They are set up like "stereo" with one near each corner of the front room.
Not only does duel subs add like 3-6 decibels, but with two, you can decrease the amount of standing waves in a room. (Basically improve the bass frequency response)
I also got stereo subs so that I may get a "Stereo" image of bass because subwoofers do play some sound that's directional (with a crossover slope).
The 3-6 decibels is good though because if you had a 500 watt sub, it's like increasing the amp to 1000 watts to 2000 watts.
isnt 2 subs only nessessary with a large room tho? 1 sub does just fine for me. most movie theaters also only have 1 sub, of course, they are usually enclosed in a cement housing. Seems like over kill to me.
That's what i always say. I running duel subs in a large, iregular shaped room. Over 4300 cubic ft to fill, and i still want more. Before i upgraded i was using duel AR 112PS subs, ans they both could not do what one of can.
I once had two big subs in a 10x12 HT. This is difficult to explain, but running them together at reasonable volumes produced an improvement in sound quality that neither one was able to produce individually. I now have a MUCH bigger HT, but am still using sub pairs. Right now I have two 16-46PC+ subs, but this Monday a pair of PC-Ultras will be delivered . . . should be interesting!
I'm running two subs at the moment. I've not really had any cancellation issues to speak of. Also, this is not overkill at all. Clearly, two subs provided enough of a fill that I'm no longer suffering.
Oh, my room dimensions: 21' x 13.5' x 8' (ceilings). Not big, but not too small either.
terence, i just checked out your home page, very nice setup! i wish my place had a stand alone room that i could use for HT only, but I had to sacrifice my living room.
What I like about dual or better is that they just coast along. No strain and lots of gain. My leaky 12 X 24 X 10'C/2880cf HT accepts three 25-31CS+s very well. I would not put a crappy sub with a good performing sub though. The lesser will degrade. Two like/tuned subs is the common best practice.
I had to share the den with the wife @ the last house, and needless to say it was a unhappy expirence. It was always "Turn it down! I can't enjoy the movie with it that loud!" Beleive me, it was not loud. Now i'm in heaven, she has her on HT system in the den (2ch) with 36" TV, PL AVR and my old dvd player. Sometimes she has to come upstairs and watch a movie. I'm warring her down fellas.
my girlfriend acted the same way at first. luckily i can talk her into anything i want, but she thought it was a waste of money, until we started watching her kind of movies once in a while, chick flicks usually have pretty good soundtracks and i think thats when she started noticing the difference. now she hates watching tv at other peoples houses, the tv is too small and sound sucks she says. now the only thing i have left to do, is to somehow get her into MY type of movies! the original star wars dvds are coming soon, shes never seen any of them, so she has a 9 hour marathon in her future haha. i think that will make or break our relationship.
Yeah, you are right about those chick flicks. The one that stood out for me & the wife was “What Women Want” with Mel Gibson. It had a nice soundtrack. 9Hrs! HA! That is like asking my wife. Why don’t you join me in watching the EE of all 3 LOTR movies back to back? We are talking about 12Hrs here, now that I think about it, I might not have an ass left after watching the LOTR Trilogy back to back.
Had a similar experience with the WAF. After she "passively" resisted my attempts to turn our family room into a HT, it has now turned 360 degrees to the point that I have a hard time getting access to watch the sports and movies I want. I knew I was in trouble when she wanted a Tivo for Xmas...
Now in the process of turning my office into a 2nd HT, sort of a "his and hers" solution...
Now in the process of turning my office into a 2nd HT, sort of a "his and hers" solution __________________________________________________ ________
Thats what I plan. Since our HT is in the living room I get yelled at if I approach -20. Even at -25 I experience the same as terence. Wish I had your large sep room terence. My wife has gotten in the habit of using our system for music now that she can see it's so much better than what she has in the family room. No limit when it concerns her tastes.
All I know is I better go finish LOTR II TOWERS before she gets home.
I own a house with a rather large living room. Very nice architecture, but a nightmare for a HT system.
The living room as such is not that big (25x16 ft = 400 sq-ft). But it is 18 ft high, has openings to 3 sides and a gallery in the open up first floor. If I add up all open space I come to 10.000 cu-ft, whereby the direct listening area has about 5.000 cu-ft.
I started with one Sub some time ago, but I could not get used to that solution, as I have to place the Sub at the back, beside my listening position. Only with the second Sub on the other side of the couch, I was pleased with the result. I ordered two PB1-Plus and they do a marveless job. I had a few friends listening to them in the meanwhile and they all have been shocked by their performance. They simply couldn't believe it's real. They all thought I would have placed some Buttshakers somewhere, but It's all just from the two 12" drivers
I have two, but they are both in the same corner. So one big one would work just as well. Interesting. When I tried that arrangement I got worse response and lower output compared to having them both in the same corner. Guess it just goes to show that every room is different, and experimentation is the key.