So how many people are using subwoofers

I am a big fan of having sub woofers.  Having said that, I find that it takes a lot of patience to get them "dialed in" to the room and the side speakers.

A few months ago I upgraded from a pair of two-way monitors to a pair of three-way floor standing speakers whose specs indicate bass as low as 37hz.  It took a while, but when I got the floor standers in just the right spot, they sound great, but don't really produce that last octave of bass.

I ordered a pair of JL Audio F113V2 sub woofers, really great subs, but they brought out all sorts of problems with the room.  I have installed six bass traps, and have two more on order, and am on my way getting the boominess out of the room, but it's been a struggle.

My former system was in a much smaller living room, took some time to get the sub dialed in, but once I did, it put a wide grin on my face!

For me, I really enjoy having that last octave of the musical spectrum, so it's been worth the investment of time, patience and money.

Running dual rel s2 subs with my gato fm6

I agree wholeheartedly when Bob Reynolds says:
" Utilizing a sub, any sub, is all about the setup".

I'm now on my fourth or fifth setup with subs and in all cases it's taken a while to get them properly "integrated" in the system.

A few months ago I added a pair of JL Audio subs to a new setup, which was really "dialed in" to the room before the subs arrived.  Long-story-short, the room had a lot of "ringing" at low frequencies, but 10 bass traps later, using the Room EQ Wizard software and a calibration microphone, got the "ringing" under control and the subs really well "integrated".

One of my buddies says that "the best sub doesn't sound like it's working"...until you unplug it and find that last octave or so of low bass really works best with a sub.

One last thing, if you can swing a pair of subs, there is something more "visceral" having them, hearing and feeling the bass coming from one side of the sound stage or another (or both).

Good luck!  I hope you have success integrating sub(s) into your system, if you do, you'll have a wide smile on your face!

Wow! I just stumbled across this. I'm amazed that this thread was picked up after such a long period. If you look, my original post was made 03-21-2002 6:59pm . That's 14 years ago.

Not complaining. But my system has come a long way sincee then. Yet some components remain. I did buy a Rel Storm 3 sometime after I made the initial post. Its done very well. But I just installed hardwood floor and am considering replacing the Rel or adding another to go with it. However, I'm not sure another brand or even another Rel would match up well unless it was another Storm 3. So I've looked at the HSU, The Rythmik, The SVS and the Golden Ear among others. Nontheless, I appreciate the new posts. I'll look them over. Thanks

arte

BTW system is listed if you are interested. Picys need update though. 

My RELs only match in the sense that they are from the same manufacturing period, and since they're in different acoustic surroundings in  my listening space it seems not to matter that they're designed differently ("Q" series front firing 10" 150 watts vs. down firing 8" 100 watts). They sound very similar as far as comparing these subs can reveal, and maybe it's actually better they're dissimilar…in any case they work splendidly.