Crossover high and subwoofer height

I have an interesting and satisfying observation today.

My Pioneer receiver ha s limited crossover points. After 80 Hz, the next 2 are 100 Hz and 150 Hz. I found that using 100 Hz is a bit low still for my bookshelf speakers and I still get strong signals down to 50 Hz. My bookshelf have problem playing loud below 100 Hz due to high distortion level below 100 hz.

Using 150 Hz is pretty good as the bookshelf speakers have strong signals down to only about 100 Hz and not stressed out trying to play back lower bass notes. This inturn gives me clean mid and high.

My problem was trying to blend in the subwoofers. I have 3 different brands of subs. All have its pros and cons. I tried two different brands of 12" on each corners, but I still noticed something is not right. Double bass does not sound natural. I tried one 10" sub and the double bass is more natural, but it is lacking enough punch. Using single 12" sub seems to pull down the sound stage and still making double bass a bit off.

I then tried putting my 12" ported sub up high (about 30" off the ground) at my right front corner today and found out that it blends very well with the high crossed speakers. I now have good punch and double bass sounds very natural. I am very happy with my findings. I can't believe crossover the sub so high can still sound so good without drawing attention to it.

Basically, I write this to share my observation to those who have problems blending subwoofer. May be sometime it is worth it to place you subwoofer high up from the ground to better blend it with the sound stage. YMMV!

 

That is why adding subs is so troublesome. There is no one-fits-all magic answer because every room and system integration will be different. The only way to do it is to try different settings and placement in your room.

 

A good audio friend has his sub up high in his current rig and swears by it, but I haven't heard it. However, since we've shared many listening experiences together over the years I trust what he hears. It does seem to go against the grain though.

 

I agree that it is not a typical solution. I listen to stereo music using 5 speakers (via Pioneer's Extended Stereo setting). My surround speakers at my sides are on 30" tall stands and they make the whole sound field tall and wide. Matching the subwoofer's height with the surround speakers height works nicely in creating a coherent sound field, especially when the crossover point is high. So, yeah, this setup is not likely work as well for typical setup where the crossover is low at 60 hz or below.

 

Speaker boundary interference response, the distances from walls and floors and ceilings and therefore what frequencies get cancelled and what get reinforced really can matter a lot in all speaker placement including subwoofers.

 

As specially subwoofers.