Subwoofer placement calculations

[Yorkshire Mouth]

If I know the exact dimensions of a room and my exact seating position (this is for solo listening in a single chair, not along a sofa, or a number of rows), is it easy to calculate the best (perfect?) subwoofer placement?

 

[staticV3]

You can simulate the frequency response using Room EQ Wizard.

I don't think you can calculate the optimal position.

 

[ppataki]

There are these calculators for example:

Speaker Placement Calculator

noaudiophile.com

But I agree with @staticV3, just use REW's Room Sim - that is the best I am aware of too

 

[somebodyelse]

Most of these calculators assume the room is a uniform cuboid. If your room is more complicated you can use something like:
https://www.audiosciencereview.com/...ds/arbitrary-shape-room-mode-simulator.20805/

 

[Purité Audio]

You can simulate the frequency response using Room EQ Wizard.

I don't think you can calculate the optimal position.

This, REW’s ‘room sim’ feature you can virtually drag everything around your room and even adjust height.
Although obviously not that much latitude for height adjustment unless you prefer to recline while listening.
Keith

 

[keenly]

Best to test yourself. I am doing this right now.

 

[Deleted member 21114]

How many subs?

 

[Yorkshire Mouth]

How many subs?

Just the one.

 

[Deleted member 21114]

Modelling the room well would take more work than just putting the sub in the room and measuring. With one sub it will be a matter of trying to minimise dips (as they cannot be EQ'd).

 

[raindance]

Honestly, modeling for a simple shape room is fairly accurate as a starting point, but you do still need to measure after placement because every room has quirks due to how it is constructed and what is behind the walls/floor/ceiling and relatively small placement changes can cause large discrepancies. Also the integration with the sub/mains needs measurement confirmation.

In my experience, most issues are caused by SBIR effects from having the speakers too far into the room (which does not apply to a sub, it needs to be near a boundary, but it also affects the ability to integrate with a sub) and seating location. Murphy's law states that the seating position that works best for physical appearance of the room will always be in a total cancellation zone for low bass.

 

[Yorkshire Mouth]

My thoughts are that, if I got the sub into a generic ‘good’ position, even though that wouldn’t be perfect, it might entail less strain on eq after placement.