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Post by Metaldude on Jan 30, 2017 19:30:33 GMT -5
I've 2 down firing subs and was wondering if a hard surface under them would be much better than just leaving them on carpet...
They sound pretty good as they are, but would like some advice on this please...
Metaldude
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hemster
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Post by hemster on Jan 30, 2017 20:04:32 GMT -5
A hard surface would allow you to dial back the volume on your subs but there's a risk of them sounding boomy. Of course you'd need redo any room correction.
As with most things in this hobby of ours, experimentation is the key.
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Post by Percussionista on Jan 31, 2017 16:25:22 GMT -5
Although it's back in the shop to fix that minor ground loop, I had placed the new Emo Airmotiv S12 in my PC system, which is on the second floor of the house. Wood floors, with carpet, and the S12 does fire downward, with a passive radiator horizontally firing. This may be an entirely different case than a first floor situation where the house is on a slab. In any case, the S12 was quite "amazing", it really pumped solidly! The suspended wood floor is likely to have added more reverberation. Playing the Master and Commander blu-ray from the new Oppo 203, dialing in a bit of extra LFE on the SW itself, can scare the heck out of you - those cannon shots from the initial battle between ships are killers (literally as well as figuratively). Even flat it's frightening and potent. Of course the whole scene, audibly, is scary enough with the wood of the ships splintering all around - your surround speakers better be up to it!
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butchgo
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Post by butchgo on Jan 31, 2017 16:36:24 GMT -5
I can tell you this when I moved my 2 subs down to the theater room, which is vinyl plank flooring on concrete, I had to really back them down to get them balanced.
I think they actually are more accurate, if that make sense, on the harder surface.
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Post by vneal on Jan 31, 2017 16:38:30 GMT -5
Not a big deal---personally I prefer sub woofers that fire in the front and also are designed as a non ported unit. To me it is punchier & tighter sounding. I know there are good models & bad models on both---just the upper end subs are usually designed this way..
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Post by Loop 7 on Jan 31, 2017 16:42:29 GMT -5
My REL sub has a down-firing driver onto bamboo flooring and I 100% agree with hemster that it doesn't take much gain to fill a room. |
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Post by Metaldude on Jan 31, 2017 17:12:41 GMT -5
Thanks all for the input, gotta do some thinking and some experiments...
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Post by goodfellas27 on Feb 1, 2017 13:37:19 GMT -5
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stiehl11
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Post by stiehl11 on Feb 1, 2017 17:31:09 GMT -5
My SVS fires onto a hard surface that also acts as its stand/base. I've tried wood, granite, hockey pucks, and a very dense industrial foam-like material, and did not hear a difference.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Feb 1, 2017 17:39:12 GMT -5
Definitive answer: If the depth of your carpet is less than 16 inches (which would create absorption at frequencies above 200 Hz), I'd say you are okay. Carpets don't pose a problem normally because they are too shallow to create any meaningful absorption at subwoofer frequencies. Any change you hear between forward-firing and downward-firing subwoofers comes from differing attenuation of out-of-band signal, distortion products, and mechanical noise. There's one other possible cause although I'm not 100% certain that it would even be audible: Down-firing a subwoofer increases the radiation resistance seen by the driver, which may affect the overall damping of the system, which could cause it to become more damped at upper frequencies and less damped at frequencies at or near port tuning. The slot formed by the cabinet and the floor acts as an acoustic resistance somewhat higher than radiation into half space.
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Post by knucklehead on Feb 1, 2017 20:56:20 GMT -5
Down-firing subs don't require any special base to sit them on. I have an eD A5-350 that is down-firing - and it has a pair of large ports. If it were a sealed sub then I might want to try putting it on something that wouldn't absorb the sound waves. Do down-firing sealed subs exist?
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Post by monkumonku on Feb 1, 2017 21:16:51 GMT -5
Down-firing subs don't require any special base to sit them on. I have an eD A5-350 that is down-firing - and it has a pair of large ports. If it were a sealed sub then I might want to try putting it on something that wouldn't absorb the sound waves. Do down-firing sealed subs exist? Yes they do, I have one - the Power Sound Audio XS15-SE. It fires onto a carpet but it works very well for me. |
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Post by goodfellas27 on Feb 2, 2017 10:30:53 GMT -5
Down-firing subs don't require any special base to sit them on. I have an eD A5-350 that is down-firing - and it has a pair of large ports. If it were a sealed sub then I might want to try putting it on something that wouldn't absorb the sound waves. Do down-firing sealed subs exist? I would beg to differ. I had a sealed down-firing Polk Audio DSW MicroPRO, and the SubDude fixed my sub jumping problem and give me a better bass response. |
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Post by Metaldude on Feb 2, 2017 21:36:23 GMT -5
Again thanks for all the input, its good to soak up some opinions and knowledge
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Post by Axis on Feb 2, 2017 21:49:46 GMT -5
I think Emotiva's new front firing active driver with down firing passive radiator are going to sound good. Subs don't really care about which way you point them as long as it is not to extreme. We do not perceive the direction of a low frequencies very well. Take a whale or dolphin and get them to tell if your bass sounds better on hard or soft surface.  |
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