sub facing wall

[spwath]

My dad says it didn't matter, but I think it does. The woofer itself is facing the wall, about 1 inch away. This seems less than ideal.

Does it makes a difference to have it not facing wall 1" away??

[Enderman]

Is it front firing?

If it is, then yes it makes a difference.

 

If its a down firing sub then it doesnt matter.

[spwath]

Is it front firing?

If it is, then yes it makes a difference.

If its a down firing sub then it doesnt matter.

It is, and firing straight toward the wall, 1 inch away

[Enderman]

It is, and firing straight toward the wall, 1 inch away

well thats stupid, turn it around lol

[spwath]

well thats stupid, turn it around lol

Ik, that's what I said, my dad said it didn't matter, that it was omnidirectional

[Enderman]

Ik, that's what I said, my dad said it didn't matter, that it was omnidirectional

its not

turn it around

its a square right? its not like it takes up more space facing forward...

[spwath]

its not

turn it around

its a square right? its not like it takes up more space facing forward...

It's rectangle, the driver was facing wall.

The one side is longer, and that was facing wall.

Just turned it around

[Laederem]

He is right on some level, it is omnidirectional but it is subject to gain based on environment. 

 

Placing the sub facing the wall can naturally amplify certain frequencies, placing it facing away from the wall can possibly make it sound more linear or blend more naturally. 

 

You have to experiment with this, the sound of the subwoofer WILL change based on which way you point it and how far it is positioned from the wall. The effect is more noticeable if it's placed in the corner of a room. 

 

Try playing with which direction it faces and the position relative to the wall. Check for sound quality by listening to it where you sit in the room, because bass response will vary across different locations in the room and you want it to be optimal for where you usually are.

 

We cannot tell you if it's going to be better facing the wall or facing away, because there's too many variables to give a definite answer, so figure that out yourself because for all we can tell it might sound best parallel to the wall. You should also experiment with phase if you don't have any crossovers.

 

at the very least make sure the woofer isn't hitting the wall under higher power extensions.

[Lutkeveld]

its not

 

It is. The wavelengths are too big too care about the box. The sub radiates in full space, so it doesn't matter which way it's faced because output is the same on all sides of the box.

 

1 inch is a bit close though. It probably will have some effect on the driver loading. Which sub do you have?

[Enderman]

It is. The wavelengths are too big too care about the box. The sub radiates in full space, so it doesn't matter which way it's faced because output is the same on all sides of the box.

No, that's actually not true. Front firing subwoofers are meant to face forward because they push the air forward. Ponting it in other directions causes the sound waves to not reach you directly, and they become distorted due to the acoustics of the room it is in. People always say that it doesn't matter where you put a sub because the sound is omnidirectional, but you can clearly hear the difference between a single sub and stereo subwoofers on the left and right.

 

The issue with facing a sub into a wall is that youre actually forcing a lot of the sound to bounce off many objects (such as the wall) before it gets to you causing delayed sound and "loose" bass due to the reverb and echo, again because the room is not acoustically perfect. The output is also reduced because its a front firing sub...

[Aphexx]

Personally, I like to corner load my subs (facing corners) 

[Lutkeveld]

@Enderman

In this case it does matter because you're moving the acoustic center. If you'd flip the cabinet while keeping the drivers center in the same position, it would make next to no difference in the sound. The output of a sub is not any more at the front than at the back. Subwoofer output is omnidirectional, but moving it makes it excite different room modes. That's why it sounds different in different locations. Multiple subwoofers are a whole nother story because they effectively cancel room modes.

[Enderman]

@Enderman

In this case it does matter because you're moving the acoustic center. If you'd flip the cabinet while keeping the drivers center in the same position, it would make next to no difference in the sound. The output of a sub is not any more at the front than at the back. Subwoofer output is omnidirectional, but moving it makes it excite different room modes. That's why it sounds different in different locations. Multiple subwoofers are a whole nother story because they effectively cancel room modes.

The output is not the same at the front and back. The front has the front-firing driver. The back has the rest of the box and the port. The air movement is NOT the same unless the sub was mounted on a flat piece of wood with no box on either side and no ports. Then it would ALMOST be the same, except for the fact that the cone is not shaped the same on both sides, and both sides have an opposite phase.

[Mr.McMister]

Here is a link to an artictle explaining how to position a subwoofer. The link id from a blog of a small Canadaian speaker manufacturer and they have a bunch of other videos on positioning different speakers for home theatre setups and so on.

[Whit3Rav3n]

The output is not the same at the front and back. The front has the front-firing driver. The back has the rest of the box and the port. The air movement is NOT the same unless the sub was mounted on a flat piece of wood with no box on either side and no ports. Then it would ALMOST be the same, except for the fact that the cone is not shaped the same on both sides, and both sides have an opposite phase.

You still ignore the fact that a subwoofer is due to the long wave lengths omnidirectional. It has the same SPL at every angle, only the phase changes when you rotate it. The wavelength is too long for directivity effects since the subwoofer is much smaller than the wavelength. Feel free to read up on in on wikipedia for example: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loudspeaker

[Lutkeveld]

Indeed. It might seem logical that the front has more output than the back but when the wavelengths are several meters they couldn't care less about a box. They just wrap around it and radiate in full space.

[creatip123]

Indeed. It might seem logical that the front has more output than the back but when the wavelengths are several meters they couldn't care less about a box. They just wrap around it and radiate in full space.

 

Although I don't have much experiences dealing with full-sized subs, but I think I understand.

 

Basically you're saying, for example, put a sub in the middle of an empty room, I can walk around it in full circle, and it will still sound the same right? It's the sound reflection (i.e. hugging a corner) that's altering the sound?

[Lutkeveld]

Yup. That's also the reason that corner loading increases low freq output. The waves that would go to the back are reflected back to the front.

In an ideal world where a speaker would be a point source (infinitely small) all waves would radiate in full space because they would be larger than the baffle.

In the real world, only high freq (small wavelength) are smaller than the baffle and thus get reflected to the front.

If you would have a perfectly anechoic room and you would stand behind a full range speaker; you would only hear the low frequencies (that are larger than the baffle the driver is placed in)

[Guest]

Yup. That's also the reason that corner loading increases low freq output. The waves that would go to the back are reflected back to the front.

In an ideal world where a speaker would be a point source (infinitely small) all waves would radiate in full space because they would be larger than the baffle.

In the real world, only high freq (small wavelength) are smaller than the baffle and thus get reflected to the front.

If you would have a perfectly anechoic room and you would stand behind a full range speaker; you would only hear the low frequencies (that are larger than the baffle the driver is placed in)

 

Where'd you learn all this?

[Lutkeveld]

Where'd you learn all this?

 

Reading a lot of books, doing a lot of projects and being on a lot of forums.

Believe it or not, but I'm only two years into the whole audio thing.

Since a year or so I picked it up as a more serious hobby and started reading literature.

Once you learn thing A, learning thing B gets easier and so on.

[Mr.McMister]

In the real world, only high freq (small wavelength) are smaller than the baffle and thus get reflected to the front.

If you would have a perfectly anechoic room and you would stand behind a full range speaker; you would only hear the low frequencies (that are larger than the baffle the driver is placed in)

To explain things a little better here the principle that makes what is described in the quoted text true is wave diffraction. Sound just like any other wave will bend around edges of barriers between gaps close to or smaller than it's wavelenght. In the case of speakers the gap is the opening around the speaker cone and the bass port. The amount the wave will bend is greater the larger the difference is between gap size and wavelength. Here's a good page on the subject with some diagrams; simple high school physics really.

[Lutkeveld]

It's called baffle step and is indeed a form of diffraction

[ShearMe]

It's called baffle step and is indeed a form of diffraction

 

Are you feeling it now, Mr. Krabs?

[Lutkeveld]

Please explain your joke so I can laugh too

[Guest]

Please explain your joke so I can laugh too

 

ShearHim specializes in jokes that only he understands.