Where to Place Your Subwoofer for the Best Sound

Andrew Heinzman / Review GeekSubwoofer placement is a system of trial-and-error. We can’t tell your the “best” location for your subwoofer, but we can help you find it with some simple instructions.A subwoofer provides bone-rattling bass and fills in the low-mid detail that’s often missing from stereo speakers. It’s an essential addition to any home theater or hi-fi audio system, but unfortunately, finding a place to stick your subwoofer may be easier said than done. Every Room Is Different Unless you live in a padded box, your room has an incredibly large impact on speaker quality and directionality. Sound waves bounce off the walls, leading to standing waves (frequencies that resonate and sound loud, harsh, or boomy) and phase cancelation (a loss of audio information). Audio can also be absorbed by furniture, carpeting, curtains, and other soft surfaces. And it can rattle objects in your home, such as windows or lightweight furniture. All of this movement—reflection, absorption, and resonances—must be acknowledged when placing speakers in a room. And this is especially true when finding a location for your subwoofer, as bass frequencies are somewhat omnidirectional. They kinda go everywhere, and they tend to pile in the corners of a room, creating muddy and boomy frequencies. That said, the ideal subwoofer placement will vary from room to room. Something that works in your buddy’s house may not work in yours, and if you rearrange the furniture in your living room, it may affect your audio system’s sound quality. (You’ll also find that your… Click below to read the full story from How To Geek
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