Very basic subwoofer question

Yes, it's possible.  I have 4 systems.  All but my main system consist of small monitors and one sub.  In all of these systems the bass is complementary in the way that you describe, subtle, but adding depth and realism to the music.  In my main system I have Harbeth Super HL5 Plus speakers and 4 large subwoofers.  That system will make your liver quiver on certain recordings.

I’ve owned a couple of used RELs for years and they work beautifully...I’m not interested in more because standing waves in my tall sloped ceiling listening room are tamed by the sub’s locations, and my incredible listening and tweaking skills developed by years of astute pot smoking.

Bass is/can be directional. Someone here mentioned, it’s the fundamental AND the overtones that give bass directionality

Clearing up confusion- low bass is not directional. Lab tests prove that when the frequency is low enough the sound cannot even be heard at all, at less than half a wavelength.

Sorry, but a little physics is necessary to prove just how airtight a fact this is.

Sound travels roughly 1 ft per millisecond. Not exactly but more than close enough for this. The wavelength of a low bass note like 20 Hz is over 56 feet. Half of this is 28 feet. What this means is the wave has traveled 28 feet before you even know its there. So how in the world are you gonna know where it came from?

Low bass therefore is not directional. Its a physical and psychoacoustic impossibility.

The same physics holds true in the recording venue. This could be why all low bass is mono. I don’t know. Not saying this is the reason. Just saying it could be. Even the most perfect audiophile recording with minimal microphones the only way the bass is going to be significantly stereo is if they are placed very far apart. Even then, even if placed say 56 feet apart, that is at most one wave. The human ear is going to discern this? I don’t think so. The ear responds to volume at low frequencies.

Anyway, back to bass seeming to be directional. Because in my system for sure, and according to Tim and Duke and everyone else with a DBA this is true for them as well, the bass we are getting absolutely definitely does seem to be highly localized and directional at times. Not always. Depends entirely on the material.

So what we have is a situation where the subs can go anywhere without regard to imaging, and yet we will get great imaging. Low bass can be mono, and yet will sound stereo. All because of the peculiar way physics and psychoacoustics combine at low bass frequencies.

Try the low frequency localization test at audio check.net

and you can get bass localized IF there is a lot of harmonic content in the note / instrument and in case of Orchestra with big arrays with large distances between microphone ( thing DG in the multi mic hey day ), hence mono summing below say 80 HZ.

Also Ray Brown - Soular Energy is super well recorded and has some great scaling work on it that will reveal if you have subs crossed over too high and output mismatched w mains.