Sub placement

[djsiege]

Bought the Bluesky exo 2.1 system a while ago, but still not sure on the best placement for my sub. Yes..I have moved it around the room and tried it practically every position, in the middle, corners, random positions, but I don't think i'm getting the best out of it. I've also noticed a problem getting clarity at sitting down ear height compared to standing up.

Any one got any tips?

[dubengineer]

How big is the room? And what do you expect to get out of it? If the sound doesnt change when you move it around, it could be because the room is too ´loud`, you may need to dampen it..
Try to make a test with a sine wave, sweep it slowly from 20 - 200 hz, and listen to the response from the room/sub, the the right placement should be where the response is most uniform.

B

[decklyn]

I hear many answers to this question.

First thing is first, look at possible options.

Then get someone to sit in your monitoring position an play some bassy tunes.

Now move the sub around your room. You will hear the volume of the bass changing due to different room enforcement.

KRK suggest placing the sub where the bass sound the loudest.

I've also heard people suggest placing the sub where it is of average volume.

Your neighbours will apreciate if you place the sub where it is loudest.

What you don't want is for it to be quiet due to phase cancellation caused by the bass coming back from the walls.

Once you're happy with placement, you need to get any overlapping bass frequencies to be in phase. Flip the phase switch a couple times and get your friend in the listening position to give you the thumbs up when you hit the switch and it sounds louder.

roll the low pass on your sub and highpass on your monitors up to the highest setting (ie 74hz) This is recommended so your monitors have less frequencies to produce with the cone which will result in better sound production. Play around though - it's your choice how you want to attack the shit - in the end it's all your preference on this last point.

[wil blaze]

roll the low pass on your sub and highpass on your monitors up to the highest setting (ie 74hz) This is recommended so your monitors have less frequencies to produce with the cone which will result in better sound production. Play around though - it's your choice how you want to attack the shit - in the end it's all your preference on this last point.

Don't think the Blue Sky systems have this option as they are provided as all in one 2.1 systems...

I'm about to buy the same system this week... how do you find it bro? Can it go loud enough to have a mix (dj) on too...?

[theonelikepaul]

Human ear can't detect the location of sounds below a certain frequncy. It shouldn't matter where you put it really, and this is why you only need a single sub speaker...

It the room modes you wanna be worrying about, standing waves and all that.

The wavelength of your sine wave bassline may take up the whole width of your room, which is why you might notice more bass when your standing furthest away..

All about bass trapping innit! Build some bass traps in the corners of your room to absorb the standing waves and you should get a better listening experience in your sweet spot.

[djsiege]

I'm about to buy the same system this week... how do you find it bro? Can it go loud enough to have a mix (dj) on too...?

They sound crisp, especially if you're used to headphones like I was. I've re-mixed all my tracks and they sound much better now when played at different volumes and on different systems. I don't mix(dj) on mine though, I wouldn't want to push them like I do my hifi speakers.

If you do get them I would recommend playing as many tracks as you can that have clear sub bass throughout the track, and use this as reference. I know this is common sense, but it seems especially important with this system. Once you've tweaked the sub level it's alot easier to get your mix right, and to trust the subs accuracy.

The wavelength of your sine wave bassline may take up the whole width of your room, which is why you might notice more bass when your standing furthest away..

All about bass trapping innit! Build some bass traps in the corners of your room to absorb the standing waves and you should get a better listening experience in your sweet spot.

Square waves are definitely a problem. Any ideas for cheap, non-permanent bass traps?

[theonelikepaul]

Yeah just build a square wooden frame, filled with rockwool and covered with fabric to make it look better.

Alternatively you can do what I do and just store loads of junk and matresses in the corners of your room!

Theres loads of guides out there about all this just search around.. heres a couple of links. You can get stupidly serious about it all though..

http://www.ethanwiner.com/basstrap.html

http://www.kymatasound.com/Bass_traps.htm