home audio questions

[BrianG]

For proper sub placement (or rather, what sounds best to you), a common trick is to put the sub where you normally would sit, play some music at the volume/bass setting you'll be normally listening at, and then walk around the room and see where it sounds best. Once you find the right spot (assuming it is physically possible), put the sub there. Generally, room corners will amplify the bass (standing waves), but tends to sound boomy and not well defined. Some people like this, others don't.

Don't skimp on amp power. It's better to play 300-400w through a 200w sub if the signal is clean, than to play a distorted 200w through a 200w sub. An amp will theoretically double it's output power during full clip, and the speaker has a hard time to respond to such a sharp signal ramp (clipped sine-wave looks like a square wave) so it has less back-EMF to reduce the current flow. Also, the headroom from higher power is nice to have. Better to have it and not use it, than to need it and not have it. I've been running a "clean" 600w rms through a 300w rms sub in my car for over 4 years now and it still sounds perfect.

[JThiessen]

Generally speaking, the advice given so far is on the money. A powered sub with built in crossover is the way to go for your fronts. AND you did the right thing by getting an extra set of towers for your rears (I assume they are identical to the RL and RF?). Timber matching the complete set is the "proper" way to set up surrond sound. And no, just haveing the same brand of speakers does not mean they are timbre matched. They need to be the same size drivers and performance specs to be numerically matched.
I run 4 Definitive Technology Mythos 4's with a Mythos 8 center and an M&K 1000W sub.

[_paralyzed_]

wow,def tec! remember the bp2000's with the built in 18" powered sub? awesome......

[_paralyzed_]

lets remember his setup, he has 285 watts coming out of his reciever for a sub, so that means he doesn't need a plate amp, and yes, a powered sub is the easiest solution. I assume your kicker is 4 ohms(most car subs are) so you've proven your reciever can handle 4ohms. you could step up to a 15" woofer, or run two 12" 8 ohm subs in parralel, a couple more efficient speakers splitting the power would give you more volume. I guess we need more info. Do you want a cheap solution, an easy solution, or the right solution? I personnaly would put the kicker back in the car, run no sub off your reciever allowing it to only run mids and highs, and get a big ole 15" powered subwoofer, a cerwin vega, with the red surround, that will shake sh@! off of walls