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Sub behind the couch... the age old question! (1 Viewer)

tfryerje

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A friend is telling me to put my in wall sub behind the couch, I can put it in the wall next to the fireplace which points directly at the sitting place. Is this a no brainer putting it next to the fireplace on a 15w x 30L ft room only using 15x15 only separated by a sectional.
 

Jim Mcc

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In-wall is a bad idea for many reasons: vibrations, needing room behind it, etc. My sub is directly behind our couch and it works very nice.
 

tfryerje

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Well lesson learned I have in wall and ceiling and i as per the spouse am not allowed to spend anymore so I have to make due with what i have. These speakers from monoprice are supposed to be made especially to work with that small area of space. What would you suggest behind couch on that size of space or in front next to the fireplace where the tv is?
 

Al.Anderson

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You don't mention the model or it's specs. But if it's a true sub and is configured correctly (with the crossover set to only play below ~120Hz or less), then it shouldn't matter where you put it. The low frequency waves are non-directional. What your friend suggested probably start out it's life as the advise "it doesn't *matter* if you put it behind your couch".

I've never dealt with ion-walls, but off the cuff I would put it where it had the best stabilization, and where the opposing living space was less of a concern.
 

Robert_J

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Originally Posted by Al.Anderson

it shouldn't matter where you put it.

Actually, sub placement is the most critical of any of the speakers. Depending on the room, you could have put the sub in the wall and in your favorite seat have a null in the frequency response. There is absolutely nothing you can do about a null other than move the seat or move the sub. You can do the same but have a peak in the response but that is much easier to correct with an equalizer.


The best thing you can do is borrow a sub and place it where you normally sit. Walk around the room with an SPL meter and find the location where it is the loudest. That is where you install your sub. It may not give you a flat response but we can work on that later.


The Radio Shack analog SPL meter is the best tool you can have in your home theater installation kit.


One last thing, I don't remember you mentioning what amp you are using to power this sub with.
 

Al.Anderson

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[COLOR= rgb(24, 24, 24)]>> It shouldn't matter where you put it. [/COLOR] [COLOR= rgb(24, 24, 24)]Actually, sub placement is the most critical of any of the speakers. Depending on the room, you could have put the sub in the wall and in your favorite seat have a null in the frequency response.[/COLOR]

Good point, but somewhat tangential from the OP's main question. He was asking if there's a natural preference between in front or behind the couch - and there's not.

But as far as placement for room acoustics, definitely true; and I shouldn't have left that out. But since he's using in-walls, the usefulness of that answer is somewhat limited. He could try and place it in the two general locations and see which one sounds better, but since that won't be quite the same as when it's installed in-wall, he may still not be getting accurate results.


Bottom line is in-walls are not preferred, and that was mentioned already. But the OP has his constraints.
 

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