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I need your Wisdom Please - Subwoofer Placement in a tight space

2571 Views 10 Replies 7 Participants Last post by  Kieran, 
L
5
Sub-woofer placement

After many years of saving and cobbling together the system I had been working for there is one last piece of the puzzle; where to place the subwoofer; The equipment is as follows:

B&W 800D3 Speakers
B&W DB1D Subwoofer
McIntosh 611 amps
Auralic DAC - Vega 2.1
PS Audio power plant 15

I have read a ton about subwoofer placement so i know the basics (not behind the listening position and ideally you move the subwoofer around to listen, but this subwoofer is too big and moving it around everything would be nearly impossible)

The room size / layout is as follows (I get the room is small for the size speakers): 8 Feet between speakers and seating position; the speakers are 26 inches from the back wall and approximately 14 inches from the side walls

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There are 6 options on where to put the subwoofer (see photo below):
Option A – Centered between the speakers under the center channel
Option B – Left Center front
Option C – Behind the left speaker; the subwoofer would be: 4 inches from the back wall; 4 inches from the back of the speaker; and 4 inches from the side wall
Option D – Behind the right Front speaker
Option E - to the right of the right speaker in front (however it would be slightly in-front of the speaker itself but about 2.5 feet away
Option Now – where it is now

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I would remove the amp stands if it was Option C or D

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All advice is much appreciated

THANK YOU

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d-rail34
Regardless of size, “impossible“ should never be in your vocabulary. Use a little common sense and get some furniture sliders to move it to every possible position and measure each spot to see which one gives you the best FR.


Good luck,

Darrell
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bargugl
A 100 lb subwoofer is pretty much the starting weight of subwoofers on this forum and 16x16 is actually a pretty small sub for home theatre. No one here can definitively answer your question because no two rooms are identical in how a subwoofer works in the space. Any of the six positions you list could be the right answer. And actually, there is not necessarily anything wrong with behind the listening position either. Furniture sliders are your friend. $5 just about anywhere. Move the sub to your listening position, then place yourself in each of the six positions you have listed and see in which position it sounds the best, then just move the sub to that position. Two moves of the sub should be no big deal.

However, you've invested this much in your system already - Do yourself a favor and invest in an Umik-1 and learn REW. Then you you can actually get readings of what your sub is actually doing in the space at various locations and use the sliders to get it there. Since your room is symmetrical you can play around with REW's room simulation feature and maybe rule out a couple of the worst positions.
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H
Instead of doing the sub crawl, true placing the sub in the MLP and walk around the room and find the best sound in any spot of the room, a lot easier then moving a large box all over the room.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
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badtlc
My subs are 150lbs each and carpet sliders make them super easy to move around.

your room is symmetical so you might try the room simulator in REW to see what it recommends.
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kblackburn101
Just keep trying different spots I can’t believe price if that sub , ofc towers look spectacular 30k alone nice set up 🆙 if the sub box was larger it would produce significantly more bass , a slimline sub ??

DB1D Subwoofer | Bowers & Wilkins

The DB1D is the flagship Bowers & Wilkins subwoofer, with 2000W of amplification and twin balanced Aerofoil drivers for incredible low-end power and speed.
www.bowerswilkins.com www.bowerswilkins.com
I’d rather have multiple 15 or 18” subs , amazing set up tho , does the sub driver sound similar to the diamonds 💎 speakers? I don’t really understand timbre matching the subwoofer, did a salesman bait you in. ??
Wow 95 pounds too, sliders , dolly something..
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L
Guys,

Thank you all for you input - UMIK and furniture sliders are on the way

I completely agree - i spent a couple years and too much money not to invest the time to get it right

Kblackburn101 - nope, this was a system i built in pieces. I had heard this setup (minus the Auralic) in a listening room once and fell in love, but couldn't pay retail. So Audiogon and US Audio Mart were the places I found all the equipment except the Auralic DAC, that I purchased new.

Thank you again

Louis
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kblackburn101
Lewis. S said:
Guys,

Thank you all for you input - UMIK and furniture sliders are on the way

I completely agree - i spent a couple years and too much money not to invest the time to get it right

Kblackburn101 - nope, this was a system i built in pieces. I had heard this setup (minus the Auralic) in a listening room once and fell in love, but couldn't pay retail. So Audiogon and US Audio Mart were the places I found all the equipment except the Auralic DAC, that I purchased new.

Thank you again

Louis
Click to expand...
Very impressive set up for sure glad you didn’t pay retail !!! , if you can’t get enough bass just add a rhythmic 18” or something. Even a 15” may be fine . If there’s room on side walls in middle of room and they don’t block anything.
Good luck 🍀👍 always rooom to find for subs . I wouldn’t risk blowing up that epic looking sub ... two is better
That’s like a dream 💭 set up..
I don’t have rew or mic 🎙, or a mini dsp hard times can’t find a desk job . Gotta start looking again .. gave up
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hessc50 said:
Instead of doing the sub crawl, true placing the sub in the MLP and walk around the room and find the best sound in any spot of the room, a lot easier then moving a large box all over the room.
Click to expand...
That is the "sub crawl". You place the sub in the MLP, then YOU crawl around the room listening for the best sounding spot. Put the sub there, done.
Trick is to put the sub UP where you sit, and then put your ear DOWN where the sub driver would be relative to the floor (thus the term "crawl" rather than "walk"). :)
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L
Kieran said:
That is the "sub crawl". You place the sub in the MLP, then YOU crawl around the room listening for the best sounding spot. Put the sub there, done.
Trick is to put the sub UP where you sit, and then put your ear DOWN where the sub driver would be relative to the floor (thus the term "crawl" rather than "walk"). :)
Click to expand...
Wow - I have been reading similar posts to this one and I never appreciated the true meaning of the "Crawl" - learn something new every day; thank you
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Lewis. S said:
Wow - I have been reading similar posts to this one and I never appreciated the true meaning of the "Crawl" - learn something new every day; thank you
Click to expand...
Best to do this alone, too; lest your spouse/family or room mates think you've taken to acting like the family dog. LOL :D
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