More Power or use subwoofer to boost bass for music

@ cowan21737  Hi, It would be great if it were that simple. The big peaks and dips/nulls happen at low frequency and boosting in that range will unduly tax the amplifier and the dip will largely remain due to cancellation.  Unfortunately that smoothing can really only be accomplished in 3 ways. Use multiple subs or bass traps or preferably both.

Nice post lemonhaze.

@atmasphere  Hi, I think we are out of phase on your one statement.

no, you don't treat a room with traps because it literally doesn't work

I have assisted many people installing broadband absorbers and bass traps, some for friends and some to make pocket money, in between jobs. In every case they have been overjoyed with the results. In my own home I used Omnimic V2 to measure the before and after results of the room treatments. The CSD plots show less ringing in the time domain and a general smoothing of all frequencies after treatment.

Measurements show that I am slightly overdamped in the upper mid-range but do actually need, I would guess, about  20/ 25% more bass trapping, however the sound I'm getting now has totally transformed the sound to the point where my wife and I are spending more time just wallowing in music and discovering new delights.

Have you actually tried sufficiently large traps in sufficient quantity to make an audible difference? I see guys using hopelessly small bits of foam or similar that at beat could only trap dust.

In my opinion a subwoofer's main purpose is not LOUDER bass, but deeper bass, higher quality bass. Few "full range" speakers are truly full range. 

Lemonhaze is correct on this, traps do work, but most people have woefully inadequate traps which are either large, expensive, or both. That is one of the reasons for many why a bass array is a better proposition for most within the limits of what they are going to achieve. 

You touch on a point that many miss, in that you have to be careful with the materials you use. Absorbent foam can often throw off tonal balance by absorbing too much mid-highs compared to base. Foam tends to be pretty useless in bass frequencies. Sound deadening fibreglass/rock-wool is far better. In the vast majority of listening spaces, I don't think standard bass traps with massive amount of fibre/rockwool and hence enormous size, like yours are practical and hence perhaps that is why atmasphere says they literally do not work ... because for most people they don't. In most listening rooms, the only practical acoustic solution for truly controlling bass resonant modes is a Helmholz resonator and to use one effectively, you need to take measurements and install the right ones and and/or get tunable ones. Strangely enough, the most "ardent" audiophiles, rarely have this simple and low cost measurement equipment preferring to "trust" their ears.