VTF-1 or VTF-2

[foxdarkstar]

Hello, this is my first post, i am planning on buying 2 subs to put in my newly built HT room.

It's composed of a 22'X11'X7.7'.
It has sonopan acoustic panel on 2 sides and in the ceiling, the other 2 are outside walls.
The room is in the basement and has 1/2" drywall on the wall and ceiling.
It also has acoustic subflooring.

The subs will be located in front of the room as seen in the picture, the wall unit is not built yet, but I can make it as big as as i can to accomadate the subs.

My questions is this, i will be using 2 subs in the setup, one on each side of the wall unit, this was drawed using paint, sorry :)
I'm mainly looking to see what kind of subs should work with my room, i'll be using 2.

I was mainly thinking of VTF-1, but i'm wondering if they will be good enough considering the speakers :\ VTF-2 maybe?

I will be getting paradigm monitor speakers.
Towers: monitor 11
Centre: CC-390
surround: ADP-390

Amplifier will be a onkyo TX-SR707

The room itself will have a curtain behind the wall-mounted TV and the speakers.
There will also be a curtain behind the couch, at about 14'.

That's a lot of details but hopefully that enough to pick your brain :)

Thank you!

[Pete_Hsu]

Hi foxdarkstar, welcome to the forum!

Two VTF-1's will be very impressive. If you have a flexible enough budget, and don't mind the significantly larger enclosure size, then two VTF-2 MK3 will be worth considering too.

Will you be orienting the subwoofers with ports facing forward (so that the amp panel is easily accessible)?

Try to use something soft underneath the subwoofer, such as a small carpet throw rug (just needs to be big enough to cover from tip to tip of the spiked feet).

Thanks

Sincerely,

[foxdarkstar]

Thank you for your answer, how about acoustic subflooring to put underneath the sub?

Will i get the same effect with the ports facing forward?

correct me if i'm wrong, but i've always thought that 12" subs would have a long bass, longer than the 10", especially since i'll be using them for 90% movies and that 10" would be better, that's the reason i was mainly looking at the VTF-1 :)

Thx!

[Pete_Hsu]

Having the ports fire forward will not hurt the performance. If you use an open back TV stand, then you can orient the ports to fire towards the front wall. If the TV stand only opens from the front, then I think it would be better to have the ports firing towards the listening position.

As long as the acoustic subflooring is soft, then it's fine to put the subwoofer with spiked feet directly on that surface.

For movies, the 12" sub should be significantly better due to deeper bass extension and higher output capability.

Sincerely,

[JerryMeeker]

Here is what concerns me. Based on your room dimensions, you will have prime room resonances of 25.5 Hz, 51 Hz, and 73.5 Hz (based on the 22', 11', and 7.7' measurments respectively).

The second harmonic of the 25.5 Hz frequency is 25.5x2=51 Hz, the same as the primary resonance of the 11' wall. And the third harmonic is 75 Hz, close to the 73.5 Hz primary resonance based on the ceiling height.

My point is this: unless you are very careful with regards to placement of the subs, you could have some real issues, i.e. far from the flat response you probably desire.

And finally, if you build the cabinet first, and then place the speakers into it, you are stuck with the speaker placement. If it sounds terrible, what will you do?

So, here is the recommendation, if you want to have the best possible sound, given the room and the equipment you have chosen, purchase and set up the equipment first, before you build (or purchase) the furniture. Experiment with with different placements for the subs until you find the placement that is most pleasing to your ears at the primary listening point. Better yet, learn how to use a tool that measures room response (like REW) to actually measure the response. Only after you have achieved the sound you want should you finalize the furniture.

A lot of work, but proper placement of the speakers in the listening environment is the single most important decision you can make. Read my experiences here: http://forum.hsuresearch.com/showthread.php?t=29220