Subwoofer 101

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Bongo Beater

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I've never owned a subwoofer. I primarily listen to acoustic music such as classical, jazz, and film scores. I realize that a subwoofer is probably important for genres that feature heavy electric bass and kick drum. But how useful is a subwoofer with natural room recordings of acoustic instruments?
 
Depending on your main speakers and where you would end up setting the subwoofer crossover, you may be surprised at how much musical data will end up going to your subwoofer. It can easily include vocals and many instruments.

A subwoofer can give you additional low frequency extension that many speakers, even floorstanding towers, cannot reproduce. Or allow you play louder with less low frequency distortion. Or smooth out the in-room frequency response to give you a more balanced and accurate sound. And typically adding a subwoofer (or more) does all three.

However integrating a subwoofer(s) into a 2-channel system very well / optimally can be difficult, especially when trying to use specific electronics that you like, so in most cases one focuses on optimizing their 2-channel system without any subwoofers.
 
NekoAudio said:
Depending on your main speakers and where you would end up setting the subwoofer crossover, you may be surprised at how much musical data will end up going to your subwoofer. It can easily include vocals and many instruments.

A subwoofer can give you additional low frequency extension that many speakers, even floorstanding towers, cannot reproduce. Or allow you play louder with less low frequency distortion. Or smooth out the in-room frequency response to give you a more balanced and accurate sound. And typically adding a subwoofer (or more) does all three.

However integrating a subwoofer(s) into a 2-channel system very well / optimally can be difficult, especially when trying to use specific electronics that you like, so in most cases one focuses on optimizing their 2-channel system without any subwoofers.
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Thanks. I have two sets of speakers in two rooms, using the A/B speaker function on an ancient Pioneer amp that weighs a ton. I use an equalizer for one set of speakers, via the tape monitor function, and the EQ unit includes an output specifically designed for introducing a subwoofer into the chain. I'm guessing I would want a self-powered sub-woofer, based on what I've read, that can connect via RCA cables.
 
I took advantage of a 50% off sale and got a nice Klipsch 10" subwoofer. I have it more or less against the wall between the two speakers, beside a credenza. It sounds really good. I listen primarily to acoustic genres such as jazz, classical, and film scores, and it works perfectly for my musical interests.
 
For me, for music:

The main reason for using Subs is not for more bass it's to add "dare I say it" a presence to your room. As you set it up, on 95% of music, if you can hear the sub, then it's too loud, turn it down -- either the crossover frequency or volume, maybe both. I know, its counter intuitive.

Also, I find that 2 subs is the way to go in a system. Again, a common thought is bass is non directional and it's mono yada yada yada. All I know is, 2 sound much much better than one.

If a sub is for home theater then - yes you will hear it and one is fine, but that's a totally different set up and use.

Enjoy and it takes some time listening to get it set up right.
 
the professor said:
For me, for music:

The main reason for using Subs is not for more bass it's to add "dare I say it" a presence to your room. As you set it up, on 95% of music, if you can hear the sub, then it's too loud, turn it down -- either the crossover frequency or volume, maybe both. I know, its counter intuitive.

Also, I find that 2 subs is the way to go in a system. Again, a common thought is bass is non directional and it's mono yada yada yada. All I know is, 2 sound much much better than one.

If a sub is for home theater then - yes you will hear it and one is fine, but that's a totally different set up and use.

Enjoy and it takes some time listening to get it set up right.
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I agree with everything you wrote except for the two subwoofers part. The aesthetics of the room will not allow for two subwoofers, and my enjoyment of music is influenced by the visuals.

I don't have a home theatre system, and even if I did, I do not watch action/adventure movies, so I don't need assistance with explosions. ;)

I have the crossover set moderately, as should be the case with the styles of music that I listen to. And I agree, the work of the bass is primarily carried by the speakers. The subwoofer adds low-end ambience which creates a more realistic sound.
 
For mine it has always been tuning the subs to the room where they have been complimentary to the sound but definitely not aggressive. If, very occasionally I hear the subs enriching the midrange down to the bass, I know they are set right, but, the caveat is I know what to listen for & anybody else would not notice this on a casual listen
 
bzr said:
For mine it has always been tuning the subs to the room where they have been complimentary to the sound but definitely not aggressive. If, very occasionally I hear the subs enriching the midrange down to the bass, I know they are set right, but, the caveat is I know what to listen for & anybody else would not notice this on a casual listen
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This is basically where I am. I have played around with the settings and relative volume. Lately, I have had the frequency set at around 100 Hz, and not pushing the volume too high. I have played with the phase switch but I can't hear a difference.

I have always associated subwoofers with the kid in the adjacent car at the red light blasting something with heavy electric bass and kick drum. So what has really surprised me was how much of difference the subwoofer has made for symphonic music. I listened to Debussey's La Mer, the Ormandy version, and the Everest LP with Antill's Corroboree and Ginastera's Panambi. It was like hearing these albums for the first time.
 
Now listening to Bernard Herrmann's White Witch Doctor, the RCA suite conducted by Charles Gerhardt. The lows are stunning!!!
 
Bongo Beater said:
I've never owned a subwoofer. I primarily listen to acoustic music such as classical, jazz, and film scores. I realize that a subwoofer is probably important for genres that feature heavy electric bass and kick drum. But how useful is a subwoofer with natural room recordings of acoustic instruments?
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What are your main speakers ...?
 
I have found that on stereo records in which the bass is mixed to one side, such as Mingus Ah Um, Cal Tjader's Several Shades of Jade, and Vince Guaraldi's 1960s Fantasy albums, I prefer to extend the range of the subwoofer much higher, to compensate for the poor mixing choice by the producer or engineer.
 
a.wayne said:
What are your main speakers ...?
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I have two sets of speakers in two rooms, coming out of the same amp.

The room with the subwoofer is the larger of the two rooms. I have two Bose Series I speakers on pedestals. The blonde grilles and wood casings, combined with the pedestals, look amazing with the mid-century modern design of the house and furniture. And as we all know, it is essential that hi-fi components have the right aesthetics in order to sound good.

In the reading room, I have a pair of B&W bookshelf speakers mounted on the wall. I listen at low volumes in this room, and I'm fine with simply cranking the bass on the amp when listening at low volumes. There is no subwoofer in this room.
 
Sometime after being advised by Acoustic Frontiers (2015 dedicated room design) that most single box main speakers were incapable of producing true low end, and then reading the attached article, I incorporated a JL Audio F212v2 subwoofer and CR-1 active crossover into my audio system. I had been somewhat reluctant to do this because for years I thought putting a relatively lost cost CR-1 between my source equipment and main speakers would destroy the benefits of the high end equipment in my audio system.

Instead what happened after dialing the CR-1/F212 in with the help of JL Audio T/S, the main speakers midrange and highs noticeably improved because they and the stereo amp no longer had to try to produce lows below 30-40Hz, and the bass became a truly visceral low end extension of the main speakers. The subwoofer sounds like an integrated part of the main speakers sound field.

Soundoctor - all about subs
 
Bongo Beater said:
I've never owned a subwoofer. I primarily listen to acoustic music such as classical, jazz, and film scores. I realize that a subwoofer is probably important for genres that feature heavy electric bass and kick drum. But how useful is a subwoofer with natural room recordings of acoustic instruments?
Click to expand...

I'm an absolute minimalist so I hate subwoofers with a passion. I hate the boxes, the extra cabling, extra dedicated outlets, the more cluttered look, all of it. If you have true full-range speakers say down to 23Hz or so, then your chances of dialing-in your speakers or acoustically coupling them to the associated room to achieve a musical bass can be far easier than having to introduce 1 or more subs. But of course this requires much work.

If you lack full-range speakers or unable to fine-tune your full-range speakers, then that's where a subwoofer comes in. But integrating and fine-tuning the subwoofer to the main speakers can require even more work to achieve a musical bass.

How useful is a subwoofer? Well, I think a better question is, how useful is a musical bass in a given playback presentation whether it's from pair of well-placed full-range speakers or well-placed full-range speakers plus a well-tuned subwoofer?

To that, my response is, it's invaluable and regardless of genre. It's not just a more complete, tighter, deeper, more well-defined, and more musical bottom end, but rather if done right, the entire playback presentation benefits immensely. Without such bass the playback presentation will sound lean, overly bright, unbalanced, etc but with a subwoofer done right, the overall playback presentation across the entire frequency spectrum is that much more musical, richer, fuller, pleasant, natural, and just plain more enjoyable. But much patience is required. Many will invest an hour or 2 in fine-tuning their speakers and /or subwoofer and call it good when it ain't. Now I don't do this full-time but I find acheiving this level of musicality requires, weeks, months, and sometimes even years to really get things dialed in.

But if you can't get this with level of bass with just your speakers, then a subwoofer is an absolute requirement and your ears will thank you if you invest the time to do it right.
 
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