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Poll: Do you use a sub-woofer for 2-ch. music?

Do you use a sub-woofer for 2-ch. (stereo) music?

  • Yes

    Votes: 74 40.0%

  • No

    Votes: 111 60.0%
  • Total voters
    185
I just added a sub to my main set up. I use ADS L810s in my main 2 channel set up, and they're quite solid bass wise, but the sub with the crossover set to 30 Hz fills in the bit that's missing. In my limited experience over the last couple of days, most music doesn't have anything going on that low, but when it does, the sub really makes a difference. You can see my sub here:

http://audiokarma.org/forums/showthread.php?t=106515
 
I use a pair of Sumo brand Samson subwoofers. They are loaded with JBL 2235H woofers and are basically a clone of the JBL B380. I cross them over at 50hz. I like them. I control them with the matching Sumo Delilah crossver. I like the ability to feel the very bottom octave information that gets lost when listening to my system without the subs, even though I have tremendous LF ability with my big JBL floorstanding mains. I do find myself turning down the Delilah's gain during some LF-rich recordings. I must admit that I also like the overkill factor too :D .
 
I use a sub in both my main and secondary systems.

Main: Velodyne SPL-1200 with Magnepan MG-1.5 QR. The Maggies go fairly deep, to around 40 Hz, and the sub is barely on, just to fill in the low end.

Secondary: Klipsch KSW-12 with NHT SuperZeros. A sub is a necessity in this small room set-up. The SuperZeros bottom out at about 80 Hz. Again, the sub is not at loud levels, just enough to fill the bottom out.

In my living room system, which consists of a Fisher 400 with KLH Model Sixes, I don't use a sub, and have no desire to. It sounds so "right" without one.

I have always gone by the old addage; if you can hear where your sub is, it is too loud.

Ken
 
For me, the decision was somewhat dictated by my listening environment. My listening position is about 9' away from two, smaller Onix Ref1 monitors. I added a small Klipsch Reference sub, that doesn't go super low, but is fast and musical. It's a nice compliment for the Ref1s. I'm also using a Paradigm S-20 crossover with the sub. The speakers are fed by a Melody SP-3 tube amp or a Pioneer SA/TX 9100 combo (A/B switch).

Floorstanders would have been much harder to place in my listening area, so monitors were an easy choice. I added the sub about six months after I got the monitors. It works well for me.

BTW, I'm in my late forties.:thmbsp:
 
.....the powered and unpowered sub was a marvelous invention, Indeed....but, large woofers kicking out the lows were in existance long before the pre-boxed subs came to be....but again, the cost of a woofer 25 or 30 inches wide was higher than a hawk's nest....I think them Merlin Hogan subs would be pretty good....but, I got what I want....two SVS B-4 mini-barns that you could only get unpowered and now you can't get 'em at all....I want a sub that can pop even when playing a supporting role to the woofers of the floorstanders up front....that's another subject....the midrange of a two-way bookshelf is the best mids you can get, imo....but, conversely, a two-way floorstander is usually best resolved in the highs and lows....at least in my case, when I turn on the amp powering the surrounds to mix with the up-front floorstanders already playing, the surrounds are bookshelves, it makes the mids of the floorstanders up front literally come to life with the soundstage wrapped halfway around the room....I run two-channel stereo....that could change....dover......
 
I only use a sub to complement my powered Infinity Interlude IL-60 mains when pipe organ music is being played. Otherwise, no sub needed.

Greg
 
I've never used a sub for stereo listening until I happened upon a Dahlquist DQ-1W subwoofer that mates with my Dahlquist DQ-10's! I love the results! :yes:
 
NOPE, just a 10 band EQ to balance the sub and bass response.

However, I DO use sub's in my automotive applications (3-way system)
 
I use headphones mainly (so no sub), and right now all my speakers are more or less fullrange, so no. I have used a sub with a pair of Spendor S3/5's, and it worked quite well as long as I used separates and used the subs internal crossover before driving the speakers.
 
Thought it was a generational thing, too

Snade said:
Good discussion.

I'm old school (over 50), a sub is not part of my stereo. I like two channel systems with good speakers. If you want a big low-end, you find a pair of good speakers that give you that (like some AR3a).

Even my TV / stereo setup, I would not add a sub or more than two speakers. The Kefs that run with my TV setup sound excellent playing the latest DVD movies.

Cheers, Snade
Click to expand...

Hey, Snade. I'll be 50 in 23 days, but who's counting...
My son needed some cash for school and sold off a subwoofer he thought he really wanted to use. Then he told me he really isn't a subwoofer kind of guy, and made a profit for owning them for a while.
I have a pair of AR-3a (thanks, newman). :D

Maybe someday I'll stumble on a subwoofer I want to use, but I'm thinking the best application would be in a home theater system.
 
Nope, don't use one. Had a couple, but sold them off -- I found that I was always fooling about with them, and their emphasis changed too much depending on the music being played. Got speakers with bigger woofers instead. :D

I could certainly live with a sub again if there were space limitations to consider; IMHO any speaker with a 6" woofer really does need to be paired to a subwoofer.
 
NOPE and wouldn't a 2 Channel system with a Sub be a 2.1? in reality with a pair of spike mounted Pioneer HPM-100's Adjusted to run near flat in my living room I have no need of a Sub they crawl right down to 30hz real nice so no need to thump the room.
 
For a while I just used my JBL L150’s by themselves, and they put out plenty of bass, but I was concerned because a few times at parties, etc I had seen/heard the woofers bottom out. This rarely happened, and I was mostly satisfied with their bass output, but its still something I didn’t like having in the back of my head every time I turned the music up loud.

I looked into getting a subwoofer, but all of the models in my price range really did not seem like they would even be able to match the bass from the L150’s. I mean, the cheapest SVS sub is $429 and has a single 10” woofer. Now maybe that’s enough and it’s still a killer sub but that did leave me sort of underwhelmed. The cheapest 12” model they have is $600.

I ended up getting a pair of JBL L100T’s to run along side the 150’s. The 2214H’s in there really seem to get the job done and when I run the two pairs together it seems like neither pair really has to work all that hard to deliver the bass I was looking for. So for $275, I got to pay much less than it would cost for a good sub, I got another pair of JBL’s to play with, and the bass is everything I could ever ask for.

I have a sub in the HT of course, along with bass shakers under the couch for maximum effect.
 
Chris Brown said:
I ended up getting a pair of JBL L100T’s to run along side the 150’s. The 2214H’s in there really seem to get the job done and when I run the two pairs together it seems like neither pair really has to work all that hard to deliver the bass I was looking for.
Click to expand...
That's fine if you're just running the woofers in the L100Ts as subs.

Come over here and I'll demonstrate the problem with running multiple speaker pairs full-range in the same listening space. It'll take all of 15 seconds to convince you.... :thumbsdn:
 
Zilch said:
That's fine if you're just running the woofers in the L100Ts as subs.

Come over here and I'll demonstrate the problem with running multiple speaker pairs full-range in the same listening space. It'll take all of 15 seconds to convince you.... :thumbsdn:
Click to expand...

That’s great, but I'm fully capable of doing A-B comparisons and making judgments on my own as to how it sounds to my ears in my listening environment. Beyond that the care just isn't there.
 
Chris Brown said:
Beyond that the care just isn't there.
Click to expand...
Noooooooooo PROBLEM.... :huge:

My sub(s):

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