Sub under the TV ?

X

xio

Guest
Is there any reason why placing the sub under the TV would cause problems? I'm talking about designing a support which effectively stands over the sub (no contact), allowing necessary clearance for heat dissipation, and lying the sub on its side, stood on spikes.

I think the sub is shielded so that wouldn't cause a problem, and am probably looking to make a stand from fairly thick MDF with some sort of grille over the front to prevent a small child from pushing toys into the bass port (!).

Any help/thoughts appreciated.
 
Providing the sub is shielded and is on spikes into the floor, I can't see a problem.

Mine is directly next to the TV - there's no room to put it underneath, and it all works fine - and I like my DVDs to be at cinema volume.

Any dry joints in the TV or other symptoms will be brought on by other vibrations around the house - the Hoover etc - and the sound from the sub if properly controlled should be no problem.

I'm glad you are putting it at the front of the sound stage, because I feel that putting the sub anywhere else spoils the coherence of the overall sound...

Best of luck!
 
Originally posted by xio
and lying the sub on its side, stood on spikes.

Depends on whether your sub is happy lying on it's side......most are designed to give their best only in the way the manufacturer designed them, eg downfiring models vs front firing, etc.

Otherwise no problem here. :)
 
How do I know if it's happy on its' side ?

Manual doesn't state which way round and it's forward firing and front ported.

It was demo'd on its side, and even the badge rotates so it reads properly that way :p
 
Front-firing subs with rotating badges should be fine on their side :cool:
 
While have a subwoofer up the front is oftern good, I would not encase it with MDF, it could effect the sound a lot, you could be looking at strange performance form the subwoofer placed in a enclosed wooden area.
 
Any alternate material suggestions then ?

The sub would (obviously) be placed sufficiently far forward so that no sound from the front of the unit would reflect around the cabinet so you're only looking at sound coming out of the sides of the enclosure. Given that the existing sub case is some kind of wood veneer anyway, would it really be any worse ? Any tips appreciated.

Ta.
 
Originally posted by xio
Any alternate material suggestions then ?

The sub would (obviously) be placed sufficiently far forward so that no sound from the front of the unit would reflect around the cabinet so you're only looking at sound coming out of the sides of the enclosure. Given that the existing sub case is some kind of wood veneer anyway, would it really be any worse ? Any tips appreciated.

Ta.

Sound waves from a subwoofer do eminate in all directions not just from the port or driver baffle, these sound waves present a pressure to the air, bass sounds are low frequency these means the waves are long in wave length, these will pass through the MDF of the enclosure most likely causing it to rattle/stress this will sound bad and also reduce the amount of bass energy released into the room.

Bass energy will not reflect inside cabinet because the wave lengths are too long to be contained.

Length of sound wave= Speed of sound/Frequency.

i.e. The length of an 80 hz sound wave.
342 meters a second divided by 80 hz = 4.2 meters.

For a 20 hz sound wave you take 342 divided by 20 = 17.1 meters
 
I agree the sub should not be closely surrounded by a wooden cabinet, but providing there is plenty 'fresh air' around it, it should work OK.

There are all sorts of unknowns in this kind of exercise - room size, distance from rear walls etc etc, so the best thing would be to knock up a temporary wood structure out of MDF and try it out.

If all is well, you can make the final version to match the rest of your decor, if not, it's back to the drawing board...

Chances are it should be fine.
 
When you say 'plenty of fresh air' what do you mean ? I had planned on leaving about 10cm all round (as stated by the manual for ventilation). This was to be surrounded by about 8cm thick MDF (2 layers bonded).

Like you say, it's a fairly cheap mock-up to test the theory before working on the finish. Part of the reason for doing it is so I can then place some form of speaker cover in front of it to stop a small child poking things in the bass port!
 

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