Which Subwoofer Array is Best? Cardioid, Conventional or End-Fire?
50K views · Nov 4, 2025 · Education
Comments · 251
@jimellert7060 · 10 months ago
Dave, I love the presentation - especially the paper waveforms! This was as clear as it ever could be. Thanks so much!
10
@MrJeffreywitherell · 10 months ago
A cool trick is to put the rear sub as far as you can back, it's usually less than 7ft😂, then sit at the drumkit and playback a bassy dance section of a track on the PA, then adjust the delay as you're listening from the spot where low end feedback will buildup
9
@jcisme · 10 months ago
Thank you for the lecture Professor Rat..
8
@patdry · 10 months ago
Brilliant demonstration! Every one of your videos is so inspiring and allows me to further my understanding of sound, while also coming to my own conclusions. Thanks for sharing, as always.
10
@HanspeterHolzer · 10 months ago
Dave: If we'd had you back then with your visualisations and practical experiments when I was studying this, a lot of things would have been so much easier... <br>In fact, it even helps old hands to understand things better. 😊
15
@ScottUhlMusic · 10 months ago
Great video man! I absolutely love cardioid subs whenever I can. Reducing that stage rumble is so valuable.<br><br>Also while I was watching the pink noise section of the video, I heard my wife from the other room go “what is happening right now??” 😂
15
@luizguilhermemagnodossanto448 · 10 months ago
Thank you, Dave. Now my ears and mind are open.
3
@christiaanbezuidenhout6984 · 10 months ago
Just my thoughs: I wouldn't call one cardioid and the other end-fire.. They're all cardioid. Cardioid is a shape, not a layout. There are 3 basic types of Cardiod subs: End-fre, in-line gradient and stacked gradient. But they're all cardiod sub configurations, each with it's own pro's & con's, selected carefully for each application. Love your demonstration! Very practical and visual!!
48
@williamMcEwen-i5r · 2 months ago
The effects you use to demonstrate the the principles is what I find the most useful good job.
1
@akardzisko · 1 month ago
I know a trick for the 'cardio' setup. We stack the basses, with one playing forward and the other backward. We delay the rear speakers accordingly and reverse their polarity. Because the distance difference is small, front cancellation only occurs above 100Hz. <br> <br>The small distance difference results in poorer summation of low frequencies in the front, so we apply an allpass filter to the front subwoofer to shift the phase accordingly. This will reduce the attenuation of the lowest frequencies in the rear, but improve the summation in the front.
@kelvinfunkner · 10 months ago
I've ALWAYS wondered what the main differences were between these! You are the MASTER my man! I always love seeing one of your videos pop up and this one did not disappoint! Brilliant as usual, and having the visual part in software along with the audio proof is golden! Thanks so much!!!
1
@Mtaalas · 10 months ago
I love end-fire, if there's space to put two sub end fire at the middle instead of spaced pair subs, I try to go with end fire. It needs very little processing (delay and phase flip) and it gets rid of the power alleys and the uneven coverage. You also improve the impedance matching of the subs to the space and it'll increase the throwing distance like crazy. It just feels very powerful even if frequency response of the set is flat... there's something about the amount of air it'll move that makes it feel big.<br><br>But yeah, it needs space :)
2
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