subs at the rear of ht... bad idea???

[Anthony A.]

since my ascent i's and theater i take up a lot of space on my dedicated ht stage, i was thinking of locating 2 subs (a left and right) at the rear of the theater, behind the back row (out of sight). in terms of performance, i don't see how the rear is any different than the front (assuming that subs are non-directional), however to my ears i would likely say that the front is a better position for them since the transition from speaker to sub is much smoother. is it a bad idea to locate 2 subs at the rear of the ht, assuming they have been positioned to reduce all room nodes. thanks.

 

[risabet]

Though conventional wisdom has the low bass as unidirectional, there are steering cues in the bass in my experience. I would recommend leaving the woofers in the front.

 

[attyonline]

You should have no problem with rear placement provided that you have an appropriately steep crossover slope and, if possible, try to crossover at 60 hz.

 

[Willy]

Do Both

I had a similar problem. Liked them at the front for stereo but wanted one at the back for HT.

Long term plan is to leave stereo subs at front with Prodigys and add one with some slam to the rear for HT. Run fronts off line level speaker connections, rear off LFE to pick up .1 sounds. May also pick up line level off surrounds to enhance their presence.

Related, anyone tried MJ Acoustics Pro 1650?

 

[EricE]

I've actually just switched placement of my Paradigm Servo15 from the right rear corner to the front left corner in my rectangular room. There was a slight but definite changes in the sound. The front placement energized the room more actually causing more vibrations but the low low bass seems to be weaker. Bass speed and timing sounds improved also because of the close proximity to the front speakers.

The rear placement had 2 walls of concrete framed with drywall and the bass sounded to float in the room and behave more "no directional". The front and left walls are standard 2x4 drywall construction with a storage/laundry room behind them so I'm sure different nodes are being excited.

 

[Statman]

What about this?

Anthony,

Have you tried one sub in the front of the room and one in the rear in opposite corners of the room? Keep us posted?

 

[Taz]

It should not make a differance but with my room the front placement was munh better.

 

[Anthony A.]

i guess the best thing is to try it out and see. im still buildiig my ht, but i will update when it is done and my findings. thanks.

 

[Anthony A.]

i got an idea that i want some opinions on. what if i use a very high quality sub (velodyne dd) at the front of my ht using line level inputs to the front left and right speakers and run a much cheaper sub at the rear of the ht for lfe. is this a bad idea? is lfe the way to go in a ht although line level sounds much better in 2 channel?

 

[Taz]

The postion of your sub is so dependent on your room acoustics. None of us can tell you the best place to put it with out being in your room. I was talking to a engineer that designs subs and he said it is one audio product that people upgrade and spend to much money when all the needed to do was move the sub. Being ML owners we all no the importance of placement. If they are not set right you wasted your money. Get them aligned right and it is heaven. As for running 2 subs one for HT and one for music. Why? If you get a greta sud like the velo dd series why would you get a cheaper one for HT. Let the velo do it all. Plus I do not know of a pre that would let you choose which sub to use for differant outputs. It might be out there but I have never heard of it. Take the time to test the best place for your sub and leave it there and enjoy

 

[zaphod]

why would you get a cheaper one for HT. Let the velo do it all.

i think that using a cheap sub for LFE would be like using cheap speakers for the EX/ES rear speakers in an 7.1 room - no wait, that's what i do. sigh. wish i could find another set of reasonably price scripts.

Plus I do not know of a pre that would let you choose which sub to use for differant outputs. It might be out there but I have never heard of it.

external crossover... of course i would use the classic one by meitner - oh Lord, he used the "M" word again

the LFE channel goes directly the the HT sub. the left and right front channels go to a crossover and then to the front speakers and sub(s). just like people did 15 years ago before LFE entered the listening room. velodyne made a great external crossover too - even came with a free subwoofer

oh, i am in such a mood

 

[Webinattor]

A number of years ago when we moved into this house I moved my sub to the rear of the room and stuck it in my fireplace. I still like the way that works to this day and have not moved it since.

I have a page that goes over it...the nav links are on the very bottom of the page. Subwoofer in da fireplace

 

[jjqiv]

The postion of your sub is so dependent on your room acoustics. None of us can tell you the best place to put it with out being in your room. I was talking to a engineer that designs subs and he said it is one audio product that people upgrade and spend to much money when all the needed to do was move the sub. Being ML owners we all no the importance of placement. If they are not set right you wasted your money. Get them aligned right and it is heaven. As for running 2 subs one for HT and one for music. Why? If you get a greta sud like the velo dd series why would you get a cheaper one for HT. Let the velo do it all. Plus I do not know of a pre that would let you choose which sub to use for differant outputs. It might be out there but I have never heard of it. Take the time to test the best place for your sub and leave it there and enjoy

If you connected a sub at line level (from amp speaker terminals to sub), then you would have to tell you processor you have no sub. When you connect a sub a line level you would optimized it (level and x-over) for speaker integration. A separate sub for HT would allow you to set-up that sub optimized for HT

 

[Anthony A.]

yes, thats exactly what i want to do. use line level sub through front l and r speakers and use lfe sub at rear for the effects. is this overkill? how do you connect line level sub to bi-wire speakers?

 

[Taz]

To me it is overkill unless you have a very large room 2 subs is a lot I would take the xtra $ of the sub the cables for the pass etc. and move up that Velo DD line or if you were already up to there top of the line then I really do not think any of this is ness. What porblems we Face!!

 

[attyonline]

Agree with the above advice. One excellent sub is better than adding a mediocre second sub in virtually all situations. Unless your room is cavernous, one very good sub is all you need. Now you get to move it around and around and around.......