does a subwoofer kill stereo sound?

I'm with MagFan an Stringstee, on this, I think a sub always adds to a system, no matter what the speakers.

I am shocked when I turn off the sub(s) with my Maggies, how much bass they put out. Then when I put the sub back into the system (I cross it over at 41 hz) I'm shocked again at how deep the image gets, and how much slam there is.

It does take time to set up a sub properly though, so they are not muddy, but it's worth the time.

Hi, again, Mac.
Agreed about setup. I spent about an hour doing first placement of sub.
I listened over a period of the next few days making 'little' adjustments. No joy and the bass remained 'thick'.
Finally, I turned the x-over all the way down. That is an indicated 30hz, but who really knows?
I turned it UP until I heard it again than down sightly. I adjusted the vol. again than the crossover frequency again. It's been untouched in a couple months.

the variation between recordings is a far bigger problem now than any possible improvement to the basic setup.
My final adjustment? x-over under 40hz and the sub 1 foot from a side wall and nearly 3 feet from the 'front' wall. The sub is in the same plane as the panels. When I rotated the panels around, I shut off the sub and when I had the panels properly adjusted, turned the sub back on and my bass disappeared. OOOPS! Flipping the phase switch on the sub restored the bass.

If I had the $$, time and inclination, I'd work on NOT running my panels full range. I suspect there are additional benefits in that direction, but also a whole new learning curve.

Magfan, You made this comment: "If I had the $$, time and inclination, I'd work on NOT running my panels full range. I suspect there are additional benefits in that direction, but also a whole new learning curve."

For my tastes, I found taking some of the lowest-frequency bass load off the main panels made at least as big an improvement as adding more and lower-frequency bass did. Articulation of subtle nuances (and some not so subtle) improved dramatically. My main complaint with add-on subwoofers is most just add bass and do not give the main speakers some relief where they need it the most. And you are right--it is a new ball game.

I can never get why people buy very expensive top shelf amps and then let the bass be done by amps built into the subwoofer cabinet. Is that really the best way to do things? Or do most people have a really good amp to run the subs too? How about using a seperate amp and preamp to run a subwoofer system?

As a side note, I have caught a dealer demoing SET amps but had a powered subwoofer playing hidden behind some other speakers. I am getting very good at detecting bass that should not really be there. I can tell if a subwoofer is in the system and it usually annoys me too much. imo, a sub is not really needed if you have great full range speakers AND the room to support low HZ. but they may be fun to play with and that is okay at time too.

6550c,

My understanding is that high quality amplification is less important for bass than for other areas of the audio frequency band. But yes, there are certainly passive subs that let you choose the amp to use with the subs. I use a pair of passive NHT subs with 2 bridged Emotiva BDP-1s. The main advantage of this for me is the ease of dialing down the level of the bass easily for late-night listening. Most of the subwoofer attenuators are around the back. and awkward to reach for...