are subwoofers anti-audiophile?


I have been into this hobby 25 years now and have noticed not a lot of us use Subwoofers in our systems.

I have 2 systems, one which is a Celestion SL700 with their Celestion System 6000 subwoofer pair with a outboard crossover-----my other system has changed quite a bit, but with always large floorstanding speakers. I have also always had adequate power to the speakers.

My floorstanding system cannot match the realism i get from my Celestion/subwoofer system. In my floorstanding system, it is almost like the bassist is backstage playing, while the rest of the band is front stange and center. This leads me to my question. Why don't most of us use subwoofers? I am a member of an audiophile club and we do system hops and no one has a subwoofer in their 2 channel systems.
128x128justlisten
I remember going over to put my ear next to the Vandersteen 2wqs to see if they were on, they were, but you could hardly tell, only when taking them out of the system did you notice what they did for bass. The Vandersteen subs with the 3A or 2C blend seemlessly. Great bass should be like that, you don't notice it till its gone. But that is a sub/tower combination designed as a single speaker system.
Drew, Thanks! It's funny how the longer one belives something the more firmly one believes it. Thanks for setting me straight. Live and learn.
I have vandersteen 5a with built in subs, great speakers for many reasons the sub that is tuned to the room is one of them. Bi amping big amps to handle base, subs what is the difference. I have installed plenty of subs into 2ch systems, some speakers and set ups need other do not. It is that simple. You want a tiny pair of book shelf speakers that is great but get a sub you need to move air it is that simple you have big floor standing speakers with plenty of power a sub may not be needed.
Hi all, My reference to Joachim Gerhard was not accidental.
Those guys by Sterophile are reviewers not designers of
loudspeakers. Whom are you believing more? Every single
model of Gerhard was an great succes. If one considers how
difficult it is to design an good louspeaker then it must be obivous that this guy is some kind of an genius. But he intentionaly designed his louspeakers in such a way that they had an limit by 40 Hz.To me,even if I not an technical guy, perfectly clear. For the organ music? This organ instrument is to me more an 'torment instrument' that has nothing to do with music. No wonder you see them primaraly in some churches... It is some kind of combo between 'screaming sopranos and thunder'. Why worry about? Only if you realy hate your neighbours you may have some reasonable excuse.
Then while an three-way system is already very complex why
should an 'amateur' think that he can improve 'the whole' by adding one more?
BTW I never meet an person who was able to hear 20.000 Hz.
Regards,