Subwoofer placement for home theater knowledge

                                Subwoofer placement for home theater knowledge

The basic points that should be paid attention to when adjusting the subwoofer (also called subwoofer)

The adjustment of the subwoofer is really not an easy task. Here I can only briefly explain a few key points. I hope it can help everyone.

First, try not to place the subwoofer against the back wall of the speaker (that is, the wall of the screen or TV), and try not to put the subwoofer in the corner.

When the bass is used, it is best to allow its energy to have sufficient room for expansion, so that the low frequency can be naturally and evenly distributed in the space, and it will not be crowded in one place, making it easy to grasp its location. The back wall of the speaker is the place where the most equipment is placed in the general environment, which will affect the energy reflection of the subwoofer to a certain extent; as for the corner? It is the place where the three walls gather and the energy is most likely to accumulate. The subwoofer is placed here. Clear low frequency, I am afraid it is a difficult thing. So, it might be better to place it there? In my experience, placing it obliquely on the half or third of the side wall, and using the wall to diffuse evenly will usually have a good effect. Of course, the characteristics of each space are different, so you still have to try more, and you need to use professional acoustic equipment to adjust it. It is best to find a professional audio-visual company to help you adjust it, because if the subwoofer is not good , It will make people very uncomfortable and feel dizzy and nauseous. picture

Second, the volume and crossover point of the novice are usually adjusted too high.

Generally, people who connect to the subwoofer for the first time often make the most common mistake of being excited as if they suddenly discovered a new world, so the weight of the low frequency is adjusted too much, and the crossover point of the subwoofer is also set too high. It is the low-frequency rumble that is very brave and powerful, but the details are not clear at all, and the sense of oppression is too heavy, and it will feel uncomfortable after listening for a long time.

A good subwoofer should sound voluminous, fast, light and not bloated. If you find that the shock is enough after adding a subwoofer, but the low frequency becomes not as clear as before, it always sounds weird , and always involuntarily pay special attention to the existence of the bass; then, please carefully check whether the volume and crossover point of the subwoofer are adjusted too high!

Third, multiple attempts are still the only way to adjust.

Due to the longer wavelength of the ultra-low frequency, the relationship with the space will be closer. Sometimes the sound of the subwoofer will change even when the subwoofer is turned at an angle. Adjust the position and crossover point from different angles. The settings, phase changes, etc. are places where you can try. For example, if a subwoofer always feels insufficient in volume, what should I do? Perhaps placing it directly in front of the toes or behind the seat can solve more than half of the problems. These require bold assumptions. Just try it out and see the effect.

The factors that affect the volume of low frequency and very low frequency mainly come from the listening room itself and the position of the subwoofer in the space, and the volume of low frequency reproduced by the subwoofer mainly depends on the shape of the room and the construction method of the listening environment. Therefore, in different listening spaces, the low-frequency reproduction is also different, but the most important factor affecting the sound quality and sense of volume comes from the relative position of the subwoofer in the space. There is a simple subwoofer positioning rule, that is, the closer the subwoofer is to any wall or corner in the room, the stronger the sense of low frequency volume you can get; relatively, if you move the subwoofer away from these places, then , and the bass energy you perceive will be reduced as a result. But don't forget that the floor is also the most important factor for reflecting low frequencies. If you want to get the most sense of ultra-low frequency, you have to place the subwoofer directly on the floor in the corner.

According to the performance of countless subwoofers we have tested in thousands of rooms in the past, most of the cases have confirmed the best subwoofer placement, either directly adjacent to the corner, or very close. And all the tests we do use the "Adaptive Window" technology of the "MLSSA" system, which is currently the only room test technology that can correlate with the human ear-brain system and the time/frequency characteristics of sound.

Facing this pile of large and small multi-channel speakers, do you feel at a loss what to do?

Placing the subwoofer in the corner or close to the corner is not only an advantage in positioning, but also an excellent starting point for experimental testing. Usually, such a positioning method can maximize the sense of low-frequency volume in the space, but in a few spaces, the quality of bass reproduction will be deteriorated, and the subwoofer must be kept away from the corner.

How to find the best position for the subwoofer?

Here, we provide two effective ways to find the perfect home for your subwoofer.

The premise of the first approach: we don't let the heavy subwoofer find its home around the room.

First place the subwoofer at the position you listen to most (Editor's note: that is what we often call the Yellow Emperor position), and then connect it to your beloved system, so that the entire system can play appropriate music. The next thing you want to do is walk around the room, trying to stop at various points in the space and hear how the low frequencies behave in each location.

When you find that the whole system satisfies you regardless of the combination of all aspects, that is, your ears hear a smooth frequency response, a surprise and impactful low frequency performance, or the second best. If you don't find a position where you don't get uncomfortable booming, then this is "probably" the best position for your subwoofer in that listening room. Well, now move your subwoofer to this point, and go back to your original listening position, if the sound performance obtained in the Yellow Emperor position at this time can meet the level you require, then the subwoofer The best position should be determined at the end. If not, please repeat the above steps, return the subwoofer to the Huangdi position, and continue to search for the best placement.

The second method is more complicated, and must use a sound pressure meter and a low-frequency frequency (below 100Hz) for testing to use a dedicated sound tester to help debug. Try to move the subwoofer to every corner of the room, listen to the performance of the gradually decreasing low-frequency band everywhere, and measure it with a sound pressure meter, and draw the obtained value on paper; find out the overall frequency The smoothest part of the curve is the placement (the best position for the subwoofer