For Liz,

It’s pronounced hy-per-BOL-ic 😉

And I personally think that Tom uses hy-PER-bol-e when he says how bad I am on the podcast all the time. Maybe if he weren’t so obstinate, I wouldn’t NEED to bug him relentlessly to give new ideas a chance…

😀

This is not germane to the whole subwoofer discussion, but I would go with the HTGuys model if I were you, and skip registration and a password as a requirement. Unless I am wrong, I can’t picture trolls flaming up the space.
Maybe I do have a subwoofer question. Being far to lazy to treat my horribly shaped room, or even equalize, I get what I deserve. But how far would a second subwoofer go towards response smoothing, or at least making it easier to fix problems?
Thanks.

All adding a second subwoofer in a different location from your first subwoofer really does is create a “phantom” subwoofer that is positioned some place where it would not be physically possible or convenient to place an actual, physical subwoofer.

Think of it as being a lot like how your stereo L/R Front speakers can create the illusion of a center speaker, with the sound seemingly coming from directly between the Front L/R speakers. That is stereo imaging, and you can use two (or more) subwoofers to essentially create the same illusion with bass.

What you will find if you do the “crawling for bass” technique is that the absolute best position for smooth, even bass is somewhere out towards the middle of your room, away from any walls or corners! Most people aren’t willing to position a subwoofer out in the middle of the floor somewhere. Instead, most people want to at least have their sub somewhere along the perimeter of their room, right by a wall so that it’s physically out of the way. So, by adding a second sub, you can basically create a “stereo image” so that the bass seemingly comes from somewhere out in the middle of the room. If you find that location by crawling for bass, you can fiddle with the placement of two or more subs until you get the same response as though you had physically put a subwoofer in that “ideal” spot.

But if your room has major acoustic problems, no position is going to be “perfect”. You can certainly gain an improvement with more than one subwoofer, but it’s not a “cure all”. None of these methods are cure alls. The idea is to use ALL of these methods – bass traps, decoupling, equalization, multiple subwoofers, etc. – to get the best bass response possible 😉

@jsbanks. I just added a secons sub to my setup and it did make both an audible and measureable difference to the response.

A second subwoofer sounds like the way to go for someone as lazy as I. After all, it doesn’t rule out future room treatment or equalization. Thanks both for input.

Adding a second (or quad 😉 ) subs is almost always a good idea 😀 It just isn’t magic and you DO have to actually be aware of what you’re doing with multiple subs, and be mindful that it’s all about finding the correct placement so that they work together as intended! I feel there’s a misconception out there that simply adding more subs and placing them willy-nilly will still somehow help, just by virtue of there being more subs in the room. That is NOT the case, so you need to be willing to spend some quality time with finding the right placements 😉

These days, with companies like GiK, acoustimac and Auralex, it’s easier than ever to obtain attractive, effective room treatments at reasonable prices. There are certainly guidelines and “best practices” for where to place acoustic treatments and what type of treatment to use where, but these “rules” are not rigid, and simply HAVING some treatments in the room usually helps and rarely hurts. GiK Acoustics’ bass trap table and pedestal stand are great examples. They can take the place of regular furniture, but provide some bass trapping in your room at the same time! With an item like a table or a pedestal, you’re going to be placing them where they look best, not where you would necessarily aim to put a bass trap. But simply having them in the room can help to tame some of the bass reflections that cause the worst of the dips and peaks in the overall bass response of your system.

Finally, auto-EQ has come a long way. With Audyssey’s MultEQ XT32 and the SubEQ HT program that automatically comes with it, you can get some amazingly powerful auto-EQ that works for multiple seating locations and offers a very sophisticated system for integrating two independent subwoofers. Doing the same adjustments manually would be nearly impossible! It’s rather remarkable programming. So if you really are the lazy type, I’d suggest that you should definitely look for MultEQ XT32 in your next receiver or pre-pro! If you’re willing to crawl for bass and carefully position two subwoofers, I have to think you’d also be willing to plug in a mic, press a button, and leave the room for a few minutes while Audyssey does its magic 😀

So here is my question with a picture or two if you don’t mind.

With my situation, what if you are stuck corner loading your two subs (because of room shape, opening, and WAF factor)? Is there an optimal way to do this? I have been thinking of putting bass traps in the corner of the two walls where the subs are to help smooth the lower frequencies out. The gramma pad sounds interesting. I have heard of it before but never thought it was as usual as Tom made it sound. The TV room is hardwood so decoupling the sub from the floor might help with some vibration (but I like it when the couch shakes my butt!)

I do wish I had measuring equipment. Would be a good idea when I get a dedicated room. Just need to build the second story and one day my dream will come true.

Just a picture or two so you can get an idea of what I am stuck with. Sorry for some of the mess (and horrible wall paper in the kitchen!), still remodeling and painting.

http://s1215.photobucket.com/albums/cc513/dalumberjack/Ht%20Room/

http://i1215.photobucket.com/albums/cc513/dalumberjack/DSC01646.jpg

http://i1215.photobucket.com/albums/cc513/dalumberjack/DSC01645.jpg