sub placement

[samnor]

First post to the forum. I dont yet own a Hsu but am saving up to get an STF-2. My HT room is 18x12x8 so I think the stf-2 would do fine. In the meanwhile I got a good deal on a paradigm pdr-10 which I am hoping would tide me over for a while until I can get the stf-2... My listening is about 50/50 movie/music...

I have a slightly funky HT setup/room and was wondering if I can get some advice from Pete and the other audiophiles on this forum. Here goes...

Currently I have a 3.1 setup with a paradigm cc-350 center and some decent bookshelves(180 watt rms). Wondering if I can get any pointers on sub placement. the whole tv/speaker setup is against a wall that has openings on either side to the kitchen (12x10) and dining room (14x10). my sitting area is a mattress directly across from this wall (about 10ft away) was thinking of putting the sub right next to the tv (behind the fronts and the center which are currently on the floor). the sub would be sitting on a stool about 20" off of the ground above the plane of the center/fronts. Any thoughts on whether I shd move the sub to the side of the room. I heard that I could get tigher bass by my current planned placement whereas a corner placement would be more "boomy". appreciate any input on this...

Sam

[bluextatic]

:) One of the best and most fun things about owning our own Home Theater gear, is experminting with the placement of speakers and subwoofers to get the best sound, that suits our needs, wheather it be music or movies or both. I have an idea that from what you said about your listening room, is that the room is in the middle between openings for the kitchen on one side and the dining room on the other and it would be difficult to place your current sub in a corner to the left or right of the rest of your gear, because there is no real corner? I would not put my sub behind or next to my Television or behind my equipment rack and front speakers. You can put your sub in the back of the room in a corner or up against the rear wall, in the middle. You can also put it in the middle of either side wall. This is where experminting comes in.
If it were me, I would not place the sub on a stool 20" off of the floor.
I would use stands for your front left and right speakers though.
I am pretty sure the sound will improve if you try that.

harman/kardon AVR 645
Emotiva XPA-3 (200 wpc) for front & center
harman/kardon FL-8380 cd player
harman/kardon DVD-48 dvd-sacd-dvd audio player
harman/kardon DVD-31 dvd-music-dvd audio
Sony DVD recorder
Teac X-3 Reel to Reel Tape ( 1980 model)
Polk Audio RTi-10 front L&R tower speakers
Infinity Beta 360 center
JBL Studio L-810 L&R surround
HSU VTF3-MK3 Subwoofer
Monster HTS-1000 MK2 power filtering & Surge protection
APC H-15 Power conditioner ,Filtering, and voltage stabilizer
PS Audio, Zu Audio, XLO, Tributaries, a few Monsters, Audioquest,Blue Jeans, Monoprice & a large assortment of DIY Speaker cables and interconnects.

[samnor]

Thanks for the input. reason I was going to place the sub on a stool off the floor is that if I placed it on the floor, it would be sitting behind one of the bookshelves and thats not good since its a front firing model.

At the moment, I cant really raise the bookshelves due to my having little kids who are prone to toppling things. The whole ht setup is behind a kid-proof fence so you could imagine my dilemma... Anyway, I'll try out my original plan and fiddle around with the distance from the wall (thats about the only thing I can change at the moment)...

[Pete_Hsu]

Hi Sam,

It would be best to put the subwoofer in a location furthest away from any room openings. Also, you should try nearfield placement of the subwoofer to give more mid-bass impact.

One fairly simple technique is to put the subwoofer at your listening position, play something with a fair amount of deep bass, and crawl around the room to find out where the bass sounds best to you. Then, place the subwoofer in that location.

Sincerely,

[samnor]

Thanks for the info, Pete. I may relocate my ht to a more traditional room setup so that I can locate the sub in a conventional location (side or nearfield). For now, I guess I will try out my unconventional setup. I am counting on the forward firing port of the sub to partially counter its "poor" placement...

[Pete_Hsu]

Sam, the orientation of the port normally doesn't make a very big difference, because port contribution tends to happen at very low frequencies with very long wavelengths...

Sincerely,

[bluextatic]

I forgot to mention the placing of the sub in your listening position, and crawling around, but that is an option that works good from what I have heard, as long as you dont have to pack around your sub to much, mine weighs in at around 90 lbs (VTF-3 MK3).