Subwoofer placement change - Velodyne Impact 10

[tanmayj]

Hi folks,

To begin with let me wish y'all a very happy new year!

I have an Onkyo TX-NR 616, Polk Audio TSi 400 and a Velodyne Impact 10 Sub.

I bought the setup after the house was done up, and I didn't want to hammer anything into the walls, so I was kind of restricted in my positioning of the speakers and sub (because I didn't want to re-cable anything)

Currently I happen to have a longer (10 meter) RCA cable that a friend bought for his setup.

Yesterday, just to check the sound, I moved the sub to a corner of the room and connected the longer RCA cable.

The effect was MIND-BLOWING! IT FELT LIKE THE VELODYNE WAS ON FIRE!!! THE WINDOWS OF THE HOUSE WERE RATTLING!!! I was almost sorry to move the sub back to it's position; it seems pitifully inadequate now!!!

Now since last night I'm thinking how to move the sub to the corner without making the house look ugly!

I see two options:

1) The corner already has electric connectivity. So that problem is solved. Regarding the signal cable, I can ask the electrician who did up my house to check if he can run the RCA cable through the same ducting that uses the electrical cable. My questions are: will this cause any interference to the Sub's signals and can it be mitigated by using shielded RCA cables (if so please post links to these)

2) This product: Rocketfish - Wireless Subwoofer Transmitter/Receiver Kit - RF-WSW312 | Rocketfish It's basically an RF converter. Questions are: Is the signal transmission over RF faithful enough and/ or does it cause any interference to other devices in my home such as mobile phones etc.

 

[Rabepobemababe]

It is common in recording studios for the power cables and the audio cables to criss-cross each other. In this scenario, it is rare that the magnetic field generated by 220 V electrical cables causes audible interference in audio signals passing through the audio cables. But I guess some audiophiles perceive the difference.

Since most of the subwoofer's bass is non-directional, there would be a bass gain if a subwoofer placed close to walls, and / or in the room corners. The quality and quantity of the subwoofer bass is a function of the room modes that are excited due to different subwoofer placements. It is for you to experiment and finally arrive as to how close or how far the subwoofer needs to be from the walls / room corners. Also, it is a matter of personal choice. Some like their bass "tight". Some like it "boom".

 

[Naturelover]

A very happy new year to you, Tanmay!
For how long did you hear the "rattling windows"? Was it for long or just a few minutes? Make sure that you hear for a reasonable time period to ensure that that is what you want else you might end up with chest thumping bass with accelerated ear fatigue.
Have you heard of the "crawl" method of placing the sub? You could try that since you have access to a long cable and a good friend!

 

[tanmayj]

Well I have only so many places in my hall that can hold a subwoofer, so not many locations to 'crawl' to!
And don't worry if/ when I move my sub, I can take care of the Window rattles!

BTW that Rocketfish thingie is available in India for INR 5.9K using Ebay GEB.

I dug a bit deeper and discovered that the pre-out from the Amp to the sub is actually an analog pre-out, which means it would be susceptible (in theory) to EMI/ RF interference. Not sure how things work out in the real world though.

If you use Rocketfish, another aspect to consider would be the transmission delays. I'm guessing transmission would be quicker through a direct RCA cable. If you use Rocketfish, the Electrical -> RF -> Electrical conversion would inevitably cause some delay. I'm not sure if this would be discernible to the human ear though.