I have a question for the accoustic experts!

I just bought a new subwoofer (s12) and want to know about placement.  The best place for me to put this subwoofer (to protect it from small children) may not be the best place to put it acoustically speaking. 

I built a cabinet in the back wall of my theater room, so that I can access the back of my components from the laundry room behind the theater.  I also cut a hole in the back wall for the current subwoofer I have and built a "cabinet" inside the wall just large enough for the subwoofer and plan on enlarging that to place my new sub in it's place. 

So, am I loosing a lot of sound quality having just the front of the subwoofer inside the room with the back of the sub in the room behind my theater room?

Any advice is greatly appreciated!

thanks, j.selander