Room size issue

[gotvinyl]

I am considering a VTF-1 for a room that is 18' (front wall with TV) X 28' and has 10' ceilings. The listening area is smaller (about 18' X 18'). I know I am violating the recommendations for room size, but I am not looking to feel earthquakes, etc. and really loud bass bothers some people in my family. Also, we listen to music a lot, have a vinyl collection, and enjoy high quality sound when we do so. We have never had a sub before.

Placement will be in a front corner for WAF reasons, and behind the couch is in about the middle of the room, which seems to be discouraged.

Does anyone have experience with undersizing subs like this?

Thanks for your input.

[Pete_Hsu]

Hi gotvinyl,

Does your room open to any other areas of the house, and if so, what are those dimensions (HxWxD)?

Try to do the best that you can. It will be tough to do much better than VTF-1 for it's combination of small size and low cost.

Sincerely,

[gotvinyl]

I attached some pictures. I am thinking about putting it in the left (facing TV) front corner. All openings are 8' high. The opening closest to the front wall is 8' wide. The next opening on left wall is 6' wide. The opening on left of back wall is 3' and the opening on the other side of the back wall is 6' wide. Thanks for your help.

[gotvinyl]

I double checked the sizes of the openings and they are smaller than I remembered. The one nearest the front corner on the left wall is 6' wide, and the other one on that wall is 4' wide. The measurement from the left corner where I want to place the sub to the opening is 7.5'. The openings on the back wall are 30 inches and 4'. You can't see the 4' opening in the picture, but it starts at what I will call the right wall.

I was going to place the sub along the left wall 2 inches out and 4 inches from the front wall with the ports pointing toward the front wall.

[Pete_Hsu]

Hi gotvinyl,

Very beautiful setup you have there! I'm sure you will get good results with the VTF-1 in that space. Front left corner is a good placement position. Try to use a small carpet throw rug underneath the subwoofer.

Thanks

Sincerely,

[gotvinyl]

Thanks, Pete.

[gotvinyl]

Does anyone else have experience with undersizing the sub based on the website guidelines for room size?

[mystik610]

Does anyone else have experience with undersizing the sub based on the website guidelines for room size?

I auditioned an STF-2 in my living-room (about 5,000 sq feet), and it didn't suffice...but it all depends on your expectations. If music is what you're using the sub primarily for then it will probably be fine....but for movies it will probably struggle.

When I had the STF-2, I knew the sub was too small for my room, and as such my expectations were lower. I wasn't expecting it to knock pictures off the wall...but I had to run the sub pretty hot to deliver moderate amounts of bass. For most material this was fine given my expecations, but I ran into problems with movie soundtracks that carry a lot of really low frequency material (below 25hz). In these cases the sub would distort pretty badly, and it was painful to listen to. I tried turning the gain on the sub lower to 'survive' this type of material, but doing so made the sub barely audible for most regular material.

Even if you're not looking for earth-shaking bass, you do want a little bit of head-room. You want a sub that is capable of delivering more than you want out of it, because with the way movies are mastered these days, there will be occasions where you're sub will have to perform beyond your expectations. If your normal listening levels already have you running the sub hot, there will be occasions where your sub will be pushed past its limits.

[gotvinyl]

Thank you, Mystik. I need to rethink this because we have blu-ray and enjoy the soundtracks

[gotvinyl]

I am thinking I need to go bigger. Between tthe ULS 15 and the VTF-2 MK3, which would suit my setup best for music and movies with music having the highter priority?

[Pete_Hsu]

The ULS is the better of the two for music, as it sounds super clean. If one is looking for the cleanest and deepest bass possible, the ULS is definitely the way to go.

Sincerely,