Where the subwoofer stands often affects the bass more than its size. The short answer: put the subwoofers together, close to a wall but not in a corner, and align them with the tops. Here's why, and what else to keep in mind.

01. Wall, corner or center of the room?

Low frequencies spread out in all directions. If the subwoofer stands against a wall, the bass in the room gets louder because the wall reflects the sound. In a corner it gets even louder, but quickly sounds boomy and uneven.

Against a wall: More bass for the same power. The best choice for most rooms.
In the corner: Only if you're missing bass and the room doesn't boom.
Free-standing in the room: The most even, but it requires more power.

Tip: After setting up, walk through the room once with music playing. If there are spots where the bass almost disappears or gets much louder, move the subwoofer by half a meter to a meter.

Fête de la Musique with Stil vor Talent in Kreuzberg – Funktion One sound by Akari

Stacked Funktion One subwoofers at Fête de la Musique: placed together, the subs work like one big box.

02. Stacked or side by side?

Several subwoofers that are directly next to each other behave like one large source when it comes to bass. Together they sound louder than any single one could. Whether you stack them or place them side by side makes little difference for the bass.

Stacking saves floor space and brings the tops up to the right height when they sit on top of the stack.
Side by side is more stable and safer when lots of people dance right in front of the system.

The only thing that matters: keep them together. If you spread the subwoofers around the room, you create zones where the bass cancels itself out.

03. Left and right or in the middle?

At concerts, subwoofers are often placed left and right under the tops. This creates a narrow strip with lots of bass in the middle of the room and spots with much less next to it. For parties and clubs, a block of subwoofers in the middle or on one side is usually better: the bass is even across the whole dance floor.

In DJ setups, the block often stands directly in front of or under the DJ booth. In that case, make sure the DJ has their own Monitor , otherwise they'll mostly hear bass.

04. Matching subwoofers and tops

Subwoofers and tops should stand as close together as possible. The further apart they are, the later the sound of one reaches the audience, and the sound gets thin in the crossover range. With our PA systems the crossover frequency is already set in the controller. If subs and tops still have to stand far apart, we compensate with a delay.

At open airs, direction matters: bass carries far, including backwards.

Funktion One sound system by Akari at the 72 HOURS May Day Open Air in Berlin-Kreuzberg

05. Less bass behind the system: cardioid

Bass also radiates backwards, onto the stage and towards the neighbors. A cardioid setup reduces this significantly: some of the subwoofers face backwards and are delayed so that the sound cancels out behind the system but stays intact in front. This is worthwhile for open airs in residential areas and for stages with live musicians. We set this up on-site with a measurement microphone.