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William Clendenen
Contributor I
January 26, 2014
Question

What does the SUB placement adjustment do?

  • January 26, 2014
  • 8 replies
  • 20807 views
See the sub placement adjustment on the iPad controller (on or off). What do the on and off settings do?
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    8 replies

    Ryan S
    Ryan S
    Retired Sonos Staff
    February 1, 2014
    Hello William,

    Simply put, the audio signal coming from a subwoofer in the form of a sine wave, placement adjustment flips that signal 180 degrees. This can change the sound depending on the room your system is setup in.

    Cheers.
    Mark good posts by pressing the like button, and select the best answer on questions you've asked to help others find solutions.
      Kevin_81
      Contributor I
      July 3, 2014
      Hello William,

      Simply put, the audio signal coming from a subwoofer in the form of a sine wave, placement adjustment flips that signal 180 degrees. This can change the sound depending on the room your system is setup in.

      Cheers.


      I have my sub in a fire place behind my tv it is upright. Should I have PA on or off plz?
      jgatie
      jgatie
      July 3, 2014
      Hello William,

      Simply put, the audio signal coming from a subwoofer in the form of a sine wave, placement adjustment flips that signal 180 degrees. This can change the sound depending on the room your system is setup in.

      Cheers.


      No one can say for sure due to the unique accoustical properties of your particular room.  Try it both ways and choose what sounds best.
      Bryan_15
      Bryan_15
      Lyricist I
      July 7, 2017
      So technically the 180 degree flip is suppose to take place when the subwoofer is in the opposite wall of the where the display is. So if the TV is in the front of the room and the sub is in the rear of the room then the box should be highlighted "on." Otherwise if the sub is in the front with the display then the box would be "unchecked" off. But going with jgatie's suggestion of trying it both ways works also. Cheers!
      I do the best I can at the time of the event in every circumstance.
      Stuart_W
      Stuart_W
      World-Class Superstar
      July 9, 2017
      So technically the 180 degree flip is suppose to take place when the subwoofer is in the opposite wall of the where the display is. So if the TV is in the front of the room and the sub is in the rear of the room then the box should be highlighted "on." Otherwise if the sub is in the front with the display then the box would be "unchecked" off. But going with jgatie's suggestion of trying it both ways works also. Cheers!

      No. Everything you wrote apart from following jgatie's suggestion is complete nonsense. As Ryan S noted the Placement Adjustment switch will flip the output by 180 degrees - so consider a sine wave reflected about the x-axis. This is something worth doing because the wavelength of the Sub sound waves are relatively long - they are of the same order as the size of objects (doors, cupboards, chairs and so on) so changing the phase of the signal can make a difference to the sound that you experience.
      I don't know if TruePlay will affect this setting - I suspect TruePlay won't switch it on or off so it really is a case of trying it either way.
      Arc + Sub (Gen 1) + 2 x Play 1/ Stereo Play 3s/ Era 100 Stereo in Kitchen, One Stereo in Bedroom, Play 1 stereo pair in Study, Play 1in Bathroom, Sonos Move 2
        jgatie
        jgatie
        July 10, 2017
        Stuart is correct. The Sub Placement Adjustment is a phase shift. Basically it means it electronically swaps the + and - connections on the Sub input so the speaker phase is flipped (i.e., the speaker moves out when it used to move in and vice versa). This can eliminate standing waves (null spots) where the sound wave reflections interact and the combination of the trough of one sine wave passing through the crest of another causes nullification or "dead" zones.

        It has absolutely nothing to do with the Sub in the front or back of the room. Matter of fact, without sophisticated sound wave analysis hardware/software, nobody can predict what it will do in any particular room regardless of Sub placement.
        ratty
        ratty
        July 10, 2017
        I don't know if TruePlay will affect this setting
        There is no Placement Adjustment switch if the room's been Trueplay tuned. SUB phase has been taken care of.
          Stuart_W
          Stuart_W
          World-Class Superstar
          July 10, 2017
          I don't know if TruePlay will affect this setting
          There is no Placement Adjustment switch if the room's been Trueplay tuned. SUB phase has been taken care of.

          Thanks ratty. Perhaps I should have checked mine.
          Arc + Sub (Gen 1) + 2 x Play 1/ Stereo Play 3s/ Era 100 Stereo in Kitchen, One Stereo in Bedroom, Play 1 stereo pair in Study, Play 1in Bathroom, Sonos Move 2
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