does a subwoofer kill stereo sound?


I was wondering whether adding a subwoofer to a pure stereo system would cause any harm to the soundstage and other features of the system. What are your experiences? Should one buy a subwoofer to complement a great bookshelf pair (that may be lacking some bass) or necessarily one would have to buy a new par of speakers with deeper bass?
tvfreak

6550c

Your comment spoke to me . People that want more bass are really just not getting enough satisfaction from their system. They seem not to know why, so of course they seem to blame the lack of bass.

Bad move...... If the system was satisfying the bass would be the least of the problems.

You are right on.
woith some speakers only going down to ,,say 50 hz, your missing alot so maybe a sub is right in some systems.
sounds real audio; I am with you. Subs exagerate the lower end. Watching a movie great use a sub. Listening to music, NO THANKS! Take a good/great full range speaker over a sub any day.
Respectfully disagree that subs necessarily exaggerate the lower end. In my experience, the only time this happens is when the crossover is not properly set and/or the output is too high and/or the sub is not properly positioned.

Seamless integration of a sub-based system is not always simple, but once achieved, the end result is absolutely musical.
I use a passive sub so I could cherry pick the best matching amp , cables , cords , ect . I have used many different subs and set ups and found them all hard to integrate , many folks will never get it right . As to the original question , I don't feel a sub will kill stereo sound and if set up right can give a much fuller sound stage . Happy listening .