When surround sound systems came out, everyone became familiar with what 5.1 meant--five speakers dispersed around the room and the ".1" was the subwoofer, centered down low and in front.

But there is a science to subwoofers that create those deep, rich, bass acoustics beyond what can be delivered by a single speaker.

The single subwoofer approach suffers from an unevenness in bass which is to say it is impossible to get smooth bass response in a home theater or media room from seat to seat. While one seating location might be outstanding, the other seats would suffer from bass peaks or dips...in other words, depending on the bass frequency, either too loud or too quiet.

Dr. Floyd Toole and Todd Welti have together been an invaluable asset to the home sound reproduction industry doing a lot of experimentation with subwoofer placement, numbers, and bass sound quality. This breakthrough work on bass reproduction has allowed us as home theater designers to create a room where we can significantly minimize bass response problems. Their whitepaper on the topic was the end-product of countless tests and acoustical models of playing with multiple subwoofers in different locations in a room to improve bass response over a much wider listening area.

In the end, Toole and Welti concluded that there are three ideal configurations for maximum bass reproduction.  They are listed here in order from optimum to acceptable:

1. Have four subwoofers with one located at the midpoint of each of the four surrounding walls. This configuration displayed the least amount of variation in bass response from seat to seat.
2. As an alternative to the above, locate the four subwoofers in each corner of the room.
3. Yet a third alternative is to have only two subwoofers; one centered on the front wall and the other centered on the rear wall.

Can you find the subwoofer hidden in this picture?  Maybe you're thinking, "I won't find it. A subwoofer is that large speaker box located near the floor BELOW the TV."

Ah, think again.  You're actually looking at it right now!  So, let's see what's in this photo.

There are two A/C vents, one recessed canister light, a flatscreen TV backlit with LED lighting, and the in-wall mounted left speaker column.

Well guess what?  That A/C vent nearest the canister light is actually a disguised subwoofer!  Of course your subwoofer is the speaker that provides those very deep bass sounds that sometimes make the floor rumble like thunder when you watch a movie or let you feel the kick of the bass drum when listening to music.

Most assume subwoofers must be placed at or near the floor level.  That isn't always the case.  So if it makes sense to not place a subwoofer under your TV, ask your professional A/V installer about placement options that would work well for your room.