HTiB sub question

[DonRSD]

ok since 'upgrade-itis' hit i revamped my entire downstairs system

well i put my onkyo sr800 in the room for the wife so now she cant yell at me to turn my radio down.....TURN YOURS UP

anyhow....every speaker is from that sr800 set
the subwoofer works YET we cant hear it while laying down. (its a downfiring sub FYI)

we have wooden floors throughout upstairs....does this make a difference?

when i had this same sub downstairs i had NO PROBLEMS with hearing it when sitting down with the tiled floor downstairs.

a 'riser' is out of the equation as the woman wont go for it.


im thinking of putting a piece of wood (1/4" thick) under the sub upstairs. will this make a difference or what?
im no 'bob vila' but id think with a piece of wood between the down firing sub & wooden floor that the sound wouldnt travel in every direction along the wooden floors

i cant really move the sub as where it is it blends well with our furniture.

any suggestions/help/recommendations for an old blu-ray pal?!?!

[Fors*]

Originally Posted by DonRSD

ok since 'upgrade-itis' hit i revamped my entire downstairs system

well i put my onkyo sr800 in the room for the wife so now she cant yell at me to turn my radio down.....TURN YOURS UP

anyhow....every speaker is from that sr800 set
the subwoofer works YET we cant hear it while laying down. (its a downfiring sub FYI)

we have wooden floors throughout upstairs....does this make a difference?

when i had this same sub downstairs i had NO PROBLEMS with hearing it when sitting down with the tiled floor downstairs.

a 'riser' is out of the equation as the woman wont go for it.


im thinking of putting a piece of wood (1/4" thick) under the sub upstairs. will this make a difference or what?
im no 'bob vila' but id think with a piece of wood between the down firing sub & wooden floor that the sound wouldnt travel in every direction along the wooden floors

i cant really move the sub as where it is it blends well with our furniture.

any suggestions/help/recommendations for an old blu-ray pal?!?!

Don, would you also dampen the 1/4" piece of wood with some foam, rubber isolators, etc from the hardwood floor......? Or how about adding some kind of "legs" to the sub? Just throwing this out there......

[DonRSD]

Originally Posted by forsberg21

Don, would you also dampen the 1/4" piece of wood with some foam, rubber isolators, etc from the hardwood floor......? Or how about adding some kind of "legs" to the sub? Just throwing this out there......

well the HTiB sub has legs.....about 1 inch to 1 1/2 inches already

i didnt plan on dampening anything

[Fors*]

Originally Posted by DonRSD

well the HTiB sub has legs.....about 1 inch to 1 1/2 inches already

i didnt plan on dampening anything

I am getting a feeling that some of our other "sub" brethren can answer this question better, as I have a feeling I would go down the wrong road on this one since your sub is a downfiring one.

[DonRSD]

Originally Posted by DonRSD

ok since 'upgrade-itis' hit i revamped my entire downstairs system

well i put my onkyo sr800 in the room for the wife so now she cant yell at me to turn my radio down.....TURN YOURS UP

anyhow....every speaker is from that sr800 set
the subwoofer works YET we cant hear it while laying down. (its a downfiring sub FYI)

we have wooden floors throughout upstairs....does this make a difference?

when i had this same sub downstairs i had NO PROBLEMS with hearing it when sitting down with the tiled floor downstairs.

a 'riser' is out of the equation as the woman wont go for it.


im thinking of putting a piece of wood (1/4" thick) under the sub upstairs. will this make a difference or what?
im no 'bob vila' but id think with a piece of wood between the down firing sub & wooden floor that the sound wouldnt travel in every direction along the wooden floors

i cant really move the sub as where it is it blends well with our furniture.

any suggestions/help/recommendations for an old blu-ray pal?!?!

any help?

[HAMP]

I have wooden floors also and my subs sounded fine, but then I added a small piece of carpet and the bass became much heavier.

I haven’t tried the riser yet because I love how the subs sound with the carpet under it.

In my gallery I haven’t taken any pics to show the carpet, but it made a difference in sound.

I know you said you can't move the sub because of looks, but I’m sure your gonna have to give it a try. You may just find a spot that gives you the perfect bass for your room

[DonRSD]

Originally Posted by HAMP

I have wooden floors also and my subs sounded fine, but then I added a small piece of carpet and the bass became much heavier.

I haven’t tried the riser yet because I love how the subs sound with the carpet under it.

In my gallery I haven’t taken any pics to show the carpet, but it made a difference in sound.

I know you said you can't move the sub because of looks, but I’m sure your gonna have to give it a try. You may just find a spot that gives you the perfect bass for your room

ill try the carpet this weekend.
i just put a piece of wood between the downfiring hrib sub & wooden floor.....ill see how this goes

[Fors*]

Originally Posted by DonRSD

ill try the carpet this weekend.
i just put a piece of wood between the downfiring hrib sub & wooden floor.....ill see how this goes

Don, have you thought of making a riser out of wood, but in the form of a box and possibly staining it so it looks like it should be part of the surrounding furniture? I think that you could make a box out of wood and put some pollyfill or something inside the box to help dampen it and then put some rubber underneath the box to isolate from the floor, then some carpet on the top of the box, and finally dress up the box by staining it to match the entertainment center that it might look more like a piece of furniture and the WAF (this means the wife approval factor, not sure if you ever got your answer) might be OK with it?

[DonRSD]

Originally Posted by forsberg21

Don, have you thought of making a riser out of wood, but in the form of a box and possibly staining it so it looks like it should be part of the surrounding furniture? I think that you could make a box out of wood and put some pollyfill or something inside the box to help dampen it and then put some rubber underneath the box to isolate from the floor, then some carpet on the top of the box, and finally dress up the box by staining it to match the entertainment center that it might look more like a piece of furniture and the WAF (this means the wife approval factor, not sure if you ever got your answer) might be OK with it?

thats too much work forsberg.....lol
im actually debating NOW on buying an elemental design sub then moving my klipsch from downstairs into the bedroom

[aramis109]

Sounds to me like you've got standing waves, and that realistically no amount of tweaking is going to make a difference outside of moving the sub. I know where I have mine now that the bass is slightly stronger when seated on the couch than it is on the loveseat, but it's something I put up with because overall I feel I get really good bass response. However, if it was a total null in my main seating position, I'd definitely move it.

Throwing a louder sub at the problem may not do much. Have you tried as an experiment upping the gain on your current sub? Yeah, it'll probably be overkill but it'll give you an idea if a different sub will realistically do the trick in that location.

[Fors*]

Originally Posted by DonRSD

thats too much work forsberg.....lol
im actually debating NOW on buying an elemental design sub then moving my klipsch from downstairs into the bedroom

Just trying to help out. Yeah, I saw your post over in the eD forum. I would really like to get my hands on one of them, or an SVS or Hsu, but as you know, I need a new receiver first. I'll probably get both the receiver and sub at the same time. I am jealous that you could be pulling the trigger on the eD sub.....I have read lots of good things on it.

[DonRSD]

Originally Posted by aramis109

Sounds to me like you've got standing waves, and that realistically no amount of tweaking is going to make a difference outside of moving the sub. I know where I have mine now that the bass is slightly stronger when seated on the couch than it is on the loveseat, but it's something I put up with because overall I feel I get really good bass response. However, if it was a total null in my main seating position, I'd definitely move it.

Throwing a louder sub at the problem may not do much. Have you tried as an experiment upping the gain on your current sub? Yeah, it'll probably be overkill but it'll give you an idea if a different sub will realistically do the trick in that location.

good points on all regards!
there isnt really any room to put the bedroom sub anywhere else.
funny thing is when im taking a shower (bathroom is sharing the wall the back of the tv/sub is on) i can FEEL the bass

but whej i get out of the bathroom theres no bass in the bedroom

Originally Posted by forsberg21

Just trying to help out. Yeah, I saw your post over in the eD forum. I would really like to get my hands on one of them, or an SVS or Hsu, but as you know, I need a new receiver first. I'll probably get both the receiver and sub at the same time. I am jealous that you could be pulling the trigger on the eD sub.....I have read lots of good things on it.

dude, get the sub anyway. use it with your 606 for now

[Rob J in WNY]

Don,

HAMP and Aramis are spot-on. Your bed is in a "cancellation zone" and that boils down to a locational problem. Rising the sub may help, but a complete locational change is just about your only option. Before you build a riser, see if you can place the sub higher on something to test the theory. A few inches will probably not really help you, but it's worth trying. Hate to say it, but moving your sub is likely going to be your only real solution.

I know that's an option that you cannot make right now, but could your bedroom be entirely rearranged so that you can put your bed where the bass is not nullified?

Yours is the perfect example as to the commonly mentioned notion that a sub can "go anywhere in a room because bass frequencies are non-directional." Whereas the latter part is true, room acoustics play a strong role in low-frequency propagation - no matter what the size of the sub.

Good luck to ya!

[DonRSD]

Originally Posted by Rob J in WNY

Don,

HAMP and Aramis are spot-on. Your bed is in a "cancellation zone" and that boils down to a locational problem. Rising the sub may help, but a complete locational change is just about your only option. Before you build a riser, see if you can place the sub higher on something to test the theory. A few inches will probably not really help you, but it's worth trying. Hate to say it, but moving your sub is likely going to be your only real solution.

I know that's an option that you cannot make right now, but could your bedroom be entirely rearranged so that you can put your bed where the bass is not nullified?

Yours is the perfect example as to the commonly mentioned notion that a sub can "go anywhere in a room because bass frequencies are non-directional." Whereas the latter part is true, room acoustics play a strong role in low-frequency propagation - no matter what the size of the sub.

Good luck to ya!

i had a feeling it was the bed cancelling out the bass.
our bedroom wont be rearranged to accomdate a sub, thats pathetic in my honest opinion.

ill see what i can do as far as moving the sub to another location.
maybe ill lay the sub on its back
have the downfiring speaker face the back wall (where the inputs/amp control are facing now) and have the 'bass port' up on the air?

you think that would work?

or maybe i could put it behind the tv !?!?

[aramis109]

When I had my HTiB I put the sub behind the TV in the corner and it worked really well for what it was. I say give it a shot.

[Rob J in WNY]

Originally Posted by DonRSD

i had a feeling it was the bed cancelling out the bass.
our bedroom wont be rearranged to accomdate a sub, thats pathetic in my honest opinion.

ill see what i can do as far as moving the sub to another location.
maybe ill lay the sub on its back
have the downfiring speaker face the back wall (where the inputs/amp control are facing now) and have the 'bass port' up on the air?

you think that would work?

I understand your room dilemma.

You can certainly try flipping your sub and see if it makes any difference, but in the end, it's the area of the room that your sub is producing its output that is working against your primary listening position - your room's (mostly unchangeable) acoustic aspects.

My living room won't allow me to place my sub along the front soundstage at all. There is complete cancellation from my listening position (center of couch). I wound up having to place my sub along the side of my couch, along the wall. I get earth-shaking bass from there. It's pretty incredible what a difference in sub location can do.

What you can do is this - the famous "subwoofer crawl." Place the sub on your bed where your head would be (somehow making sure you are not blocking the port or the driver), and play some music through your system at a decent volume - choose a song with a good, steady bassline. Crawl around the room, keeping your head low (subwoofer level). Crawl all around the perimeter of the room, noting different locations where the strongest bass reproduction is heard (there may be more than a single spot). Then, determine if you can move your sub to one of those spots. Voila! You should have satisfying bass reproduction from your comfortable bed!