Subwoofer Placement And Set Up - KRK Systems 12sHO Guide D'utilisation

Subwoofer Placement and Set Up

Note: A properly set up subwoofer system extends the bass response of the main stereo monitors down
into the 30-Hz range, but without exaggerating bass response in the room. Improper setup may cause an
exaggeration of bass response in the room, which in turn may cause the engineer to mix in less bass
energy than desired. We recommend paying close attention when configuring your subwoofer.
Bass frequencies are largely non-directional, however that does not mean that you should ignore the
subwoofer's placement in the room. If fact, a sub's physical position in the room in relation to the floor,
walls and other surfaces radically influences its bass response. In a monitoring situation, it is desirable to
place the subwoofer so that it produces the smoothest frequency response at the listening position. In
addition, since the subwoofer's output will interact with the other monitor speakers in the room, it is
important to consider the subwoofer and near-field speakers as a total system.
If you have access to a Real Time Analyzer and a calibration microphone, then setting up the room can be
fairly painless. There are good selections of iPhone/Smartphone applications which will allow your device
to measure SPL.
However, it can also be done with a generic SPL meter, or even your own ears, once you know what to
listen for.
What you are attempting to do is find a place in the room where the subwoofer interacts smoothly with
the acoustics to even out the bass response at the listening position. One way to do this is to reverse the
normal position of the subwoofer and listening spot by temporarily moving the subwoofer to your seat
position in front of the console. Then play back pink noise in the 30 to 80 Hz range or music with robust
bass information. Now by moving the SPL meter (or your ears) around the various potential speaker
positions in the room, you can listen for where the bass sounds the loudest. That is where the speaker
loading would potentially be at its greatest. Once you find the optimal spot, place the subwoofer at that
position and listen to it from the console position. Even without an SPL meter you can then use stepped
band-pass, pink noise and sine-wave sweeps to evaluate how even the bass response is. Move the
subwoofer around a foot at a time until the bass response is as even as possible at the listening position.
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