Subwoofer: front-firing or down-firing?

[srinivas1015]

I have a Polk DSW550 subwoofer and I'm wondering which would be better: putting in the front-firing position vs the downward-firing position?

What would the perceivable difference be?

EDIT:
I have a concrete floor with tiles. Would a downward-firing subwoofer put me at a disadvantage?

 

[drkrack]

If you live in a apartment with people living below you don't buy a down firing sub. If the sub can be positioned to face the listener directly buy a front firing sub. For movies and ported Subs again a front firing will be better. Other than the above scenarios down firing would be equally good.
I owned a Jamo down firing few years ago, I prefer front firing sub, may not buy a down firing sub in the future.


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[saketb]

I have been using this sub for more than 3 years now and I really like it, as it does it's job remarkably. You can place a carpet or a thick floor mat below it, this really improves the bass and makes it contained.

Well making it front firing will be a challenge as you will need an angled power cord and a grill for covering the drivers on the front. The controls will be coverd at the bottom and cannot be used for making changes to the sub. So I refrained from making it front firing and continued using as default.

 

[dr_rocket]

There's no straight answer. It will vary according to room and listener preference. Have you tried both options?

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[Deleted member 38504]

Saket, what changes do u make to the sub? I have the same sub and I don't make any changes on the sub, everything from bass management on AVR.

 

[srisaikat]

You will get uniform response when the sub is kept down-fired and on a hard solid base. Tiles floor especially not good for sub as the cementing work underneath most of the time are hollow, not solid. Thick flooring material like Stone (Granite will be best) or even normal concrete floor gives best response from Sub.

Buy a piece of Granite or thick Glass (above 10 mm) as per measurement (down area size) of the SUB and keep the SUB over it. You can keep the Granite or that Glass on a carpet or mat to prevent any rattling.

Carpeting or MAT directly under the sub is not recommended as they absorbs low frequency response. Solid hard surface helps the SUB to provide optimized performance.

 

[sdurani]

Downfiring hides mechanical distortions from the subwoofer driver, since those artifacts are higher in frequency and more directional. The bass still reaches you fine because it is omni-directional.