[Paul Spencer]
Factors to consider:
Single subwoofer placement
1. Corner
This option is favoured by some due to the
room gain. If the corner is a long way from the mains, you may have problems with
localisation and with sound staging, depending on the distortion level and crossover point. A lower crossover point and low distortion tend to mitigate problems.
2. Centre
You might try this if you can't get the corner to work. This option is recommended in a white paper by Adire.
3. Coffee table sub
You give up room gain with this option but in some cases, it might be the only option that you can get away with where PAF (partner approval factor) is an issue. Another benefit is that if it is close, you may tame the impact of room modes by increasing the direct to reverberant sound ratio.
Dual subwoofer placement
1. Close to mains
Harmonic distortion products enable a subwoofer to be localised. If you have two and they are close to the mains, this won't be a problem.
2. Nearfield subwoofer "headphones"
With this option the sub is right up close. It might be behind the couch, it might be just in front, or either side of the couch. The response will be less dominated by
room modes. Being close, the direct sound from the subwoofer will have more of an impact on the response. Without eq, this can yield the flattest response of any subwoofer.
3. Dual sub dipole
This option is not well known. Two monopole sub boxes are used. One is wired with reversed polarity. One sub will be placed away from the listener, another closer. Draw a line through the subs and in the centre you will have a dipole null and a figure of 8 polar response pattern. This is effectively a dipole with a lower
fequal
