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Multiple Subwoofer Case Study: Acoustic Frontiers Demo Room

by Nyal Mellor October 08, 2013

This article is a case study of how low frequency modeling tools can be used to ensure consistent, relatively flat seat-to-seat bass response in a home theater. This particular case study focuses on the Acoustic Frontiers demo room and shows how we determined the optimal number and placement of multiple subwoofers using these tools.

Relevant Home Theater Design Performance Requirements

There are two performance requirements that are important to this discussion:

Consistent seat-to-seat bass response. Consistent bass response is important because if each seat has the same frequency response as the others then we can successfully perform system equalization to tailor the response. If seats vary in their response from each other then EQ cannot be applied because it is global in effect - if one seat has a 10dB boost at 60Hz and another is flat at 60Hz then when we equalize out this boost we are making the response better in some places and worse in others.
Major speaker boundary interference nulls filled. Speaker boundary interference is phase based cancellation caused by the interaction of the direct and reflected sounds. We have seen its effects first hand in a number of theaters where the only subwoofers were located in the front of the room. What happens in this scenario is that when the sub is playing there is a strong 'bounce' or reflection from the back wall behind the listeners that combines with the direct sound to create a substantial null. These nulls negatively effect the quality of sustained low frequency effects sounds in the theater.

Background Information

Our demo room is a very high performance home theater measuring 12' wide by 16'8" long by 8' high. We have a single row of three Fortress home theater recliners at a distance of 10'4" from the front wall. The room has three seats because that is the maximum number of home theater recliners that would fit in the room whilst maintaining great audio quality in all three seats. See our home theater seating layout blog article for our approach to design.