So how many people are using subwoofers


with full range floorstanders? I need just a little more bass weight out of my system and have vascilated between REL subwoofer or upgrading my amp from Conrad Johnson MF-2200 to an MF-2500. 60-70% of the music doesn't need a sub,but that other 30% keeps me off balance. Is the amp upgrade going to give me more bass weight (along with other benefits) or should I just go for the sub? I think I know the answer but would like to hear other opinions.
existing system=
CJ PFR pre
CJ MF-2200 amp
Theta Miles cdp
Silverline Sonata speakers
Homegrown silver lace ic's
MIT-2 bi-wire
artemus_5
" I recently got Vandersteen 5 speakers that have true built in subs that go to 22 HZ, are very tunable, and have built in 400 wpc amps to drive the subs. I have never heard such great bass, and I love them. But a friend uses REL subs with MG 3.6s very successfully. I think Karls (above) gives good advice. "

Yeah, my Vandersteen 4As are 3 db down at 24 hz and I really don't think they need any bass reinforcement!  My main system speakers roll off at 20 hz, so same thing - BUT I do have a pair of Hsu VTF-15H subs to use only for home theatre use.

I have a friend that sets if home theatres and he says he's never seen any client that doesn't crank the subs up too high - meaning higher than the program material and higher than he set them up using very expensive test gear.

A proper sub used for listening to music should 1 - take the weight off the lowest octave for main speakers that are troubled in that area, and 2 - make their presence felt not as the all to common boom, but subtly as a sense of filling in something you hadn't realized you were missing before you put the sub in the system.

I've also used Vandersteen subs and found them to be excellent value and second their recommendation above.
Subs are good...the more the merrier.  They take the power required for lows away from your amp and regular speaker so that they operate better, cleaner, etc.
I'm using two Rymthik F12G's and couldn't be happier, they were easy to place in the room and fine tune (altho still a work in progress) and the subs  do a great job filling in the bottom end.  I have never been a fan of subs in a two channel setup, but now accept them. 

A second for the Rythmik F12G, a sub made expressly for music reproduction. The G in the model designation is for GR Research, whose designer/owner Danny Richie collaborated with Rythmiks Brian Ding on the design of the woofer (a paper-coned version of Rythmiks aluminum one, for increased low-level resolution) . The Rythmik subs feature a Servo Feedback loop of a new type, differ from (and superior to) older SF designs. For DIYers, the woofer is also available optimized for Open Baffle use, and two of them installed in a Dipole frame is THE sub for planar loudspeakers. Seriously good!

I'm using two rel s-2 they just help you get the lows better. Deeper and it also help the midrange