Subwoofer: should we even use them at all?


Dear Community,

For years, I looked forward to purchasing a subwoofer. However, I recently became friends with someone in this field who is much more knowledgable than me. His system sounds amazing. He told me that subwoofers should be avoided because of the lack of coherence that inheres in adding a subwoofer. What do you guys think? I currently use Verity Parsifol Ovations.
elegal
"Horn loudspeakers are not able to give a physical inimate image. Even when people would gave me 100 dollar each day I would not listen to this in my house."

Bol1972,
I respect your experience and believe that you have achieved good system results through experimentation, but the above statement is certainly not true. I have owned many speakers, and horn speakers have provided me with a more intimate experience than any other type of speaker I have owned. I believe there are others reading this who will have a similar opinion.
At shows The horn loudspeakers Always gave a less intimate stage than how I create an intimate stage. Even when I was sitting in the middle. My image is a lot more stable and blacks are superior to any horn loudspeaker I ever heard on a show. The level of physical 3D stage ( blacks are here a part from) is not that precise.

With the hornspeakers it is more difficult to have a good image when you sit at different places.
Bo1972, my experience is different. My Audiokinesis Dream Maker horn speakers give me lots of intimate image. Although they aren't nearfield speakers but excel even more at the huge concert level. And they give a wide listening sweet spot.
Also, I own a Velodyne DD18 and know that, yes, it can be pushed forwards (1-2 feet in front of the main speakers) to get some added transient coherence and depth, but this is not practical in my room, and I get good results also closer to the wall, running the sub in 90 degrees phase.
Thanks to everybody for these responses. There is a lot to think about. I guess the only reasonable option would be to sample some sub's and see how they work. However, I don't know if a dealer would let me try something out on such a basis.
Bol1972,
Regarding the way a speaker of any type presents music, I don't feel that imaging, which mine do well (depth much less so) is not the source of perceived "intimacy". Spectral balance and tonal density are more impotant in that regard to me.