Dual Subwoofer Placement For Your Home Theater

dual subwoofer placement

Having dual subwoofers in your home theater system is the way to go if you want the smoothest and even bass effect across your entire room. When two subwoofers are located at strategic positions in the room, it will smoothen out bass nodes and modes for more even low frequency distribution. In many cases, you will notice an improvement in the low end extension as well as greater headroom for a more life-like and cinematic experience.

If you already own a single sub, introducing the second is easy. Modern home theater receivers sport secondary sub outs. Once you have got that down, here is what you need to know if you plan to install a second subwoofer.

When should you consider dual subwoofers?

Dual subwoofers can be considered when you have a single or primary listening position that receives the smoothest bass response. Next up is multiple seating positions, which allows you to optimize the spatial relationship between your theater room, one’s listening position and subwoofer for more even bass coverage.

Dual subwoofers also work in large overall space, where the bass of a single sub tends to get lost in the space and dual subs are needed for realistic bass extension and quality. Finally, dual subs will be needed if you have a dedicated theater room.

Where should you place them?

You can consider placing at the front corners that provide the most bass, Doing so excites all of the room’s resonances and yields more output for a given volume setting. Furthermore, you can lower the subs’ volume to decrease distortion and increase headroom. However, the bass can get too boomy if there is too much reinforcement. So bring them out from the corners in gradual increments.

If your theater room is rectangular-shaped, you may consider the mid-wall placement, you can start by placing the two subwoofers halfway along the lengths of two opposing sidewalls. It will trigger the axial mode cancellation effect, which yields the smoothest bass distribution across the widest space and maximizes the bass impact for all listeners.

The next arrangement you can attempt is the 1/4 wall placement. You do so by positioning both subs along the front wall with their cone centers at the 1/4 and 3/4 distances of the room’s width. This produces a smoother overall frequency response, but reduces total output too. Modern subs these days have enough headroom to compensate for the loss of output.

Tuning your subwoofers

After you have finished fine-tuning your subwoofers by using one of the options above, the next thing to do is to adjust their crossovers, phase controls and volume levels. To ensure proper phasing on your subs, play a sample tone that is centered at your crossover frequency, we would recommend 80Hz. Then get your partner in crime to vary the phase controls on each sub until you achieve the strongest tone. Your subs are now in place and all you need to do now is to sit back and relax!

At Intra Home Systems, we provide relevant products and services to help you build your perfect home theater system. Drop us an enquiry today!