Will a subwoofer add depth and clarity to my system, or just bass?


hi folks,
I just purchased a set of Focal Aria 906 speakers with stand, powered by a Bluestream PowerNode (not my ideal system but I had a limited budget).  I think it sounds really good, but am wondering if an upgrade to a subwoofer is worth it, and if so, what would pair well with this system -- my audio guy recommended the JL Audio D110 10" Dominion Subwoofer, but that's out of my price range.  Perhaps a SVSPB1000, for $499?  My room isn't very big, and I don't use the system for movies, just listening to mostly jazz and rock (and classical).
Thank you!
jazz99

"Getting that done WELL, but with subs, IMHO is for experts."

Then there must be a lot of experts out there, because an awful lot of people have done it.

And somewhat counter-intuitively, the more subs the easier it is, because the location of any one sub becomes non-critical. 

Once you've initially positioned the subs, time to adjust the controls.  First the gain, then the frequency, then the phase, in that order.  Then cycle through a few more times.  Don't be surprised if you continue to make fine adjustments, particularly to the gain, over the course of the first few weeks.

Duke

More audiokinesis gold:

And somewhat counter-intuitively, the more subs the easier it is, because the location of any one sub becomes non-critical.  

Once you've initially positioned the subs, time to adjust the controls. First the gain, then the frequency, then the phase, in that order. Then cycle through a few more times. Don't be surprised if you continue to make fine adjustments, particularly to the gain, over the course of the first few weeks.

Duke

That's what I thought but still nice to confirm and clarify: "the more subs the easier it is, because the location of any one sub becomes non-critical." Totally logical once you understand what's going on and the reasoning behind the distributed bass array.

It also might be my favorite thing about it. The way my room is laid out it will work out beautifully with one on the front wall left corner, one on the right side wall near the right front corner, another one far back on the right wall, and a fourth somewhere along the left side wall. Should work out great with the existing equipment, in particular a massive turntable rack that definitely is not going anywhere and despite its massive, uh, mass would rather not have a sub sitting right next to it!

I got 2 sealed cabs and part of one ported cab screwed and glued together. Man they are heavy even without the drivers! Got the amps in the room, Cones, Shelfs, wire. Depth and clarity or just bass? We're working on it!
Well, IMHO, its very difficult to deal with standing waves in rooms with just one pair of speakers.
Ive tried to make a pair of floorstanders work with a sub and I couldnt do it, nor did I have the patience to get it done. It was too difficult. It only made the speakers sound much worse and provided me a LOT of standing waves all accross the room. It blurred the sound of the speakers.
On the other hand, Ive manage to get a very nice system, without subs, that provides me an "incredible" musical experience. It has bass (a lot), depth, 3D sound, tone, dinamics, layering, detail, etc etc.
If you consider the money you have to spend on more than one sub, the time to correctly position them (the possible locations and orientation angles are a LOT), then the time to voice them, the space they need, cabling, power them, etc etc. Well, IMHO, you should have a bass made in heaven to make it worthwile.
My system provides me an incredible bass, deep, toneful, dynamic and with BIG slam (it shakes the room), when the recording has it. More it would be too much and not real.
Unless you hear only electronic, the heart of music is mostly on the mids and to have body (and good tone) in the music you need to have a well performed (a little boosted) frequency range between 200 and 400 Hz (said by experts like Jim Smith) and subs dont get that high. 
Also, musical subs are expensive (about 1k each). If you need two or more, plus the speakers @jazz99 has (Focal Aria), you will need a budget around 3.5 to 4k, with out cabling.
And for that money you can have a VERY nice pair of floorstanders with all the frequency range (for music) covered very well.
IMHO, for similar money, you can get much better sound with the floorstanders, spending considerably less time and effort. 
Just my 2 cents.

Plga, are you using the QC 500’s yet?  If so, you are not getting foundational bass response...you may be pleased with what you are hearing but 41hz @ -6db is not room shaking.  Stereophile even mentioned that a good sub would be beneficial.
Yes, Im using the Q Acoustics Concept 500 and I'm getting more bass shaking than I need.
In some reviews they mention that the bass is outstanding in this floorstanders and I couldnt agree more. It has everything, impact, dinamic, tone, etc. They have fantastic bass.
It is also true that I boosted the bass a little bit with Dirac, both the low and upper bass, along with the rest of the Digital Room Correction the sofware does.
Its incredible the bass you get with a nice pair of floorstanders and Room treatment (active and pasive).
I strongly believe you dont need more (for music) or, to have it, you have to spend a considerably amount of money, time and effort.
How much would it cost me to buy two subs at the level of my speakers??  at least 6 to 8k... and, how much time would I have to spend voicing them to the room? not even considering the space they need, that most of us don´t have. I should better spend that money on electronics as Im sure I would get much better results as I did.
Im sure with subs you can boost the bass more and have a some more impact and deepness, but for me it could sound unreal if you are not careful.
I repeat, IMHO, the musical experience is much more complex than just adding extremely low bass (under 40 Hz) and if you dont do it extremely right, Im sure you will mess up the sound of your speakers with the subs, because it happened to me and it was NOT subtle.
I repeat, if you want to get your system to sound as real music as possible, you have to address many different variables: standing waves, tone, soundstage, dinamics, detail, smooth highs, etc. If, and only if, you succeed to match the subs perfectly your speakers, IMHO, you will only get a part of the problem resolved.
And if you listen to music other than electronic (jazz, blues, rock, accoustic, etc) getting a deep bass wont give you much as many recordings in that kind of music DONT have it.
Again, just my opinion.