are subwoofers anti-audiophile?


I have been into this hobby 25 years now and have noticed not a lot of us use Subwoofers in our systems.

I have 2 systems, one which is a Celestion SL700 with their Celestion System 6000 subwoofer pair with a outboard crossover-----my other system has changed quite a bit, but with always large floorstanding speakers. I have also always had adequate power to the speakers.

My floorstanding system cannot match the realism i get from my Celestion/subwoofer system. In my floorstanding system, it is almost like the bassist is backstage playing, while the rest of the band is front stange and center. This leads me to my question. Why don't most of us use subwoofers? I am a member of an audiophile club and we do system hops and no one has a subwoofer in their 2 channel systems.
justlisten
Rleff, sorry I missed your follow up question. Basically it is a discontinuity in speed. Horns have a leading edge like live music and you always hear the subwoofer tagging along more slowly. I am told that the Zu Method is fast and keeps up.
Tbg thanks.
Duke since you are a speaker designer and a soundlab dealer do you have success with mating a sub to the soundlabs?
Dukes Earls idea is a good one. Swarms of small subs sure work well to even out in room response. But I can not get room lock out of such designs unless I up-size to multiple large subs. Still nothing like a massive basshorn or 31.5in woofer for pressure detail and freedom from bloat with hardly any dynamic or thermo compression. But the size and costs!! Smaller groups of subs are easily placed and housed. Might be better for most who need low end reinforcement than massive bass systems. But for no compromise I go large. But bet Dukes designs will sell better;)