Free Loading


Subwoofer_boundaryLoadingTake advantage of free acoustical power: always place subwoofers on the floor behind the screen – NOT on a platform with the screen loudspeakers. Floor-positioned subwoofers take advantage of “half-space” loading, which increases radiated power by about 3 dB, WITHOUT adding any extra amplifier power. Even better: place the subwoofers on the floor AND push them all the way back against the solid wall behind the screen. That is called “quarter space” loading, and results in about 6 dB greater SPL, without using a larger amplifier. The very low frequencies produced by the subwoofers have no problem going right through any draping or masking below the screen.

One response to “Free Loading

  1. Pushing the subwoofers back to the rear wall MAY be beneficial. It depends on how far back the wall is and how well damped the behind-screen space is. One could push them into the corner too and pick up yet more boundary conditions/efficiency but often not improved performance (response). Moving the speakers off the main speaker plane adds in a time delay element and would preclude decent bass-management (if employed). You don’t want to delay the main speakers back to the subwoofers.

    A better solution for ALL of the speakers is to construct a proper baffle wall so all speakers pick up that 2-Pi space, improved bass, better clarity (no more bouncing the audio off the screen, 2-3 feet back to rear wall and so forth. The subwoofers, floor mounted pick up that extra boundary of the floor as well for the additional 3dB.

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