effects while watching movies? Would calibration help? I know this could become a weird setup but have no choice, I tried changing my Sub positions a little bit, rotated the axis but can't get it to produce good bass in the middle of the room.

 

[vybhav1908]

Attaching image of the room, I placed the black chair where my current seating position is (middle of the room)

 

[Naturelover]

So this is not a permanent seating?
What is your TV size and how far are you sitting from it? From the pic it looks like you just might be able to move ahead to be in line with the surrounds.
Have you tried that?

 

[arj]

place the sub at your seating space. pump up the volume slightly high and crawl around the potential placement spots. the area you get the cleanest bass is where the sub can be placed.

 

[vybhav1908]

So this is not a permanent seating?
What is your TV size and how far are you sitting from it? From the pic it looks like you just might be able to move ahead to be in line with the surrounds.
Have you tried that?

My tv size is 49". In the picture I have tried to show the problem. The ideal sitting position is between the surrounds and there i am not getting any bass at all being that the Center of the room where bass is nullified. If I pull my seat by 3 feets further away from surround I get enough bass

 

[kaptan]

Then you should definitely try crawl method to place the sub. If you compromise on placement then you won't get to enjoy the sub robots fullest.

 

[manoj.p]

Few suggestions for you.

Option 1. It is okay to have surrounds little in front of you, with speakers tilted at listener position. I have my surrounds in front of me by 1 foot and I actually like it that way.

Option 2. Can you move your surround little behind by 3 ft? That way, you are still getting good bass and surrounds are exactly on side.

Option 3. Move the sub woofer in the same line as your listening position. In this case, it will be directly below surround. Putting a sub in null position gets rid of that null.

 

[vybhav1908]

Few suggestions for you.

Option 1. It is okay to have surrounds little in front of you, with speakers tilted at listener position. I have my surrounds in front of me by 1 foot and I actually like it that way.

Option 2. Can you move your surround little behind by 3 ft? That way, you are still getting good bass and surrounds are exactly on side.

Option 3. Move the sub woofer in the same line as your listening position. In this case, it will be directly below surround. Putting a sub in null position gets rid of that null.

Thanks Manoj, the option 2 isn't possible as of now, else would have been the best. The problem is they are wall mounted with wires hidden and I don't have walls on the either side remaining to re-mount them (i have sliding doors and open spaces).

Option 3 is tough too as I have got my TV cabinet exactly in front where otherwise I could have placed the sub. I will get it removed after a few months, those drawers are actually not worthy

Option 1: Really something that could give a try thanks for the idea. I will also run the audyssey setup with mic placed that way.. lets see how the AVR takes it.

 

[efernand1]

Hi

Audyssey setup typically calculates and provides conservative settings....you may need to manually tweak the sub levels on the AVR to get more punch and bass if required....

My sub too is almost the same placement like your setup except the surrounds are behind me....after audyssey, I tweaked all speaker levels and also the EQ to get my desired preference sound quality with optimal output....

 

[vybhav1908]

Thanks for all your suggestions, now there are two things - 1. For now 2. For later:

1. For now: I will be seating NOT in the center of the room but a little behind from the center giving me a good bass but now my surrounds will be ahead of me (sadly not perpendicular to my ears or behind me). Would this really kill the surround effects or I could still get a satisfactory surround sound?

2. For later: I will execute the subwoofer crawl method after buying a longer coaxial cable for my sub and finding a way to hide it, I know my sub won't be anyway near to where it is now after doing this but probably my sides as I already tried it most of the places at front which gives weak bass in the middle of the room.

I just have this last question about the surround sound effects in my 1st point. I hope I love watching movies with that.