[Tom Waits]

Hey guys. I am upgrading my home theater system from a $400 HTIB that I bought when I was 15 and had no money to the SVS SBS-01 system with the PB12-NSD. This was more money than I planned on spending on speakers until I was an attending physician but hey I just won't buy clothes or food this semester... Anyway I was planning on putting the subwoofer in the front corner, where it will be completely boxed in by the walls and an adjacent chair. Is there any reason I shouldn't do this? I have hardwood floors (I don't know if this is relevant) During my time with my cheap surround system I often pondered why I wasn't feeling the bass. Could its location have anything to do with it or is it really just the fact that it is a cheap POS? The new Denon receiver I got didn't have any inputs for the old subwoofer but I plugged everything else in just until my SVS system gets here. Honestly I detect no difference so I'm leaning toward the cheap POS option. But should I be okay putting my nice subwoofer behind furniture?


One more tiny question--can I use any old audio cable to plug my sub to my receiver? Like any of those $1 cables in the "Audio Cables - RCA / 3.5mm" section of monoprice? (I can't post links)


Thanks for any help. The only other thread I have started resulted in about 3 posts but one of them pointed me to SVS, which I most definitely would not have heard about otherwise. I appreciate it.

 

[MagicTK]

It depends. If you have unwanted peaks and the chair helps block those frequencies, then it could be OK. However, if you have flat response without the chair, then place the chair in front, you might be blocking frequencies. The best thing to do is test with and without the chair in front. Pick whatever sounds best to your ears. Or try other sub locations also.


Location and POS systems could be a big factor on why you didn't hear or feel good bass. The hardwood floors could potentially create strange reflections, causing peaks or dips. However, every room is different.


Personally, I am ok with using cheaper and older cables as long as they aren't physically damaged, like cuts or bends in them. Again, do a listening test with cheap cable and borrow an expensive cable. If you can't hear the difference, then it won't matter what you use. Unless you have some ungodly strong electromagnetic device near your cable and it happens to pick up some noise or something.


I am sure you will hear many opinions on all of your questions.