Subwoofer with Floorstanding Speakers?


Still enjoying my Sonus Faber Olympica Nova Vs in our den where I mostly listen to jazz. However…I had a nostalgic experience tonight and streamed up some Def Leppard and cranked it LOUD.  With this kind of rock, I am missing a little of the bass I remember from my school days. Got me thinking, how many of y’all are running a subwoofer in your stereo setup with floorstanding speakers?  What do you think?  Any issues with sound distortion?  

128x128bigtex22

When you see live music, the bass and sometimes keyboard players have 18” or bigger speakers.  

I spent a lot of money building a smallish (3.3 x 4.5 m) listening room, it sounded terrible. The bass was so overblown that the cones of a pair of unconnected speakers in the room would be moving.  One wall in particular vibrated and sounded terrible at any appreciable volume. I spent money on all sorts of passive solutions that helped but did nearly solve the problem. However I used 2 subs connected to my pre amp via a minidsp, cut pass to my Audio Physic Sitara 25's floor standers and plugged there ports. Set minidsp to cut at the 3 room mode frequencies.  Problem solved, no awful bass, no rattling walls, until volume is set on crazy, so my experience is yes subwoofers were definitely a massive improvement. Sounds stunning too.

@bigtex22 My room size is 13ft X 18ft. I bought 2 JL212 subwoofers to compliment my Kharma Exquisite 1E Signature. The subwoofers are very important as they provide the foundation for full bodied to the music especially jazz and rock. I recently bought 2 Funk Audio LX21.0 which greatly improved the emotions to the music. The software for tuning the DSP of the Funk subs  is very user friendly and easy to setup. I recommend you to go for the Funk LX18.0 or the Lx21.0.

Happy listening.

+1 knotscott!

Two RELCarbon Limiteds with my floorstanders.  Low and subtle, supports everything and visceral enjoyment.  Turn them off and they are missed!

I just put in a REL T/9 in with my floor standing speakers. As soon as I can find another matching unit used im going to make it 2. Be hard to live without it now.

I am with a @knotscott: I keep the sub volume and crossover low.

I loaned a friend of mine an older Velodyne micro V for his modest system. At first he didnt like it. But after playing with it for a couple weeks he now confesses it would be hard to live without.

Its worth the effort and fun to try. Even if you dont keep it at least now you know. Satisfaction either way. Find a good used unit to try and then sell it if you dont like it.

It's akin to a foundation for a house.  You never see it but if you take it away.....