Why Studio Subwoofers Are Placed Off-Centre

Why Studio Subwoofers Are Placed Off-Centre. When you walk into a professionally treated studio and notice that the subwoofer isn’t sitting perfectly between the main monitors, you might wonder — why place such an expensive piece of gear off-centre?

It’s not a design quirk or aesthetic choice. The position of the subwoofer has a major impact on how evenly the low frequencies behave in your room — and off-centre placement is often the key to smooth, accurate bass response.

The Real Reason for Off-Centre Subwoofer Placement

In a properly treated room with a pro-level audio interface and studio monitors, the biggest challenge in the low end comes from room modes — standing waves that form between the walls, floor, and ceiling.

These standing waves create uneven bass:

• Peaks — areas where bass frequencies are exaggerated
• Nulls — areas where bass almost disappears

Even the best acoustic panels can’t fully eliminate these low-frequency problems, so subwoofer placement becomes critical.

Why Off-Centre Works Better

1. Bass Is Non-Directional
   Below roughly 80 Hz, our ears can’t easily locate where bass comes from. So, unlike your stereo monitors, the subwoofer doesn’t need to sit dead-centre for proper imaging.
2. Symmetry Excites Room Modes
   Placing a subwoofer exactly in the middle of the room’s width tends to excite strong axial modes — particularly the second-order width mode. This makes the bass uneven and unreliable for mixing.
3. Asymmetrical Placement Smooths the Response
   By moving the subwoofer off-centre, you break the symmetry and distribute modal energy more evenly. The result is smoother, more balanced low-frequency playback at the listening position.

But Doesn’t That Cause Phase and Timing Issues?

Yes — moving the sub off-centre introduces a time and phase difference between the subwoofer and your main monitors. However, this issue is minor compared to the problems caused by strong room modes, and it’s easy to fix with a bit of calibration.

Step 1: Adjust the Phase

Most studio subwoofers have a simple phase switch (0°/180°) or a variable phase knob.
Play a sine tone at your crossover frequency (typically 80 Hz) and flip the phase setting.
Whichever setting gives you the loudest and most solid bass at the listening position is the one where the sub and monitors are working together in phase.

Step 2: Align the Timing

If your system allows digital delay or time alignment (via your audio interface, monitor controller, or DSP software):

1. Measure the distance from your ears to each speaker and to the subwoofer.
2. Apply a delay to whichever source (usually the closer one) needs to “wait” for the other so that their sound arrives simultaneously at your listening position.
3. This ensures smooth summing at the crossover frequency and a tight, coherent low end.

Finding the Sweet Spot: How Far Off-Centre Should You Place It?

Let’s take a real-world example.

Your studio is:

• 2.4 m wide
• 3.9 m long
• 2.6 m high

The goal is to keep the subwoofer away from positions that are exact fractions of the room’s width (like ½, ¼, etc.), since these align with strong room modes.

In this room, placing the subwoofer roughly 0.4 m–0.7 m off-centre is a smart starting point. From there, fine-tune by ear or measurement.

The Subwoofer Crawl: A Simple Placement Trick

If you want the most accurate result, try the classic Subwoofer Crawl technique:

1. Place the subwoofer in your listening position (yes, literally where your chair normally is).
2. Play a bass-heavy track or test tone.
3. Crawl around the perimeter of the room, listening for the spot where the bass sounds smoothest and most even.
4. Put the subwoofer in that spot.

That location is where your room naturally supports the most balanced bass response.

Final Thoughts

Accurate low-end reproduction isn’t just about having great gear — it’s about how your room interacts with that gear.
Placing your subwoofer off-centre helps minimize standing waves and gives you a smoother, more trustworthy low end for mixing and mastering.

Once you’ve found the ideal spot, don’t forget to phase-align and time-align your sub for the best possible integration with your monitors.

In short:
Off-centre placement fixes the room.
Phase alignment fixes the system.
Together, they make your low end tight, accurate, and professional.

Want to go deeper?
Check out this excellent guide on phase alignment from
zZounds: How to Phase-Align Your Studio Monitor Subwoofer.

The Pros and Cons of Using a Subwoofer in Your Studio