Why subwoofer?

[mobily]

Hey all,

I have read on various threads that people have subwoofers for listening to music. My question is does a music system need a subwoofer or is it just down to personal preference?

I always thought a sub was for an av setup for movies.

I have a nice setup:

CA 540A
CA 640C
Mordaunt Short 914

I think there is enough bass but would a sub benefit such a setup?

Thanks

[Mr_Sukebe]

It's personal preference.
My own opinion is that I've heard a total of one system that had a sub that integrated well for music, and that was certainly not a standard setup.
Bearing in mind that subs aren't cheap, I think you'd be better off with an better pair of speakers that improves the whole of the frequency range, not just the bottom octave.
Having said that, the rest of your kit, whilst good for the cost is not high end, and you can probably get a lot more out of your speakers by improving the electronics first.

[harv]

In smaller rooms floorstanders can be harder to get to sound right then a stand mounts sub combo. I've used standmounts with subs and now floorstanders with subs. Including a pair of subs when I was using maggies, I now use a 13" sub with my floorstanders which each have 2 6.5" bass drivers do I have enough bass...no!! Seriously though a correctly setup sub, you shouldn't be able to tell its effect until you turn it off. If you can hear it seperately then its too loud.

Cheaper subs have loose flabbly bass with no definition, a decent sub should be able to time as well as normal speakers and not thump.

Many people tend to be negative about subs... which of course they're entitled to their (wrong ) opinion but if like me you listen to music which has a lot of low freq like dubstep or electronica then its equally important as mid range.

I'm sure there are speakers that will go down past 35hz but they don't tend to be cheap or small. decent subs can offer a good alternative if set up right.

A bad sub like a bad speaker will of course sound poor.

all imho

[usualsuspect]

Off piste a little but on the movies side - I don't have a sub (I have neighbours). I've always had larger matched channel speakers. Am I really missing out on much?

[CJROSS]

Mobily, why not try and see how you get on ?, you can demo and return one to a dealers. TBPH, you will never know if you are missing bass or need extra bass until you try.

(I have heard lots of subs in stereo systems and have enjoyed them) which just goes to show what a subjective hobby this can be. Always been into 2.1 from my stereo system and wathcing downmixed 5.1 from DVD. YMMV.

[harv]

Originally Posted by usualsuspect

Off piste a little but on the movies side - I don't have a sub (I have neighbours). I've always had larger matched channel speakers. Am I really missing out on much?

If you're happy then no... bass is nice but not important for movies... I mean I've never watched a film and sat there thinking to myself I missing something because the sound has no bass output below 50hz

but with music I do... I've had a couple of friends round with nice little setups who have never heard an extra bass note on tracks.

OF course its not the be all or end all of music... but if its something that you can add which helps then why not...

[Mark.Yudkin]

Your Mordaunt Short 914 is quoted at 50-22kHz, and it's reasonable to assume that the 50Hz is already a few dB down. A quality sub would help fill in the bottom two octaves (20Hz - 80Hz).

The question is how to tell if you want a sub, and actually it's easy. First you listen with the sub correctly set up. You should not notice that you have a sub (if you can, you need to get a better sub and repeat the set up). Then you turn the sub off (switch it out of the speaker circuit) and listen again. If you now feel that something is missing, you should consider getting the sub. Of course you'll need a dealer who'll set up a sub for you at home so you can tell.