I have always used two subs. I find it best for me to have each sub in front of me directly beside each main. It sounds good to me, and it looks normal. Great video, Paul!!

PAUL YOU ARE AN EXCELLENT HUMAN BEING. Thank you for these education/informative and entertaining video!

My subwoofer is literally right in front of my left main speaker, firing straight across my main speakers. Sounds strange, but this is where my sub sounds the best. To Paul's point, who cares if it's not the norm.

I have my subwoofer behind me in a corner and have to admit it sounds great there. Integrates perfectly with mains.

Well said Paul .... I couldn't agree more with you ... I say NUTS to convention... yes .. just do what really works..! Every environment is unique

Your best plan if possible, is to get a 2nd woofer. I have one behind me to the R/H corner and the other at the opposite front corner. Both set at same volumes and gain incidentally.That will even out any standing waves.

Awesome Paul, you’re are an American treasure. 👌🏻

Thank you very much, Paul 🙏❤️😊

Facing a sub into a corner about 3 / 4 feet into the room, makes most subs come to life beautifully, somewhat independent of seating position. Discovered this recently when I remodeled my living room. Second trick is to place the couch a foot from the rear wall and place the sub besides the couch facing backwards into the corner. This way most positions on the couch get deep bass because pressure can build in the alley behind the couch. Don't be shy for some crossover / gain adjustments. Try it for yourself!

"Its a hit, don't give me that do goody good bullshit" Thanks Paul

Thanks Paul, you're awesome!

Have two REL S/12 subs in the corners behind the listening position. Put them there to get them out of the way - and damn, that’s the best place for them - so far. Works great with FR20’s.

Good advice to try the sub in different locations. Bad advice to put the subwoofer in your listening position, walk around and find the lowest null and put your sub there. Standing audio waves don't work that way - the location of the nulls are a function of the source location and the frequency. The reflections off the wall from the sub located in the null location won't fill in the bass dips at all bass frequencies at your listening location resulting from a weakness in the main speakers or main speaker location (as the mains would now be in a completely different location than the sub) . Just for once, Paul, try doing blind listening tests. Have someone quietly move the sub around while you're in your listening position wearing a blindfold. Find the best location (unknown to you where that is). Then have someone spin you around until you lose your bearings and then lead you around the room wearing the blindfold while the sub is in your listening position. Find the deepest null. Then have your helper tell you if it's the same spot that you previously chose. Hint: it won't be. For me, I've found that if your main speakers need a sub the best approach is dual subs immediately adjacent to the mains. Then to fix room problems move the mains together with the subs (keeping them together). I find that will give you far superior sound to a single sub that will muddy the bass no matter where it's placed.

In my former home and listening room, I moved the pair of 133 pound subs around from spot to spot, to reduce the extraneous bass provided by the room. When I put the subs behind the sofa, the listening position, it reduced the extraneous bass, but the "visceral" bass experience was "disconnected" from the soundstage coming from the main speakers in front of the sofa. I ended up putting about a dozen bass traps in the room to tame the bass sounds.

Great again Paul, thanks.

Fantastic video fantastic message

GREAT advice! Try it!!!

I always had the belief that sub placement was not quite a particularly issue with placement, but that's due to having fairly standard rectangular/ cuboid rooms. When was rocking a Rel, it wasn't so much about where it was placed in the room to be sounding the best, but where in the room it didn't make shelves of ornaments vibrate.

cheers mate 👍

When placing a sub opposite your main speakers, depending on how it is set up, which direction it is pointing and where you are, you MAY have to reverse the polarity of the output of the sub. A lot of home theater receivers have that option to flip it in the settings. You would be surprised on the difference. You just have to close your eyes and listen to see if changing how it fires makes an audible difference or not. Especially if your main speakers are towers that are quite capable of making their own bass. It could be subtractive / cancelling or additive. Just a thought.

I have 4 sealed subwoofers. Music uses 2 subs at the front of the room. Movies in a 7.4.4 setup uses an additional 2 sealed subwoofers to the left/right of my couch. music source=Apple Music lossless.

Because of many factors,we can't put subs just anywhere. But it would be easier with downward facing subs. The hardest to place are subs with opposing drivers mounted horizontally as one side might fire into a close wall. A better design, as far as placement goes, would be to design the drivers to opposed vertically. German ELAC did this in the past, but I don't see it anywhere now.

Subwoofer crossover point is more than relevant. If you run small bookshelves your sub crossover point will be higher than running full range mains. The sub can assist your small bookshelves with mid bass as well as the sub bass it was designed for. If all you are requiring your sub to do is reproduce only the lowest bass notes then it matters not where you place it or them (in the room) Conversely if you cross your sub's at say 150hz or higher, placement will matter as mid bass has more directionality than sub bass. Then proximity to the main speaker's will be important. 150hz & up crossover point...use stereo sub's near your main's. 40hz crossover point...do the listening position test to find the optimal spot. IMHO

I have my sub directly behind my listening position and it works great for me.

I set my sub woofer on the left side on the longest wall 4 feet forward of the speakers and 12 inches off the longest wall .it worked the best .Found a better spot to place the sub but it's not aesthetically pleasing to my wife but boy does it work better ..Sometimes you have to compromise a little to keep the peace so you can disturb the peace .She's a little upset I am rattling the crystal in the China cabinet up stairs..She now likes Trick of the Tail Dancing on a Volcano ! Now to get her into some YES

Paul knows how to stir the pot and question what is the norm for sure.

Good post

Reverse/inverse phase when sub is corner loaded at the side rear. Simple.

everyone's favorite solution is the rule for everyone else.

Oooh…is that C3 and 145 peeking out there?

Paul ... are you in love ? What happened ? So many videos today ... 🙂

But what is "flat" bass? Is it the null, peak or just in between position? And how sounds "flat"'....?

Hey Paul, this is at least -6 db down in level from other videos

Sound travels slowly, at 659 mph at a certain altitude and temperature. Ernst Mach

The solution is easy. Just buy 4 good subs. Put one in each corner and use EQ to chop out any peaks.

Same answer for Rel subs? Vs HT more « boumy « subs?

Only problem what can hapen in big room ypur base is delay

0:43 Paul said ‘box’ in Spanish. 😅

hi

Yes, question everything, but first question the person who stands to make the most money.

Do what works, not what anyone tells you will work. Occasionally the two might match, but that still doesn't mean the pundit was right.

The "subwoofer crawl" method is highly flawed and can never result in the best placement, because room modes (peaks and nulls) exist in 3 DIMENSIONS, not two. You would have to place the subwoofer at EAR HEIGHT in your chair, not set it on the cushion. Otherwise you're ignoring the vertical modes. And yes, the subwoofer(s) can go anywhere in the room where they produce the smoothest response at the listening positions. Two or more subs are better, and using analysis software such as REW will also produce better results than just using your ears. In my room, both of my subs are behind me, one of them in the left rear corner and the right one between the corner and center of the back wall. It is impossible to tell that the bass isn't coming from the speakers in the front of the room. That's the goal.

I just want Paul to open up and show us that 'Hammon Leslie' speaker to his right. First time I ever seen one was when I roadied Grand Funk.

B.S., reminds me of the old joke about the politician that went to speak on the reservation. After every comment, those in attendance would shout "HOYA! HOYA!" The politician was impressed with the response. After the speech, he was speaking with the Chief while walking through the cow pasture and the Chief said "Don't step in the hoya." Now you have a new word...

Buy good speakers then a sub is not needed. Often it ruins the sound .

He always says a lot, but doesn't make a point. So vague and cursory. Hardly a truly technical input that ever comes. Here for example, it should have been that please check if the subwoofer suffers from any noise such a mechanical or port noise. If yes, then do not keep it close to you. Yes, subwoofers being slower can be closer to the listener than the speakers. But then there is phase switch/control that can allow one to keep them in odd positions and still get good summation. A DSP can help time align things. A free software with decent mic and a few hours of KZfaq learning can teach basic skills of subwoofer alignment. More than one sub helps even out the bass response. Having slightly higher crossover point may relieve extra burden off the amp for power deliverance and may finally yield cleaner sound overall when a subwoofer comes to its aid. Corner is quantity, edge if quantity vs quality and free standing sub is all quantity but you may need four! Who will tell all this to a novice? So much to add and so much to guide. But we always get an over-simplified (making it half-truth, semi-relevant that it almost becomes wrong) narrative from him. When a novice asks a question he cannot be just said try and see if it sounds great - that way you're putting him into million options and not helping him. Yes, those who try and spend multi-millions on reference grade studio and systems are fools!

what happens when it's in my neighbor's wife's bedroom what do I say

I QUESTION your assessment that there are no rules... no guidelines or 'Physics'. I question this video Paul.

A free subwoofer hack is to apply a 2nd order (12db/octave) low pass your sub one octave below the (2nd order) high-pass value of the main speakers, then run the sub out of phase. For example, low passing a sub at 40 hz with the mains high passed at 80hz amounts to a +9db boost at 40hz and +12db below 40hz. This may cause too much deep bass but it's basically a free hack if your sub has a 40hz LP and you can run the mains in "small speaker" mode.