Originally Posted by
electric beach
Subs get a bum rap in my opinion, partly through their association with home cinema, partly through the difficulty to integrate one (or two) with a stereo pair of speakers and partly with the obsessing over theatrical fireworks.
I use a sub to compliment my stereo, a Rel Strata2, and use the same system for music and films. Of course they do low frequencies but what has most potential is their effect on the perception of the whole frequency range. Any sound is just more real and natural if the lowest harmonics (maybe I don't mean that) are reproduced.
In Inception there is the scene where the shop windows are blowing out, into the street and into the room. Had me ducking for cover from the shards of glass scything through the air. That was the sub, not a supertweeter.
Even the ambient acoustic or a delicate sound that superficially contains no low frequencies, just doesn't sound so real without a sub.
And I now find one to be essential in my two channel preference for music - regardless of the low frequency prowess of the main pair. It aids locking the sound to the room, hints at live presence and weight, and increases the 3D effect of the soundstage.
Thinking about it, I've not noticed anyone else here using a 2.1 setup for music, but I'm sure there must be.
I agree completely.
Subs really do get a "bum wrap" and most people don't have them set up correctly. Everything from room placement, crossover settings or their ability to integrate well into existing speakers is all vitally important. A mate of mine had his AVR crossover set to direct all the Low Frequency Effect [LFE] to the sub under 100Hz and his sub crossover set to only start at under 80Hz. Leaving a 20Hz void in bass integration between the speakers and the sub. That's something that the owners of 2 channel towers generally don't need to worry about.
IMO the bass extension a well setup sub can deliver to a room will in most cases out performs what "big woofer" tower speakers can produce.
The reasons are:
Location - Large tower speakers is mainly set to achieve the right stereo sound stage. Unfortunately this speaker location does not always suit the standing wave - [LFE] that the woofer has compared to the listening position. A sub gives more placement options and once you have the sweet spot sorted you can stack up multiple subs.
Wattage- The amp does not have to "load up" to supply the grunt for large woofers as the sub looks after its own requirements.
I use The Hurt Locker movie to show very good solid LFE with my 3x M&K subs [5x 12" drivers @ 600w RMS]
Cheers
Andrew
HT fan
AVR Pioneer THX Ultra2+ 7.1 Class-D ICE Amps, Speakers M&K S-150 THX/LCR-55, Subs M&K MX-5000THX /MX-125THX /2xV75, TT Kenwood KD-1600, CD Players Kenwood 6+1Multi, Classic Technics Class-AA Optic-out, PVR Phillips, BluRay Players Sony, DVD/SACD Pioneer, TV Panasonic 50" 1080 Plasma, Media Player WD HD-Live.