What is Nulls and Peaks?
Subwoofer peaks and nulls are severe imbalances in bass frequency response caused by sound waves reflecting off room boundaries (walls, floor, ceiling) and interfering with each other.
Peaks occur where waves reinforce (too loud/boomy), while nulls are spots with extreme destructive interference, creating a “dead zone” with little to no bass.
In the example below you can see an example in a room that measures 5x5x2.40m where the subwoofer is placed in the right corner(yellow ring) the nulls are marked with(Red ring) and peaks(orange ring). The highest peak is 115db and the lowest null is below 65db. That is a big difference and very noticeable in movies and music. Short explained, music tracks will have a lot of bass in the 35Hz but in the 65Hz you will barely hear it in comparison.
How can you resolve Nulls and peaks?
How you can do this depends on your equipment, room shape and interior. Also it is a bit limited what you can do with a one subwoofer setup.
Troubleshooting tip below:
- Different Subwoofer placements Click here for examples
- Change listening position if possible
- Try different subwoofer placements
- Adjust subwoofer phase
- Verify port tuning
- Check polarity
- Tune parametric EQ
- Relocate or remove large furniture if it impacts response
- Verify receiver settings (crossover, etc.)
- Disable Audyssey LFC
- Turn off “LFE+Main”
- Disable “Dynamic EQ” and “Dynamic Volume”
- Invert the polarity of the subwoofer(s) closest to the listening position
- Add delay to one of the subs(normally the closest one)