Duke summed up the issue of 'feeling the impact' with ribbon / electrostats and explained their limitations very well. However, that kind of room shaking bass that some box speakers and subwoofers can create may detract or at least distract from the overall experience of hearing a good audio system. It is very much at home in a HT application but I wouldn't trade quality bass (fast, deep, tight, pitch accurate) for bass that is more about quantity than quality.
I'm using Maggie 3.6's and I'm still very much in the experimentation stage, but I'm hearing some excellent bass from these speakers. Matching the right amp has been difficult, but I'm getting a flavor of their true bass potential using a Perreaux 2150. I'm measuring good output at 25hz, and it's clean bass without sending boom and vibration around the room, so it doesn't detract from the mid range, where the real quality of any planer/electrostat lies.
In a slightly smaller room, (my room is quite large), I think a 3.6 with a good amp could provide all of the bass quantity and quality that one could need and without having the integration nightmares of trying to add a sub.
I'm using Maggie 3.6's and I'm still very much in the experimentation stage, but I'm hearing some excellent bass from these speakers. Matching the right amp has been difficult, but I'm getting a flavor of their true bass potential using a Perreaux 2150. I'm measuring good output at 25hz, and it's clean bass without sending boom and vibration around the room, so it doesn't detract from the mid range, where the real quality of any planer/electrostat lies.
In a slightly smaller room, (my room is quite large), I think a 3.6 with a good amp could provide all of the bass quantity and quality that one could need and without having the integration nightmares of trying to add a sub.