Subwoofer Recommendations: 4 subs in corners, 2000 cu. ft.

I tried posting this over on the Rythmik AVS thread and didn't really get any responses, so I figured I'd try over here too.

I have the layout out my theater room that I would like to have built. Next week I plan to get estimates on the construction. I have all of the equipment plans decided except the subwoofers. The room with be 2000 cubic feet sealed and rectangular. I purposely chose the layout so that the corners are all open for subwoofers, with the plans to get 4 subwoofers to go in the four corners. This is supposed to give a massive gain in efficiency. I know that I want to go with Rythmik for subs, but I’m struggling to find a good option for me.

I would say that listen movies and TV 95% of the time and maybe 5% for music, so I figured I would go with a ported model to give me more tactile response. I’m not sure how much tactile response I would get with the theater being in the basement on a concrete floor, no subfloor or room for a subfloor between the concrete and carpet. I don’t listen to movies at more than -10dB, in fact I mostly listen at -20dB to -15 dB. I wanted to have the ability to keep the extension on the subwoofer as low as possible, but also be able to play with the damping (high, medium and low) independently. However, in the ported models you only have the control when you step up to the FV15HP. Corner loading 4 of these would be great, but massively overkill and spending lots of money for output I would never use. Even if I stepped over to the a sealed subwoofer instead, I only get the ability to keep the extension and yet adjust the damping independently when I step up to the F12 models and up. I think that I would end up preferring medium or high damping, but I’m not sure.


If I do like high damping I could save and go with 4 x LV12R’s or 4 x LVX12’s and I’m not sure if I would be giving up much over the 4 x FV15HP’s. Just keep the LV12R’s or LV12X’s in low music and I would have the most extension and high damping. Yes I would lose a little bit of extension with the LV12R’s and a little bit less with the LVX12’s, but other than that I’m not sure if there would be much of a difference other than spending $1000 to $2000 more on the FV15HP’s, where I don’t even need the extra output anyways. Would there be significantly more tactile response with the FV15HP’s, once I run Audyssey and have the receiver set at the same level in comparison?

I’m not sure how I can determine if I would like high or medium damping (or maybe I prefer low), unless I actually have subwoofers shipped to me and I listen, but them I’m spending lots in shipping, because all of these range from heavy and big to very heavy and huge. I already have Sierra 2's for mains and plan to upgrade my surrounds to Luna's, the center to a Duo, HTM 200se's for rears and some in-ceiling speakers that will blend well with Ascend's for my overhead Atmos speakers. Because I have the Sierra 2's Raal ribbon tweeters, and I love the sound, I would imagine I'd very much like the improved transient response of the medium or high damping setting, but I'm just guessing here. Any suggestions would be helpful?

I don't really have an answer for your questions, but my thought is, are you definitely set on 4 subs? It seems that I've read that going from 2 to 4 doesn't increase output by a whole lot. Maybe get two LVX12's, put them in opposite corners and see if you are satisfied with the coverage and output? Since your is considered a 'medium' size and not 'large', my personal preference would be for 2 or 4 sealed subs. Maybe the room gain would make up for the lack of ports? Hopefully someone from Rythmik will see this..

As with Nate, I don't have answers to your questions either. I've read the same around 2 vs 4 subs. Maybe start with 2 - either the LVX12's you are considering or the F15HPs (2 of which look to be a bit less $ than 4 LVX's). Could always add more later. Place the two in opposite corners or midway between front & back walls (if able).
Another suggestion would be to consider 3 -- two placed as suggested and one near your seating (i.e. behind) -- the latter may provide you with the tactile response you are seeking.

My preference is also sealed, but I am primarily music.

You should call or email Enrico or Brian. They're super helpful. Dina/Dave may also have suggestions.

I'm no expert but I've never been a fan of corner loading subs. Far too many variables outside of the speakers themselves influencing the sound.

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Originally Posted by racrawford65

As with Nate, I don't have answers to your questions either. I've read the same around 2 vs 4 subs. Maybe start with 2 - either the LVX12's you are considering or the F15HPs (2 of which look to be a bit less $ than 4 LVX's). Could always add more later. Place the two in opposite corners or midway between front & back walls (if able).
Another suggestion would be to consider 3 -- two placed as suggested and one near your seating (i.e. behind) -- the latter may provide you with the tactile response you are seeking.

My preference is also sealed, but I am primarily music.

You should call or email Enrico or Brian. They're super helpful. Dina/Dave may also have suggestions.

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I’ve really tried to make two subs at the midpoint of opposing walls work in the layout, but they are in the walkway or one of them is making it very difficult for the center channel and projection screen, so I decided not to do that placement. Making some changes I was able to open up the corners, which I was really excited about, since it gives maximum efficiency for four subs and it gives pretty much the best seat to seat variation. I’m planning for one row of 6 seats, so I thought that would be nice. I didn’t like the diagonally opposite corners with 2 subs as much, since you don’t get nearly as good seat to seat variation. Somewhere between 1 sub and 2 subs at the midpoints of opposing walls, in terms of seat to seat variation. You are right that going from 2 subs in diagonally opposite corners to corner loading 4 of them, I get only a 3 dB gain. However I get much better seat to seat variation and I make the strong case for going with either the LV12R or LVX12. Strongly leaning toward the LVX12, since the extension is really close to the FVX15. Still not sure if I would be fine with low music 1 port (high damping) or low HT 1 port (low damping), with no medium damping option. I don’t want to lose extension in HT mode, so I would need to be fine with high damping and just always use the low music 1 port mode.

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Originally Posted by white_darren

I'm no expert but I've never been a fan of corner loading subs. Far too many variables outside of the speakers themselves influencing the sound.

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I think that you are talking about corner loading one subwoofer. Currently the theater area of my basement is open to the entire rest of the finished basement. It is in a corner of the basement, which is irregularly shaped. I plan to put up a couple of walls that the theater room with be sealed and rectangular. However, right now I purposely tried to corner load the subwoofer to give me as much output as I can get. I only have an Outlaw LFM-1 subwoofer and I am sitting about 12 feet away from. When I ran bass sweeps, I was getting a null from the subwoofer, but switching the phase 180 degrees took out the null altogether. There were huge peaks, which would not make this a good place to put the sub without any EQ. After running Audyssey it was able to easily bring down those peaks and now the sweeps from 20 Hz up to 100 Hz are very even. I would say that as long as you can get rid of the nulls with the phase knob and have a good room EQ program to run, then you should be able to get pretty good results even when placed near a corner. I think that I also ended up with the subwoofer just about corner loaded in my other house as well. I did the subwoofer crawl and was able to get the smallest nulls (or no null at all) in the subwoofer range, when it was placed near a corner. This is probably very much room dependent, where you have had bad results in your room.

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Originally Posted by N Boros

I think that you are talking about corner loading one subwoofer. Currently the theater area of my basement is open to the entire rest of the finished basement. It is in a corner of the basement, which is irregularly shaped. I plan to put up a couple of walls that the theater room with be sealed and rectangular. However, right now I purposely tried to corner load the subwoofer to give me as much output as I can get. I only have an Outlaw LFM-1 subwoofer and I am sitting about 12 feet away from. When I ran bass sweeps, I was getting a null from the subwoofer, but switching the phase 180 degrees took out the null altogether. There were huge peaks, which would not make this a good place to put the sub without any EQ. After running Audyssey it was able to easily bring down those peaks and now the sweeps from 20 Hz up to 100 Hz are very even. I would say that as long as you can get rid of the nulls with the phase knob and have a good room EQ program to run, then you should be able to get pretty good results even when placed near a corner. I think that I also ended up with the subwoofer just about corner loaded in my other house as well. I did the subwoofer crawl and was able to get the smallest nulls (or no null at all) in the subwoofer range, when it was placed near a corner. This is probably very much room dependent, where you have had bad results in your room.

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Never said you couldn't make it work but the fact that you spent an entire paragraph discussing various considerations kind of makes my point.

I will also highlight that low frequency issues are not purely a function of the horizontal positioning of a sub along a wall. The vertical positioning between the floor and ceiling can also be problematic (and is the reason I have my E15HP raised off the floor sitting on an 18" cube of wood).

I ended up talking with Enrico, to see if he could help me narrow things down. I found the conversation to be very helpful. He said that in terms of output, the LV12F would probably be sufficient, since I would be corner loading four of them and because of where I set the volume dial. But, he was nudging me to go with either the LVX12 or the FVX12, because of the extra extension that I would get out of them. He said that even though I can't choosing the damping independently, that having Ascend speakers I would be very happy with high damping. He said that the high damping setting to get the deepest extension would be fine with home theater in my application because of my listening levels and that I have four of them corner loaded. In terms of choosing the LVX12 or the FVX12, be said that if music was the priority, then go with the FVX12, since with music he says that he notices a bit more detail with the metal driver, though they are very close. Even though home theater and TV gets much more use in the room, than music, I think I might just spend the extra bit of money for the FVX12. I do listen to some music, so why not. Also, I think the difference in cost is so small, that the slight extra output, extension and lowered distortion might be something that I would like to have.

I'm getting really close to finalizing my plans for my dedicated theater room now. Not sure if I will be able to line everything up this year with the pandemic going on to have it built. Hopefully early to mid next year at the latest. Excited to have the new subs in a small room, with even bass from seat to seat.