I come from a place of having hated subwoofers as well.
For as long as I can remember, whenever I expressed that I didn't like systems with subwoofers, the reply would be "you just haven't heard it done properly. My set up integrates the sub properly." Then I hear the set up and instantly hear a subwoofer.
But I had to downsize from some big floor standing speakers (Thiel 3.7s) to smaller ones (Thiel 2.7s) and I wanted to see if I could bring back some of the scale of the large speakers by trying subwoofers.
I bought a pair of JL Audio 110e subw - highly raved over even by TAS.(I have some severe restrictions in the sub I can choose - they have to fit under a projection screen and the JL subs were about the only ones small enough to do so. Fortunately they are super high quality subs).
As they can be used from the line level from a speaker (like REL) I tried variations of that approach. I heard some of the things you get with adding a sub - an expanded sound, more 3D imaging etc. But the main thing I just couldn't get around was that they changed the TONE of my system. I'm super sensitive to tone/timbre - it has to be right in order for me to want to sit and listen to a system, and my speakers/amp combo have been carefully selected to get just the tonality I find to be believable and compelling. If I alter that, I'm playing with the most important feature of my system.
Even selecting a fairly low crossover point (again, running my speakers full range), the sound would darken overall to the degree I was not pleased.
I also bought an expensive JL audio CR-1 crossover which I've yet to try, so I'd be instead actually splitting the signal between the mains and the sub - how you are "supposed" to do subwoofers by the lights of JL audio and countless denizens of subwoofer forums.
I'll see how that goes. I haven't gotten around to it as it's such a freaking time consuming pain in the butt. But if I can't integrate the sub without preserving the tone/timbre of my system, I'll have to abandon the idea.
For as long as I can remember, whenever I expressed that I didn't like systems with subwoofers, the reply would be "you just haven't heard it done properly. My set up integrates the sub properly." Then I hear the set up and instantly hear a subwoofer.
But I had to downsize from some big floor standing speakers (Thiel 3.7s) to smaller ones (Thiel 2.7s) and I wanted to see if I could bring back some of the scale of the large speakers by trying subwoofers.
I bought a pair of JL Audio 110e subw - highly raved over even by TAS.(I have some severe restrictions in the sub I can choose - they have to fit under a projection screen and the JL subs were about the only ones small enough to do so. Fortunately they are super high quality subs).
As they can be used from the line level from a speaker (like REL) I tried variations of that approach. I heard some of the things you get with adding a sub - an expanded sound, more 3D imaging etc. But the main thing I just couldn't get around was that they changed the TONE of my system. I'm super sensitive to tone/timbre - it has to be right in order for me to want to sit and listen to a system, and my speakers/amp combo have been carefully selected to get just the tonality I find to be believable and compelling. If I alter that, I'm playing with the most important feature of my system.
Even selecting a fairly low crossover point (again, running my speakers full range), the sound would darken overall to the degree I was not pleased.
I also bought an expensive JL audio CR-1 crossover which I've yet to try, so I'd be instead actually splitting the signal between the mains and the sub - how you are "supposed" to do subwoofers by the lights of JL audio and countless denizens of subwoofer forums.
I'll see how that goes. I haven't gotten around to it as it's such a freaking time consuming pain in the butt. But if I can't integrate the sub without preserving the tone/timbre of my system, I'll have to abandon the idea.