Do I need a subwoofer? Which brand and model?

"If the sound of your piano is what you're after, then you might consider studio monitors."

I have no idea how you came up with that one. Given the OP's goal to getting more bass out of his system, why would you suggest a small speaker? It doesn't make any sense. They won't be able to play the lowest notes on a piano. Going that route would be taking a big step backwards.

"They typically are designed to be neutral."

As opposed to what? Who designs speakers to not be neutral?

"I would not put any merit in the dealer's comment about your Oppo player versus a CD player."

How do you know that the dealer is wrong? You could very easily say that its your comment has no merit. There's several reasons why you would want buy a CD player over the Oppo. Unless you did some side by side comparisons, you're guessing again. You can't have opinions on components you've never listened to.

All, I welcome everyone's opinions and they all have been very helpful to me. In fact, I have been re-reading this post over and over as it has a lot of useful content. I have learnt a lot from this discussion and it has clarified my ideas. I intent to put a couple more observations after getting the sub and then we can call this a day. Thanks to everyone for their time. SG

Bob_reynolds,

For some reason, you're not fully reading my posts. You're picking and choosing to come up with replies that sound reasonable.

"The OP said in a previous post that he has moved past the subwoofer issue. He's further up the frequency range now. Besides, nothing I said would preclude the use of a sub."

The OP said in his previous posts that he had a lack of bass. He was able to work with what he currently has and has been at least, partially successful, if not more so. What would be the reason for recommending a small, bookshelf type speaker?

"Neutral sound is not the goal of all speaker manufacturers. Some are designed to boost bass, others roll off the treble early, some are single driver designs that can never be neutral. This should be obvious to you."

Fine. Give me some examples?

"I didn't say the dealer was wrong. I said I would not put any merit in his comment implying that a CD player is inherently better than a BR player. Others might; maybe you do. I can have opinions about all sorts of things. If I didn't you'd have nothing to complain about."

About the merit issue, fair enough. I thought you were talking in absolute terms. About having an opinion, I was just stating a fact. If you have never listened to any particular component, you can't have an opinion on how it sounds. That's just a fact. It applies to everything, myself included.

"I'm not sure what I've done to bug you so much, but this is just an open forum for folks to express opinions and share information. Maybe you shouldn't take it so seriously or personally. Surely you have something better to do with your time."

I get that, and I apologize for taking such a direct tone. But I find some of your recommendations very frustrating. Its like you read a bunch of stuff on audio but don't have any real experience applying it. Don't take that the wrong way, though. I'm not saying that's definitely the case, its just how it looks from reading your posts. I'll also admit, that I may take certain things seriously. But its just because I hate to see people make many of the same, expensive mistakes that I've made myself. I know what I'm doing now, but it was a long, costly journey to get here.