[Tyson]

OB subs work best in pairs, near the main speakers and 3 feet away from the wall. 

[jmimac351]

OB subs work best in pairs, near the main speakers and 3 feet away from the wall.

I'm thinking I can place them in spots on either side, similar to that spot, and roll them out.  An OB sub in a suboptimal (<-- ) placement, and tuned to overcome suboptimal placement (if possible)... is that better than any box sub?  I wonder.

[Early B.]

An OB sub in a suboptimal (<-- ) placement, and tuned to overcome suboptimal placement (if possible)... is that better than any box sub?  I wonder.

Yes. Buy the best-sounding speakers (and subs) you can afford. None of us have optimal room conditions.

[psycho1122]

One thing that you can use as a guide is to look at moving mass. Simple physics is the more mass put in motion, the harder and longer it takes to settle.

Add servo control and stopping or settling time gets cut significantly.

Also, once you go full open baffle bass, it is hard to go back. By comparison the boxed design pressurizes the room and causes a lot more room boom, while the open baffle bass can hit hard and then there is no trailing boom. It just stops.

I find this statement and thread interesting. I run a sub that is in the "middle" of this discussion.... M&K dual 12" "push-pull" subwoofer crossed over with a Paradigm X-30. I have always found that my MX-145 was musical, fast and can dig deep without being "boomy". Amplifier runs like a D10 Caterpillar. I have NEVER run out of headroom. Anyone within this discussion have a take on this "in-between" design? Ken Kreisel's latest designs are very impressive. https://www.kreiselsound.com/


Cheers!!

[NoahH]

I have one listening area of a similar shape with OB subs that work very, very well.

I am going to also take the opportunity to get on my soap box about SVS. I had 2 SB4000s paired with my Wilson speakers, and they were always "ok". I replaced them with dual RELs and I cannot overstate how much better they are. The SVS subs are closer to "it came in the package with a soundbar at Costco" than they are to the RELs. I have heard Rythmiks only a couple times, and they were closer to REL than SVS, but definitely not REL.

I would call my RELs vs my GR OB subs on-par for quality, just different in style of OB vs sealed.

Thus I would heavily encourage you towards the GR subs, and solidly assuming it will be better than your SVS. And if you find you don't like the OB style, definitely try REL.

[jmimac351]

Thanks all for this feedback! Hopefully any other experiences are shared as well. I’m at the track this weekend. I like these speakers too: