You’ve probably done the practical thing. The subwoofer’s placed where it fits—maybe tucked beside the rack, or just out of sight. The bass is there—but it doesn’t feel reliable. Some notes bloom, others vanish. You may have noticed it more with upright bass than with synth—acoustic tones don’t hide the gaps. You sit, and it’s a bit thin. You stand, and suddenly there’s too much. The sub’s working—but the room’s not playing along.
You might be sitting in a bass null. The sub didn’t land in the problem—it just didn’t get out of its way.
What to Do
Try this: move the sub to your listening seat—right where your ears normally go. Play a track with continuous bass—a walking line, a synth pad, anything steady. Now start slowly moving around the perimeter of the room. Along walls, into corners, maybe even halfway along the side walls. You’re not listening for "loud." You’re listening for evenness. Where the bass feels full—but not fat. Where the notes connect. When you find that place, mark it. That’s likely where your sub wants to be.
Yes, it’s odd. Yes, you might end up crawling. But what you’re doing is trading guesswork for clarity.
Here’s Why That Works
Bass doesn’t just fill a room—it presses into it, and the room pushes back. It sets up standing waves—some spots where energy piles up, others where it cancels out. By reversing the positions—sub in your seat, ears in motion—you hear what the room is doing to the sound. Not a theory. Not a graph. Just pressure and response, as your ears actually perceive it.
You don’t need a mic. You don’t need math. You just need a slow walk, a steady track, and a little curiosity.
When the sub finds the right home, it doesn’t announce itself. It completes the stage.
