Losing the sub
Had some work to do in my listening room so needed to disconnect my system. Acoustics are not ideal - other than an area rug and upholstered furniture, there is no acoustic treatment. After putting my system back in place, I decided to try some slight adjustments to my speakers, a pair of Focal 1028be's. In addition. I installed a recently acquired set of GAIA II feet. For whatever reason. I neglected to hook up my subwoofer a Focal Chorus SW800V I had in an earlier system. Power is a Marantz PM 11s3 integrated amp and sources include Marantz Sa-11s3 SACD player and Music Hall MMF 9.1 turntable with Clearaudio Maestro V2 cart through a Manley Chinook phono preamp.
After a long listening session yesterday with a wide variety of music, I have concluded the sub was unnecessary. Among the music was:
U2 - The Joshua Tree (30th anniversary LP)
American Beauty - Original Film Score (LP)
Cassandra Wilson - New Moon Daughter (LP)
Art Blakey Jazz Messengers - Night in Tunisia (XRCD)
Lee Morgan - Sidewinder (XRCD)
Stravinsky - Firebird Suite /Dorati (CD)
Schehezade - Fritz Reiner (CD)
I have listened to each of these multiple times over the years (other than AB) and every one of them sounder cleaner, tighter, and BETTER. I had no feeling of missing the bottom end of these recordings. Maybe the GAIA footers contributed to this, but overall, this was a very satisfying listening session. I had plans to buy a new subwoofer this year (SVS SB2000) but now not sure it will bring any benefit.
Anyone else have a similar experience?