Hey elwaylite, get the spikes. Then if an AVS guy ever comes to your house and says your setup sucks you can stab 'em with you sub!
Pics of the system after adding the Sub-12 and Denon AVR-1909
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Hey elwaylite, get the spikes. Then if an AVS guy ever comes to your house and says your setup sucks you can stab 'em with you sub!
I would recommend a nice piece of stone before a wood product. Wood has a tendency to resonate along with your subwoofer, just like your wood floors. I tried both and settled on stone, but it may be different in your room. Experimentation is in order.
Paul,
Im gonna go to lowes/hd this weekend, what type of stone would you say? Stone vs wood does not matter to me, I actually like the idea of stone over a pc of wood anyways.
Im gonna go to lowes/hd this weekend, what type of stone would you say? Stone vs wood does not matter to me, I actually like the idea of stone over a pc of wood anyways.
That's a darned interesting question. (I'm thinking out loud here. Don't take anything as gospel) Polished granite looks good, but it is likely to act like a mirror and reflect everything back up to the sub. That could set up standing waves, but the distance is so short. More likely, it would just add backpressure that might actually reduce efficiency. Slate might be a good choice because it is uneven and would tend to disperse the sound wave. OTOH, slate tends to flake, so it might vibrate just like wood. Perhaps the best choice might be the concrete pavers they sell for patios, the ones that have the slate look. You can get those in black, but they might be hard to come by in January. I think they sell slightly thinner ones for sunrooms in the tile section.
They do sell 18" tiles as well. I think I'd stay away from ceramic because they are too thin and would tend to vibrate under a big sound load.
BTW, I agree with Paul. The wood idea was just a quick and dirty experiment. If you head toward wood, I would look at 3/4" to 1" chipboard/masonite. That stuff is dense and mostly resin anyway. Afterall, they make speaker cabinets from that stuff.
No, thanks for all the input. It is getting interesting, and Im open to suggestions because Im not going till tomorrow. The reason I think its a worthy idea, is ive noticed SVS down firing subs have the stilts they are on the a "bass plate" at the bottom which appears to be the same material the sub box is made out of. They had to have done it for a reason, I even saw a post where a guy took the legs off his Sub-12 and built a stand to copy the svs subs.
I figure once I decide (hopefully with the help of you guys), Ill go buy it and re run Audyssey. The sub is a bit boomy and it appears placing something underneath tightens it up, and thats just from reading 100 threads over the internet yesterday.
"An additional nice feature of this unit is the bass plate. Instead of having 4 feet contacting the floor on this downward firing sub, the 4 feet contact the bass plate, which is about 2" below the driver. This plate gives good reflective qualities for the sub, as opposed to the unknown characteristics of the floor (wood, carpet, concrete, etc). It's a novel, but very 'sound' idea. "
teachsac thinks itll make the sub mor epunchy too, which is better IMHO.
I figure once I decide (hopefully with the help of you guys), Ill go buy it and re run Audyssey. The sub is a bit boomy and it appears placing something underneath tightens it up, and thats just from reading 100 threads over the internet yesterday.
"An additional nice feature of this unit is the bass plate. Instead of having 4 feet contacting the floor on this downward firing sub, the 4 feet contact the bass plate, which is about 2" below the driver. This plate gives good reflective qualities for the sub, as opposed to the unknown characteristics of the floor (wood, carpet, concrete, etc). It's a novel, but very 'sound' idea. "
teachsac thinks itll make the sub mor epunchy too, which is better IMHO.
Wood is cheap. I'm using sidewalk pavers. No matter the material, sound is being reflected back up, that's part of the design. I've screwed spikes into the legs of my velodyne and JBL, otherwise they have a tendency to "dance".
Thinking more about this granite thing. We are talking about such low frequencies that I don't think the backpressure is a really big issue. The reason for a down firing sub is to provide an even dispersion of the soundwave out the sides of the sub, so the downward wave is going to be translated into a pressure wave coming out the sides. The granite will work as well as anything, and would look a lot better.
But it gets me to thinking. I bet the best choice would be a shallow cone that would tend to reflect the wave outward. I bet I could build that and make a small fortune, especially if I added a bunch of technobabble around it and spread the word across the audiophile boards.
I don't have a down-firing sub, or I think I'd try to build that out of hardwood and bond it to a baseplate. What do you all think?
But it gets me to thinking. I bet the best choice would be a shallow cone that would tend to reflect the wave outward. I bet I could build that and make a small fortune, especially if I added a bunch of technobabble around it and spread the word across the audiophile boards.
I don't have a down-firing sub, or I think I'd try to build that out of hardwood and bond it to a baseplate. What do you all think?
3/4" or 1" MSB would work as well, plus you can paint it to match your decor or sub.
I see, the goal is to have the sound fire down then out, not to be partially absorbed into carpet and wood flooring, which also can rattle itself.
Paul, do you have anyway of a quick pic of the pavers, or something on the net you can point me towards? Thanks.
As far as a baseplate, I think SVS got it right in the above application, so Im sure its a cool idea.
Paul, do you have anyway of a quick pic of the pavers, or something on the net you can point me towards? Thanks.
As far as a baseplate, I think SVS got it right in the above application, so Im sure its a cool idea.
Something like these? You would just buy as many as needed and place them together?
Product Information Error Page
Product Information Error Page
I used 18" square travertine stone tile for my kitchen counters from Home Depot. Can't find it on their website (a lot of things are in their stores and not online, though), but I can't help thinking that might work. Only thing I can think is that stone might be too thin if used under a sub... perhaps joining two together for double-thick would help?
I used 18" square travertine stone tile for my kitchen counters from Home Depot. Can't find it on their website (a lot of things are in their stores and not online, though), but I can't help thinking that might work. Only thing I can think is that stone might be too thin if used under a sub... perhaps joining two together for double-thick would help?
That's kind of where I was heading. An 18" tile will have a lower resonance, but the ones I find are pretty thin. I'm think that I saw 18" square pavers there last summer.
The best solution would be to build a shallow wood box and fill it with thickset. Then lay the tile on the surface, setting it down carefully to get a good seal and avoiding air bubbles. I would use a slotted trowel to lay cement on the tile as well. If you did that, it probably wouldn't matter what size tile you used. However, that's a lot of work.
Started doing some searching on the tapered baseplate idea. Yamaha does something like that on their mid-priced subs:
YST-SW515
That's a plastic piece though and it doesn't look too sturdy. I also notice that there isn't a lot of slope to the base. They do make an interesting point that it doesn't need to be a cone. It could be a 4 sided pyramid and have the same effect. That would be a lot easier to build and could be made from granite set over a hardwood form. If only I had a downfiring sub to play with. Not worth it just for an experiment though.
YST-SW515
That's a plastic piece though and it doesn't look too sturdy. I also notice that there isn't a lot of slope to the base. They do make an interesting point that it doesn't need to be a cone. It could be a 4 sided pyramid and have the same effect. That would be a lot easier to build and could be made from granite set over a hardwood form. If only I had a downfiring sub to play with. Not worth it just for an experiment though.
Those dont look too bad, guess Im gonna spend a hour or two at lowes and HD tomorrow!
I just wanted to say I've really enjoyed this thread as well and can't wait for elway to report results back tomorrow! Now get your butt to Home Depot and get to work
Will do, fixing to take some DB measurements now for a before and after, dunno if its scientific but it might help.
Got 92db's while watching the Incubus Blu-ray in my listening position. Got some bass tracks im gonna test now, good ol Techmaster PEB (for any of the old bass heads)
Got 92db's while watching the Incubus Blu-ray in my listening position. Got some bass tracks im gonna test now, good ol Techmaster PEB (for any of the old bass heads)
