Subwoofer placement, where to put it?

[Operaghost]

My new 5.1 system is in shipping now and I was wondering where is the best placement for the subwoofer?

I've always just put it on the floor under my desk for space management reasons, but with finally having a nice sound system I want to get the best sound out of it that I can.

I'm going to mount the center channel on the wall above my monitor, and of course the satellite speakers will be positioned accordingly in the front and rear.

What about the sub though? I was thinking of building a shelf under my desk where the leg space is to hold it sub up off the floor. Also, the sub should be pointed at a hard "wall" surface correct? So the sound waves bounce off of it and back towards the open area of the room? Sorry I just don't know much about sound so I figgered some people here may have the know how.

Thanks in advance.

 

[dx2]

Careful where you mount your satelites....computer speakers, unlike home theater speakers are not designed to project as much...although they can crank out a room full of noise if need be.

The best way to test it out is to try different positioning in the room you'll have everything set up. Although I would endorse that you have the sub a few inches off the ground like you planned....my Klipshe can shake the house down once i did that

 

[boredguyatcomp]

ive heard that if possible have your sub about 4-5 ft. away from you aimed at you can sound pretty good. i keep mine on the floor by my feet so when im gameing the "unwanted" vibrations shake my feet makes it feel slightly more real.

 

[magoo]

sub has no "direction". put it anywhere you want, but away from stuff that would "rattle" if the bass comes through too forcefully. You dont need to "point "it in any given direction, the sound will get to you, especially if its sitting directly under your desk. You can put it directly on the floor without loss of bass quality. go to audiophile.com and read all about setting up home theater systems.

 

[masher]

Just so. Subwoofer placement is the least critical of all. Put it whereever it won't shake or break anything

 

[BarneyGumble]

Put it in the corner of the room, on the floor, and away from your hard drives. I think that you get the best sound from your woofer if you put it in the corner.

 

[Hobbit89]

Put it in the corner of the room, on the floor, and away from your hard drives. I think that you get the best sound from your woofer if you put it in the corner.

Put it in the corner long ways or diagnal? i have mine diagnal.

 

[bob]

My subwoofers are laying under my desk, they make damn good footrests. Plus my desk is in the corner, so it didnt really make any sense to stuff them behind me to one side or the other.

It works, but I prefer to have subwoofers up in the air a bit in the middle of the room, the bass gets a little... weird and boomy in the corner. At least that has been my experiance.

 

[ImStillDave]

Although bass frequencies are pretty much non-directional, it actually does matter where the sub is placed, which direction the speaker points, and what phase the speaker is in.

All you can really do is experiment...

My sub for my home theatre sounds best about a foot out from the corner, pointed into the corner, in phase.

 

[Deleted member 72990]

sub has no "direction". put it anywhere you want, but away from stuff that would "rattle" if the bass comes through too forcefully. You dont need to "point "it in any given direction, the sound will get to you, especially if its sitting directly under your desk. You can put it directly on the floor without loss of bass quality. go to audiophile.com and read all about setting up home theater systems.

Well, multimedia "subwoofers" as they are called (somewhat of a misnomer actually) tend to play sounds up to 120-200hz, in which case are easily locatable. Generally sounds below about 60 or 80 Hz arent as easily located, but multimedia subs tend to play frequencies well above those.

 

[Operaghost]

Thanks for all the replies folks, the speakers are here so I'm about to set them up and play around with em.

Next on the list, a soundcard to get the best out of my Z5500's

Don't think the onboard Realtek 97 will give my speakers all they can handle.

 

[rayman2k2]

Thanks for all the replies folks, the speakers are here so I'm about to set them up and play around with em.

Next on the list, a soundcard to get the best out of my Z5500's

Don't think the onboard Realtek 97 will give my speakers all they can handle.

Ooof, get that soundcard now!

 

[scottatwittenberg]

every room is different.. so you have to experiment...

in general its like this..

aimed at a wall is louder, but less accurate..
aimed into a corner is even louder and less accurate..
in the middle of a room is less loud, but more accurate..

by accurate, i mean that it has a more flat curve.. therefore 50hz for example won't be way louder than a lot of other tones.. (my bose subwoofer does this no matter how it is aimed though)..

also, as was mentioned, your sub may play up to 200hz or so.. especially since the satellite speakers are so small.. my bose speakers, once again, really don't play anything at all between 200 and 500hz.. i hate them..

so based on that, you will probably want your sub in front of you somewhere so the higher tones that you can locate will be in front of you..

so yeah.. experiment.. and see what you like best, because that is what matters afterall..

 

[Operaghost]

Well I got everything connected and hooked up but I'm having a problem getting all 6 channels to work.

Right now I can only get the front left/right and the sub to play. I set my speaker setup in control panel to surround 5.1 but still nothing from the center and rear channels.

I have the switch at the back of the control center set to 6 channel so I don't see what the problem is. I'm 99.99% positive that Realtek AC97 supports 6 channel audio, otherwise it wouldn't have the ports for it on the mobo....

/ponder

 

[jpmkm]

Put it in the corner of the room, on the floor, and away from your hard drives. I think that you get the best sound from your woofer if you put it in the corner.

Perhaps loudest, but usually not best. All those reflections will colour the sound a bit.

Well I got everything connected and hooked up but I'm having a problem getting all 6 channels to work.

Right now I can only get the front left/right and the sub to play. I set my speaker setup in control panel to surround 5.1 but still nothing from the center and rear channels.

I have the switch at the back of the control center set to 6 channel so I don't see what the problem is. I'm 99.99% positive that Realtek AC97 supports 6 channel audio, otherwise it wouldn't have the ports for it on the mobo....

/ponder

What are you using to test it? If your source doesn't have all the channels then you won't get sound out of all the channels. If you are playing a DVD, make sure you have your dvd software set up to decode properly.

 

[Operaghost]

Yah I guess it was the source, I was just playing a CD so I guess those won't go through all the channels.

I popped in Pulp Fiction and was able to get at least the rear speakers to play, don't know if the center was or not. There are so many inputs and "effects" Dolby, DTS etc, its all kinda confusing to me. I'll have to do some research on it. Wish I knew more about all this shit.