Corner Loading question (1 Viewer)

[JohanD]

Corner loading is supposed to increase bass output. I read in another thread that it can also make the bass more boomy or muddy.

I was going to corner load the subwoofer as I have a great spot for it in the living room.. in the corner and out of the way.. also have an in-wall subwoofer jack that runs to the back of my media center in that corner..

Currently I do not have a sub. What I have in mind is an adire audio tempest driver using their "adire alignment" configuration. Will pair it with a plate amplifier.

Basically, is the corner the best location, or will I need to move it around the room? Any words on corner loading will be appreciated, thanks!

 

[Wayde_R]

I'll be watching this thread too.

I understand that when speakers are close to walls, especially ported speaker designs it causes "low frequency reflection" which robs your speakers of low end frequency response in a trade off for extra decibels in a narrow range which is why it sounds muddy. The 90hz-100hz range (for instance) might be pumped up at the expense of anything else the sub is capable of.

My thought is that for Home Theater the corner might rock listening to the Surprise unload a salvo of cannon fire at the Acheron with boomy bass. But if you're playing music you probably don't want this.

Any other thoughts?

Wayde Robson

 

[Matt_Smi]

I am far from an expert on this, but IMO it depends a lot on the room. For some rooms corner loading a sub might work the best, and not make the bass muddy at all. But for others like mine, it is not the best option.

 

[Greg-ST]

Matt's right, it really depends on the room. The best test is to put the sub in the listening position and crawl around the room until you find an area where it sounds the best. You should put the sub there. After that you can tweak its position until you get the best non-muddy/non-boomy response.

 

[JohanD]

Is there any way to compensate being corner loaded by an EQ or similar hardware?

 

[Andrew*S]

Corner loading basically excites all of the room modes. In my room, my subs had a 15dB peak at 52Hz and a smaller peak at 37Hz. As I moved the subs out of the corner, the peaks reduced slightly and I even played with moving the subs into the room nulls to tame the peaks.

Essentially you're right though. If the sub is in the corner and all of the room modes are excited, it's possible that whatever peak your sub exhibits (and it usually will have a peak somewhere) the room mode will excite and make it worse. So putting it into the corner can make it worse. Moving it out of the corner makes it work harder, however, so if your sub is barely making it, the corner is definitely the best place.

That being said, the BEST thing you can do is get a parametric equalizer. I had my dual SVS 20-39PCi's for over a year until I got a parametric equalizer and it makes a huge difference to get the peaks tamed. Basically, if you set your SPL for your sub to be equal to your SPL for your speakers, you've just set the level of your sub so that your peak is right. Every other sub frequency is reduced, often greatly. So you turn up your sub volume to compensate and get "boominess" since the peak is now really exaggerated. A good parametric equalizer will tame these peaks and help you get either a flat "curve" or a "house curve" both of which will make your sub sound like you thought it should have sounded all along.

The two equalizers I have seen mentioned are...
1) BFD (Behringer Feedback Destroyer) around $119 online
2) Behringer DEQ2496 around $250 online

I personally have the DEQ2496 and after countless hours of trying to get my subs to sound right, I would highly recommend it.

Positioning for room modes and placing bass traps are only going to get you so far. IMHO, a parametric equalizer is standard equipment to get your sub set up correctly.