Are big subwoofers viable for 2 channel music?

 As they roll out their 16" subs... I'm a fan of SVS, but c'mon.

How SVS fixed it... 

"The turning point for the 16-Ultra Series subwoofers involved several key innovations. The first was an 8-inch edge wound voice coil, the largest ever deployed in a consumer subwoofer. The massive voice coil girth allows the woofer to exert complete control over the 16-inch Ultra driver and remain accurate and distortion-free with pinpoint speed in transients, even at reference playback levels. Four of the heaviest toroidal ferrite magnets ever used in a subwoofer generate unprecedented levels of magnetic force and machined motor elements produce astounding levels of low frequency output with minimal distortion. The cone material consists of a premium fiberglass resin composite that moves extreme amounts of air and sonic energy without ever flexing or losing control."

@jwmorris --

As enthusiast enamored with our equipment, in our room, in our opinion we have to be careful not to be closed minded. I do not believe most enthusiast start with a great system. Great systems usually evolve over time. Most enthusiast come to a forum seeking advice and/or to learn from other people’s knowledge and experience.  

     We read, research, hear, or hear about a new way of doing things and we explore the new information. If we are open minded our joy of the hobby and our systems are improved. If we are determined to be closed minded, we do not grow. If we are determined to be closed minded we miss out on possible system improvements.

     If we insist our way is “The” only way we hinder/limit our own growth. If we openly criticize equipment and experiences with no credible experiences we could possibly hinder the growth of others. In those cases we should always remember to include “In My Opinion/Experience” etc.  
 
    I read more than I post. I try not to criticize anyone’s personal preference of speakers etc. I have heard multi-subwoofer setups. I actually considered purchasing a SWARM setup. I have experimented with a third subwoofer in my room. I have also experienced sub-woofer systems capable of Ultra Low Frequencies (ULF). I am very happy with my system but I am also very aware it can be improved.

     None of our systems are perfect. None of us know everything. None of us should attempt to invalidate the experience of someone else based on our own experience. The goal should always be to learn more/understand more. The goal should always be to improve and increase our enjoyment of music and the music playback systems. Some have forgotten this, others never knew it.  

Very well put (indeed above quoted post of yours should be a "sticker" on these pages), and I'm not saying this as someone necessarily complying in my actions with what you point out. I just know of it to be a commendable approach, and one to strive for. 

How SVS fixed it...

I think it's a little disingenuous of SVS to imply that they're the only ones that know how to use a big driver.

Hello phusis and jwmorris,

     I think our disagreements and differences expressed on this thread can be boiled down to a difference in preferences and priorities. I could go into detail but I believe it basically comes down to both of your top priorities seeming to be the optimum bass extension of your sub systems for HT Bluray 4K Ultra HD audio performance and my top priority being the optimum bass quality of my sub system for 2-ch stereo music hi-res digital music file audio performance.  I think both are enjoyable and worthy goals.  But why can't we have both?

    It's my understanding that current direct to hi-res digital recording technology is capable of recording deep bass content below 20 Hz on both digital music files and 4K Ultra HD Bluray discs.  Given the factual limits of human hearing, of course, it would make little sense to record this deep bass as discrete stereo channels and the bass below 80 Hz would be summed to mono during the mixing stage for both music and HT audio recordings.  
     I think this would be a big step forward in the quality of the listening experiences involved with both music and HT audio.  This would just require consumers possessing high quality subs capable of reproducing such deep bass frequencies, including my upgrading my 4 subs to ones of higher quality capable of reproducing bass frequencies accurately down to single digits.  
     Of course this would probably also destroy most regular consumer subs and sound bars that couldn't handle single digit bass frequencies, but that's a reasonable sacrifice, right?

Tim