THX - Managing Bass Modes

At our 2007 State of the Union Event, John Dahl from THX discussed room modes (or peaks) and various ways to deal with them, including the use of multiple subwoofers, room treatments, and certain isolation and bass-trapping products. This year's event is shaping up to be filled with even more great presenters and demo rooms for all attendees. As this is one of the few events open to the general public where you will be able to enjoy multiple manufacturer demo rooms and hear from industry giants, you'll want to hurry and register for the event before it's too late.

This video gives a great overview of what it takes to tame the frequencies in your room below 200Hz - where the room really makes itself known. Taming bass response in a room is important as it can really make or break a sound system.

Additionally, with proper calculations, you can model how a room will interact with bass frequencies and better position your seating positions to . Among suggestions, John offers 5 tips to getting better control over your bass.

1. Choose a room with dimensions that are 5% different from each other
2. Don't position any seats in areas which have peaks or dips
3. Place subwoofers in such a way as to better diffract energy in the room
4. Use mechanical bass treatments (must be an active or resonant device in order to work)
   
5. The LAST thing you can do is equalize the room
   

This is a video every bass-head should watch and learn from. Everyone can do at least some of these steps in order to get better bass response and smooth out the bass so that you achieve better sound and a much more pleasing home theater experience.

You'll see presentations like this live at the 2008 State of the CE Union event in Orlando Florida. This year's event is being hosted at the Walt Disney World Swan and Dolphin Resort & Hotel. You can get more info on registering for the event and booking a room here.

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