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Gold Member Username: SuperjazzyjamesPost Number: 2151 Registered: Oct-10 | I recently read some posts in another forum where a couple of individuals were touting the notion that and audio system should have four subwoofers. The idea presented here is that when properly placed and tuned, the four subs can overcome bass bumps and dips and deliver more uniform bass. These guys emphasized the point that the idea is NOT to get more bass, but better quality bass. I found the idea interesting, but have doubts. What are your thoughts on this? The following is the most complete discription I could get in a single post. " .....'Distributed Bass System'. What this calls for is a minimum of 3 and often more subwoofers located in different locations usually around the perimeter wall in such a way that all room dependant dips and peaks are cancelled by the other subwoofers. Any enclosed space will have areas that form what are called "Eigenmodes", that are space and frequency dependant. By carefully locating the various subwoofers, it's possible to nearly eliminate the Eigenmodes in your listening space. Just a note, some serious listening and HT rooms may have "many" subwoofers installed in mathematically determined positions to provide smooth, even bass. To learn more, simply do an AK Search for "Distributed Bass" and you should find several threads with much more detail!" |
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Gold Member Username: MagfanUSA Post Number: 3004 Registered: Oct-07 | Somewhere out there.....on the Harmon website is a white paper written about subs....the proper number and placement. The conclusion was that multiple subs do just that. Minimize bumps and dips while providing a more uniform bass coverage. I don't remember the magic number, just that multiple was better than a single sub. That's one reason I think my listening area sounds good. Simply such an odd shape that standing waves are minimized across the prime listening area. When i had my sub over in the other corner.....my DEN, however, had a real bass bump and was apparently acting as some kind of resonator or trap. Moving the sub maybe 10' to the OTHER side...now behind the right speaker....and out of the corner, substantially solved that issue and left the bass good thruout... Look for the whitepaper....I'm fairly sure it's still out there. |
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Gold Member Username: MagfanUSA Post Number: 3005 Registered: Oct-07 | Somewhere out there.....on the Harmon website is a white paper written about subs....the proper number and placement. The conclusion was that multiple subs do just that. Minimize bumps and dips while providing a more uniform bass coverage. I don't remember the magic number, just that multiple was better than a single sub. That's one reason I think my listening area sounds good. Simply such an odd shape that standing waves are minimized across the prime listening area. When i had my sub over in the other corner.....my DEN, however, had a real bass bump and was apparently acting as some kind of resonator or trap. Moving the sub maybe 10' to the OTHER side...now behind the right speaker....and out of the corner, substantially solved that issue and left the bass good thruout... Look for the whitepaper....I'm fairly sure it's still out there. http://www.harman.com/EN-US/OurCompany/Innovation/Pages/WhitePapers.aspx |
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Gold Member Username: MagfanUSA Post Number: 3006 Registered: Oct-07 | Somewhere out there.....on the Harmon website is a white paper written about subs....the proper number and placement. The conclusion was that multiple subs do just that. Minimize bumps and dips while providing a more uniform bass coverage. I don't remember the magic number, just that multiple was better than a single sub. That's one reason I think my listening area sounds good. Simply such an odd shape that standing waves are minimized across the prime listening area. When i had my sub over in the other corner.....my DEN, however, had a real bass bump and was apparently acting as some kind of resonator or trap. Moving the sub maybe 10' to the OTHER side...now behind the right speaker....and out of the corner, substantially solved that issue and left the bass good thruout... Look for the whitepaper....I'm fairly sure it's still out there. http://www.harman.com/EN-US/OurCompany/Innovation/Pages/WhitePapers.aspx |
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Gold Member Username: SuperjazzyjamesPost Number: 2152 Registered: Oct-10 | Thanks Leo, now that you mention it, the Harmon article sounds familiar. I have a small, rectangular room which sucks. I can't even fit a second sub without it becoming a tripping hazard, blocking the door or creating some other problem. |
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Platinum Member Username: Jan_b_vigneDallas, TX Post Number: 17727 Registered: May-04 | . The Harman white paper on multiple subwooofers per room is on the page sited by leo. Its author, Floyd Toole, has been a resource on speaker design for several decades and represents the level of research Harman was involved in for many years. You do, however, have to keep in mind the Harman labratories were under the direction of Sean Olive at the time of this research. Olive is a severe, uber-objectivist on the order of the Hyrdogen Audio folks. Numbers and measurements inform him and his ears conform to (confirm) what the numbers say; http://seanolive.blogspot.com/ Toole was more associated with the psycho-acoustics of audio perception, though he didn't stray far from Olive's positions. Above all else, Toole was an AES member to the end; http://www.torontoaes.org/Seminar2008/bios/guests/Floyd_Toole.html http://theaudiocritic.com/back_issues/The_Audio_Critic_28_r.pdf If you'll read the Harman white paper though, you'll see no matter how many subwoofers you place in one room, the key is still in the correct placement of the first subwoofer; http://www.harman.com/EN-US/OurCompany/Innovation/Documents/White%20Papers/mults ubs.pdf . |
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Platinum Member Username: PlymouthCanada Post Number: 16743 Registered: Jan-08 | I use 3 sub's in my home theater, one 12" cubic box, one 8" cubic box then a side 8" bass reflex then my 4 satellites and central speakers are 2 ways, the sound was hard to calibrate but the result is amazing for the price with 120 easy db without distortion on the 60 watts by channels of the 7.1 HT Yamaha amp! Sh1t I have 5 ways speaker system! |
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Gold Member Username: SuperjazzyjamesPost Number: 2153 Registered: Oct-10 | "Sh1t I have 5 ways speaker system!" Too funny Plym! Thanks for the links Jan. What I've read so far is informative. |