help with down-firing sub (1 Viewer)

[Ian C]

I currently have a Klipsh KSW-12 down-firing sub. I plan to upgrade in six months to a year, but for now I was wondering if placing a square piece of wood, concrete, or tile under the cabinet would tighten up the bass. Would it? It's currently sitting in a carpeted corner (the only place I can put it) and is rather muddy-sounding.

Any help appreciated.

Thanks,
Ian

 

[Dustin B]

It won't. I've tried both and noticed no difference. The underlay and carpet would need to be about 3ft thick to affect bass wavelengths.

What is more than likely causing the muddy sound is a combination of the room and the high tune. I'd beat money you have a few room modes that are causing a couple frequency ranges to be grossly exaggerated resulting in the muddy sound.

 

[Ian C]

Oh well. Thanks anyway. I'll live with it until my wife approves an SVS.
Ian

 

[William_Morr]

Ian,

Is there any chance you can move the sub out of the corner? Even a little bit (say 6 inches) may help. If you can, it may tighten up as you move it away from at least one room boundary. A new sub in the same place may not solve your problem but alternate placement and/or acoustical treatments will.

 

[John Garcia]

It could be that the sub is simply boomy by nature, I am not familiar with this sub, and as Dustin notes, room effect could be making it worse. I completely agree with William about trying different positions, as this will modify the room effect.

Try the rule of thumb for placement - put the sub in your sweet spot, then check out potential locations for the sub by getting on your knees and listening (or take readings with an SPL meter).

You also didn't mention anything about calibration. If you haven't done this already, with an SPL meter, you may find that you just have the sub turned up too high.

BTW: what receiver, with what settings? Crossover frequency?