WoW, facing sub to the floor really is something

[SQBubble]

I faced my sub firing the floor just for the heck of it, and MAN its a HUGE difference, the lows are simply a LOT louder and felt ALOT better. It's like have a new sub-setup now... never thought it would be such a difference by simply changing the position of the enclosure.

just wanted to share.

[Mike P.]

A lot of times you read a "blanket statement" saying there is no difference between forward firing and down firing. My own experience was with 2 Shiva sonotubes in a basement with a cement floor. One day I laid them on their side with the baseplate removed and the difference was very noticeable. It just goes to show that every situation is different.

[TheEAR]

Down firing adds boundary reinforcement,as the driver is closer to the reflective(for sound waves)surface.

In some setups this may result in a notable gain at listening position.

[SQBubble]

yea in my case it's like night and day difference, I can feel my head vibrate when some deep bass is played, and that's at listening spot. Man I love this. How do you people get the response graph of you're system, I'm curious of what my FR curve is like.

[Mike P.]

""I can feel my head vibrate....""

I haven't heard that description before, got a good laugh out of that one!

The frequency response graphs are done with Room EQ Wizard (REW). There's a link at the top of the page that will take you to that area. There is also the REW forum in the main index.

[Kal Rubinson]

TheEAR wrote:

Down firing adds boundary reinforcement,as the driver is closer to the reflective(for sound waves)surface.

In some setups this may result in a notable gain at listening position.

Certainly true. In addition, the direct excitation of the floor itself can lead to spurious but, often, impressive additional bass. I prefer to avoid that.

[Prof.]

How far off the floor is it?

[SQBubble]

about 7"

[goodsound]

Follow-up question: does the flooring material have any direct effect on whether you would decide to use a down-firing/facing model? More specifically, would carpet affect the effectiveness of such a set-up?

[Kal Rubinson]

goodsound wrote:

Follow-up question: does the flooring material have any direct effect on whether you would decide to use a down-firing/facing model? More specifically, would carpet affect the effectiveness of such a set-up?

Not at bass frequencies. Acoustic absorption of carpet is pretty much nil in the low bass.

Kal