Subwoofer for classical music listener

rvPiano,

Your room will have powerful room modes.

Get a subwoofer which has very good auto-EQ. The best right now is JL, IMHO for music, but they are also super pricey.

Also consider bass traps.

Best,


E

My mains have 18" woofers and I run two JL subs in my system. I love the sound and I don't think you can beet the JL Audio drivers. The trick is in the details. The Auto-EQ is nice and I use it for my analog source but on digital I tune the subs down.  Timing is the big issue with the quality of the sound and I believe that is why a lot of audiophiles poo poo subs. You simple have to have your mains and subs firing at the same time for your system to sound right. I use a processor for my bi-amped mains that has a timing function to achieve my desired result. 

you really shouldn't hear your sub-woofer... What you will hear however if done properly is a cleaning up of the mids/highs, and less boom from room resonance.   Classical music is the most difficult to bring into your home.  It requires the best components money can buy and even then misses the mark. 

"Classical music is the most difficult to bring into your home."

Of course it should be readily apparent to all that this is false because a Music Reproduction System has no way of knowing what style of music it is tasked with reproducing. Yes it is certainly true that some make this argument about so-called classical music because traditionally this style of music has been played with natural acoustic instruments but of course it is equally true that many types of music also rely on natural acoustic instruments including much of jazz and yes horror of horrors even rock often incorporates natural acoustic instruments. So-called classical music is not even the most demanding in dynamic range although it is among the more demanding types of music in that respect. What this claim regarding so-called classical music actually indicates is an elitist attitude about music and a supposition that there is something especially refined about so-called classical music which is an absurd claim on the face of it and indefensible using properly applies reason and logic because there is nothing about so-called classical music that is inherently different than any other kind of music even if it traditionally does rely more on natural acoustic instruments.