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Anyone ditch the sub after large speaker purchase?

I am about to kick the subs to the curb. Having recently acquired a pair of custom made Classic Audio Loudspeakers T1.5 reference, they provide me with enough deep and articulate bass that I don’t even bother with using subs anymore. I mean prodigious amounts of bass...not the bass that is just heard, but also felt, even in the rear listening chairs at the back of the room, which is almost 30 feet away. It feels like I have subs with these new speakers.


Yeah, it’s when playing loud that the rear end of the room is so vigorously energized...and not because of nasty room acoustic anomalies, the seats pick up the pressurized air due to the room being pressurized with 300 tube watts per channel driving highly efficient field coil horn speakers with 18 inch downward firing bass driver and 15 inch forward firing bass driver.


In almost 25 years of sub use and integration with various systems, I find that my newly customized room designed around the principals of room mode mitigation, noise abatement, and damping resonances based on my experience in building secure sound proof spaces, has paid off.


There is nothing like playing music at low levels or loud levels with clarity and preciseness in bass when the stars are aligned and that is why I don’t feel the need for subs anymore. My bass is so awesome with these large almost 400 pound speakers and my amps enjoy driving them to room shaking levels if I played loud enough. Of course, the room investment itself was a considerable factor in my positive listening experience which at Its core is concrete all the way around except the ceiling.


When I stream music, I have to actually turn down the bass of the audio settings in my streamers audio settings. When playing vinyl, the bass goes so deep that I felt as if the subs were on, when in fact, they are not. I am tired or messing around with measurements and dialing in subs for now. It’s not needed and I see why people with large speakers don’t have subs. Perhaps, later on in this audio journey, I might experiment with some type of bass resonators, but I ask myself why? I have all what I need and am not missing anything in terms of bass.


Anyone else ditch the subs after large speaker purchase? What’s been your experiences?
audioquest4life
audioquest4life OP
725 posts
 
@erik_squires 

“Yes, indeed. A great room is a lot more speaker friendly. You eliminate a number of issues related to room/sub/speaker integration here as well. I’m not saying they can’t be overcome, but that few do it well”

This is such a true statement. Unfortunately, many don’t have the opportunity to have a large room and/or able to construct with proper sound mitigation techniques. Life is full of compromises. Subs in smaller spaces tend to help to negate room mode anomalies if they are properly setup. 

@russ69 

Yes, for a 15hz Organ notes, subs for sure. I have not played any music in years that has any organ music so that is not an issue for me. 

@fuzztone,

“It depends. How low does it go in the room? 
Have you checked for nodes?
And what do ya listen to?”

I have measured in room response using dedicated subwoofer measuring software from Velodyne, Phonic PAA6 handheld audio analyzer, and the Rives Audio professional room measurement system. What all of these do for measuring the bass portion, is show a cool graph in which the owner of the room needs to analyze the data and taking those variables to add subtract bass absorbers, identify room modes, etc. For sure, people have work cut out it they know what they are doing. 

@raysmtb1, 

“When I got back into it after having a mountain bike accident and becoming paralyzed 2 years ago I was shocked at the lack of full sized speakers.”

Man, I sure hated reading that, but love that you got back into music. Music is the healing force of the world according to the song I Love Music by the OJays. 
Your right, there are not many large floor standers. Like the idea of throwing out the subs because they are not needed with large speakers with the ability to do deep bass naturally. My speakers go down to 20hz and feel like kicking them out and selling them for someone who really needs them because I don’t anymore. 
dweller's avatar
dweller
3,742 posts
 
@raysmtb1 - I hear you bro. Growing up ('60s - '70s), 12 inch woofers were the norm. I think they were ditched to sell more subwoofers and make shipping easier. Bad mistake in my book.
Sorry to hear about your misfortune. Welcome back!
russ69's avatar
russ69
3,360 posts
 
"...Like the idea of throwing out the subs because they are not needed with large speakers with the ability to do deep bass naturally...."

My (6 X 10 inch) X 2 woofer towers seem to eliminate the need for subs, just saying.   
douglas_schroeder
3,281 posts
 
Not so fast. Just hang on to them for a bit. Sure, you have a sea change in LF, ok, good. Now, just wait a bit, then after you have had a nice long run with the new speakers, roll in the subs ever so slightly, very lightly. You'll see that actually, one can often not have enough 15" woofers. 

I make systems with varying numbers of 15" woofers, from none, to one dozen. Yes, that's right, one dozen 15" woofers. There are fundamental things that happen with LOTS of cone surface that simply cannot happen with less cone surface. The sheer EASE of many big bass drivers is unparalleled, and I DO mean Unparalleled. 

So, you have them paid for, sitting there; just put them off to the side for a bit, then do a bit of experimenting. Nothing much to lose, and potentially a lot to gain. No, using the subs with the new speakers will not be as perfectly clean in the LF, but it can be superior in several other aspects. You'll see, if you wish. It's all a carnival of changes. 
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