Subwoofers and wooden floors

Dak

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I have been looking at sub's to add to my system (see below) and am steering towards the Rel quake or q150 or 201, maybe an M&K. They all sound great in the shop but my concern is that I have quite a 'hollow' room.

The room is 14x14 with solid wood (suspended) floor, wooden shutters (so no curtains) and a second wall all of wooden doors (8x8 into the kitchen).

I have a large corner sofa unit and managed to fill the walls either side of the fireplace with books but it still sounds a bit hollow. I would ideally like to put the sub behind the sofa on the side wall for neatness.

Can anybody comment on what the sound is going to be like in such a non-deadend room? (I do have a large rug on the shopping list but not got it yet). Another problem is that it is a converted Victorian house and above us are another couple. Don't want to upset the neighbours. Will a downward firing sub be better than forward? I guess I have about £500 to £600 max but would like to come in cheaper if I can.

Thanks

System:-
Front:
Linn Keilidhs
Linn Kairn and 3 x Linn LK140 poweramps
Rears:
M&K K4's (tripoles, high up on side wall)
Centre:
Kef Q100 (need to change for smaller to go on mantelpiece when Plasma arrives
Panasonic 42" Plasma going above fireplace (will order as soon as paid for new boiler!)
Sony DVP735SE DVD
Yamaha DSPE-800 (changing next, perhaps for Denon 3803?)
PS2
X-Box
Panasonic Vid
TiVo
Telewest Cable
 
When you say 14x14 and later "Victorian House" I'll asume you mean metres :)

Large rooms like that will have less of a problem with bass standing waves but without furnishings to deaden the sound you'll get a very bright sound. My room used to be wooden floor with only a bed as a soft furnishing, I've since added 2 rugs and a curtain and the overall sound is improved now, you can play material louder now that the high frequency isn't as screeching I've noticed. Because my room is small I also had to fit plasterboard and foam to the wall behind the front soundstage, I'll add a large curtain to this probably in the future just to increase the standing wave killing potential :)

P.S - For £500 - £600 you must seriously consider the Paradigm Servo 15 from Richer Sounds or the Velodyne CHT 12 from Uncle Eric's Power Buy.
 
No - I would asume feet, (8*8 doors) - which would be huge, not to say 24 feet tall..........


anyhow - yep curtains, and rugs etc will deaden the rooms acoustics
 
I don't know the Paradigm at all. Will have a look thanks.

What is the "Uncle Eric's Power Buy" ?? Don't think that I have heard of Uncle Eric.....
Thanks
 
Oh, and wish it was metres!! Feet unfortunately. Also about 14 foot high ceilings. Big rooms for London but perhaps not Sheffield!!

D
 
Originally posted by Dak

What is the "Uncle Eric's Power Buy" ?? Don't think that I have heard of Uncle Eric.....

Have a look at the Power Buys Forum.:)
 
Whatever you do with the sub, you really should get a nice paving slab to stop the resonance and pin the beast down to the floor. I also have wooden floorboards like yourself and this has really improved the bass dramatically.

I have the below sandwich on my M&K V-125 and this has made a considerable difference to the sound. Starting from the bottom up and including the floor.......

1. Floor
2. Rubber
3. Paving Slab
4. Rubber
5. Sub
6. Rubber
7. Granite polished slab.

The difference in sound is staggering compared to it just resting on the floor.
 
Your room has the worst possible shape for hifi, cubic, you have to be very careful with positioning your speakers, make sure all distances are different, from walls and floor, and play with seating position too, also open those doors, it might help...

One thing that might also help is choosing a crossover frequency close to the room ressonance, and setting the sub out of phase to cancel that frequency...

Choose a sub with very flexible controls to do it, for instance REL...
 

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