Where should my subwoofer go?!?

[Lemonjello]

I have a weird shaped living room and I don't know where my subwoofer should go for my surround sound. See pic. My system is an ONKYO 5.1.2 dolby atmos enabled. Thanks to anybody that can help!
[Attachment 41999 - Click to enlarge]
[Attachment 42000 - Click to enlarge]

[lingyi]

Recommend posting at avsforums.com

You'll get many more recommendations about audio/video setup.

[Lemonjello]

Ok sorry

[lingyi]

Ok sorry

No need for "sorry".

You may get a few recommendations here, but most the posters (especially the regulars) are more knowledgable and enthusiastic about the technical aspects of audio/video.

[redwudz]

Sub bass isn't really directional, so I would just place it in a corner. Behind your sofa would be a good option.
Also mine (Two Polk Audio ten inchers) tend to 'rattle' loose stuff in the room, so don't place anything on top of it.
And if you are in a apartment, beware of neighbor complaints.

And welcome to our forums.

[bendixG15]

As an ex audiophile , woofers are not directional and can be placed just about anywhere in the room, just give then "breathing" space.

[Cornucopia]

Agreed. But if you put them in a corner, the bass will be further accentuated, so adjust for spectral balance after you have placed all the speakers.
Also, you may want to consider wavefront time alignment in your choice of placement.

Scott

[johnmeyer]

The corner will definitely reinforce the bass. This may sound like a good idea, but it often leads to "boominess." Many receivers have a "calibration microphone" that lets you characterize your room and eliminate some of the resonance (sound cancellation and reinforcement), but I don't think it does much to cancel the subwoofer boominess.

In addition to the excellent advice that you should research AVS Forums (there are hundreds of posts on this subject, so you won't need to start a new thread), I also recommend you carefully read the documentation that came with your receiver/amplifier. It will almost certainly have advice on where to place not only the subwoofer, but also the front, side, and rear speakers, depending on how advanced your setup might be. The placement of all these other speakers is actually quite important in your quest to get a good "sound stage" for your audio.

[hello_hello]

I'd be wanting to put the sub near the front stereo speakers, unless there's a way to time align it.
In this guide (pdf) for one of their surround systems, Yamaha suggest the sub should go next to, but outside either the front left or right speaker so it's not pointing directly at the rear wall, hopefully minimising standing waves.

What's your TV sitting on? My TV is sitting across a corner similar to your setup, and in my case it's on a large cabinet. I put the sub in the corner behind the cabinet (ie behind the TV) which means the sound has to travel around the cabinet, so to speak. In my case, it works quite well, but every room is different. Stick the sub somewhere and see how it sounds.

[johnmeyer]

To keep you from having to move the subwoofer all over the place, one trick that I think works (others can correct me if I'm wrong) is to put the subwoofer in the main listening location (i.e., where you normally sit), and then move around the room while looping some test audio. The sound you hear at various places is roughly what you will get when you reverse the placement and put the subwoofer where you are standing, and then you go sit down at the main listening location. If you do this, you'll find that you'll get more bass when standing in a corner, but remember, this is not necessarily a good thing. You want even, "natural" sound, not a booming, thumping mess.

I ended up with the "ultimate" subwoofer, back in the 1990s, because some guy owed me lots of money, was broke, but wanted to pay me back, so he maxed out one of his credit cards and bought me the top-of-the-line Velodyne, complete with servo feedback technology. It has the ability to "articulate" bass sounds rather than just make them sound like a big, loud thud. It was way more than I ever would have purchased on my own, but it has been lots of fun to listen to over the last quarter century (I also have "sound of the theater" Altec speakers from the 1950s, if you really want to get retro).

I have several CD copies of "TDK's Ultimate Guide To Great Sound." I bought these back in the 1990s. It has some amazing test tracks and also a VERY complete guide to speaker placement and setup, including tones that will immediately tell you if you have your speakers out of phase. If you have a calibration mic with your receiver, these tones are less needed, but they still are a wonderful way to determine how great your final setup is.

You may be able to find a few of these test tracks online somewhere.

[pandy]

As Cornucopia and Johnmeyer already wrote - placing speaker close to wall or in corner will increase perceived speaker efficiency but this is hard to control and may introduce unwanted distortions (resonance) - partially it may be workaround by using acoustic absorbers (you can improve overall room characteristic with such absorbers - they can be cheaply made by your own from for example stone/mineral wool plates but for real low frequencies it may be impractical).
Your room diagram may suggest that you will need to introduce some acoustic absorption to avoid tin can effect. Real bass need plenty of room/space - in small spaces powerful bass source may rather introduce in your ears effect of pressure pumping than a real sound - definitely not good - sometimes is better to avoid bass due small space - on your side will focus on improving overall room characteristic, focus in improving pulse response (room damped but not over-damped) - if your amplifier support room equalization use it.

[Lemonjello]

Great thanks for all the help. I was also thinking behind the sofa... I currently have it next to the left front speaker but I feel it goes down the hall and i can hear it more if I sit on the left side of the couch. Though it does sound OK... I do have a calibration mic and the receiver has a program that tests speakers with tones. The TV sits on a glass TV stand with a shelf and open back, originally the sub was behind the TV but again I didn't really like the sound... I'll try behind the sofa there is good space behind the loveseat. I was wondering if there was a "right answer" but it seems there are many. Thanks again everyone and I did post in avs and will read the info on that site as well.

[JVRaines]

Agreeing with johnmeyer, temporarily put the woofer between the sofa and loveseat, then move your ears to various candidate positions and pick the one that sounds best.

[Cornucopia]

Sure hope those surround speakers are properly time delayed also...

Scott

[johnmeyer]

Sure hope those surround speakers are properly time delayed also...

Scott

I think that if he has a calibration mic, it should take care of that. My Denon AVR-3313CI definitely adds those delays during the microphone calibration process.

[JVRaines]

Even my ancient Denon has distance values in the setup menu to calculate delays.

[Hoser Rob]

Yes, you should put the sub as close to te speakers as possible. An old trick that actually works is to move the chair you'll usually be sitting in and put the sub there. Then pllay some tunes and (this is the part where you will look silly) crawl around the floor until you find where it sounds best. Put the sub in that spot. Of course, if that spot is too inconvenient, find the seccond best place.

[johnmeyer]

Yes, you should put the sub as close to te speakers as possible. An old trick that actually works is to move the chair you'll usually be sitting in and put the sub there. Then pllay some tunes and (this is the part where you will look silly) crawl around the floor until you find where it sounds best. Put the sub in that spot. Of course, if that spot is too inconvenient, find the seccond best place.

That's exactly what I said in post #10 above.