Subwoofer on wooden desk or carpet floor?

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mgsvr

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I'm going to get a Logitech Z-5500 for my Xbox 360/PS3/Rev/PS2 gaming. Anyway, I have a current 2.1 set up and put my Sub under my wooden computer desk.

Well the computer desk is right next to me where I sit. If I put it on the computer desk's bottom then I can save space. If I put in on the carpet floor, then I'll move my computer desk away for a bit (which I don't want to since it take up space). Both of these option is right next to where I sit (I sit on my bed for playing games).

I just don't know if putting a Sub on a wooden desk will make it have less realistic bass compared to the carpet floor. You know when playing war games such as Call of Duty 2 or Halo, and someone throw a grenade at you. If I have my Sub on the wooden desk, will it sound the same as on the carpet?

Thanks
 
I think that with it being on wood that the sound would be louder but more solid The wood would absorb the sound and you would only hear it. I could be completey wrong. And the carpet would let you "feel it"

It does not matter. What is important is that it's in a good place line of sight matters with a sub. If you have it facing away yes you will hear it but you won't "feel" it. It will be fine on carpet. I have mine on carpet it and it rocks.
 
I have mine on a hardwood floor and it doesn't rattle. It definately shakes everything in the room (and surrounding rooms).
 
Subwoofer placement has less to do with what surface you put it on, and more to do with where you place it in respect to your room.

It seems that the corner of a room on the floor is the best generic place to put it. From there, it just takes experimentation to find the best place to put it. Moving it to different places in the room to see where the bass response is the best from where you listen.

Bass will almost always sound worse the higher you raise the speaker.

http://www.audioholics.com/techtips/setup/loudspeakers/subwooferplacementguide.php
 
Well if I put it under my compter desk, then it will sit near the corner of my room. If I put on the carpet floor then it will sit right to the corner. I just want to play games with realistic bass (when grenade goes boom!) etc. I just don't know if I put it on my computer desk, I'll likely get lesser realistic bass sound compared to the corner carpet place.

If put on the computer desk, then I'll save a lot of space though.
 
I doubt one could achieve "realistic" bass. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. If you like the way it sounds with it on your desk, by all means put it there. However, generally, it sounds better to more people when it's on the floor near a corner.
 
aiite aiite thanks for the info. I'll trust you and put the Sub on the carpet floor corner since putting it on the desk likely to cause magnetic field on my pc HDD + CRT monitor.

How come today you don't bash my grammar anymore? lol
 
[quote name='mgsvr']How come today you don't bash my grammar anymore? lol[/QUOTE]

Because, your grammar is bearable right now, even bordering on correct.
 
Hmmmmm some people rather to have a 5.1 Speaker system than a HDTV for gaming. Is sound really that important than eyes candy? I have a HDTV with that have a BBE digital surround sound, when I turn the option on it create this surround sound very nicely. And that's from a 2 speaker on the TV, wonder what 5.1 would feel like. Can't wait to get my speaker system.
 
Also if you really want to get the best sound, put your sub in the place you will sit on the floor though not the sofa. Play something with lots of sub noise. Then walkaround the room when you find a place where it sounds it best that it where you put the sub.
 
[quote name='mgsvr']Hmmmmm some people rather to have a 5.1 Speaker system than a HDTV for gaming. Is sound really that important than eyes candy? I have a HDTV with that have a BBE digital surround sound, when I turn the option on it create this surround sound very nicely. And that's from a 2 speaker on the TV, wonder what 5.1 would feel like. Can't wait to get my speaker system.[/QUOTE]
I'd take good sound over good screen any day (though, obviously have both is ideal). To me, the sound is what makes things submersive. For instance, I can get totally sucked into Mario Kart DS and AC:WW because of Nintendo's really nice "surround" sound on the DS, even if the screen is like 4". For me, the expeirence is int he sound, not the visuals so much. Sound is the cake, visuals the icing. (And, of course, the above all assumes a foundation of good gameplay and a fun-for-me game. :) )
 
[quote name='Graystone']Also if you really want to get the best sound, put your sub in the place you will sit on the floor though not the sofa. Play something with lots of sub noise. Then walkaround the room when you find a place where it sounds it best that it where you put the sub.[/QUOTE]
That's not really that great of a method, since rooms won't reverberate the sound symmetrically

[quote name='daroga']I'd take good sound over good screen any day (though, obviously have both is ideal). To me, the sound is what makes things submersive. For instance, I can get totally sucked into Mario Kart DS and AC:WW because of Nintendo's really nice "surround" sound on the DS, even if the screen is like 4". For me, the expeirence is int he sound, not the visuals so much. Sound is the cake, visuals the icing. (And, of course, the above all assumes a foundation of good gameplay and a fun-for-me game.[/QUOTE]
I prefer the visuals to the sound. I typically play my GBA with the sound off if I'm not in my apartment. I even play with my iPod on. Just so long as the game is submersive. In my apartment, before I started tinkering with DIY sound systems, I would just play my games on a TV with bleh speakers on it. Granted, now my sound system is pretty kickin (and cost me $30 tops), the sound didn't do as much to draw me in as the visuals.
 
[quote name='capitalist_mao']That's not really that great of a method, since rooms won't reverberate the sound symmetrically[/QUOTE]


That is what a lot of audiophiles recommend.
 
[quote name='Graystone']That is what a lot of audiophiles recommend.[/QUOTE]

Here are some reasons why the placement is fundamentally flawed.

1. It is not at all certain that what is appointed, almost axiomatically, "the best listening position" in the first phase of the experiment, is really the best. It may even be a disastrous listening place, where bass of good quality is almost impossible to get. Try to rearrange the furniture, it may be rewarding. Avoid listening places in the middle of the room.

2. An unexperienced listener may have a hard time judging what bass sound is best/most true, especially when the parameter of adapting them to the sound of the main speakers, and establish correct completeness is included. To separately judge just a part of something complex is often difficult.

3. How do you know how the recorded bassnotes should sound when they are reproduced correctly? This is maybe the greatest problem with all the manipulated recordings today.

4. When placing more than one subwoofer, the method is useless since you cannot reverse the process, i.e. placing the subwoofer on the sofa and simultaneously be in several places and listen at the same time. It may still be meaningful to listen in one place at the time to check that it does not sound too bad. It is however essential that they are approximately at the same distance from the listening position.

5. The method is completely subjective, and the risk to choose a sound that at the time feels groovy, but eventually, maybe after playing 100 records, appears obviously colored and makes all sources sound the same. And then you have to put on the knee protectors again...

6. The thesis of equal sound transmission in both directions is not true, at least not without reservation! This is because a subwoofer as a sound generator does not have infinitely high mechanical impedance, it will therefore play the room resonances a little weaker when it is placed in the corner itself, than when it is placed in the sofa and we listen in the corner.
Click to expand...
http://www.sonicdesign.se/subplace.html
 
hey thanks guys, I have read the AudioPhile site about Subwoofer and stuff, yea I'll put the Sub in the corner which is near the place where I sit. Wow can't believe what I've missing out without 5.1 system.
 
Subwoofers work best on a solid floor (ie, no carpeting) and near a wall. Carpeting softens the punch of the subwoofer... also, a subwoofer should be on the floor, not on top of a desk.
 
[quote name='Vinny']Subwoofers work best on a solid floor (ie, no carpeting) and near a wall. Carpeting softens the punch of the subwoofer... also, a subwoofer should be on the floor, not on top of a desk.[/QUOTE]
Subwoofers work best on surfaces that absorb the bass, which includes carpeted rooms and walls that aren't concrete. Drywall is good since it will absorb the shock rather than reverberate it and produce "bass boom". Hardwood floors work as well as carpeted floors, but concrete floors do not work well.
http://www.audioholics.com/techtips/setup/loudspeakers/subwooferplacementguide.php
 
Hmmmm to think of it, I have to put it on my wooden desktop now.. =(

How much differences of the bass power between Wooden vs Carpet??? If put on Wooden desk, then it will be almost near the corner wall. If put on carpet, it will lay straight on the corner.

But I don't care about the corner...can you guys just tell me if put on wooden, will I still able to have incredible bass sound????
 
it's not the surface it's on, per se, rather it's the level it's at. It sounds better when it's on the ground rather than when it's high up.
 
Hmmmmm I see =(

If put on the wooden desk, then it will be lke 3-4" higher above the carpet ground. I guess I'll have to sacrified my room space for the 10" Subwooofer.

Thanks
 
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