Why do you guys pursue a flat frequency response when you buy a subwoofer?

Deep_333 wrote: " Now, when subs are being integrated with these speakers, the sub appears to be an afterthought. An end user like myself who’s not a speaker designer or professional audio engineer, is somehow being asked by sub manufacturers to make it all work together somehow."

Given that there is an enormous variation in what kind of main speakers a subwoofer may be paired with, not to mention the enormous variation in room acoustic situations, a one-size-fits-all, plug-n-play solution is not possible. Even if the subwoofer(s) and mains have been designed as a package, low-frequency room acoustics still varies enough that some adjustments may be required during set-up.

You might consider working with the dealer or manufacturer who sold your main speakers, or maybe buy your subs through a dealer who is willing to do the setup.

Deep_333 wrote: "They release a flat curve to make themselves look good and sell a product."

Imo whether or not a flat curve earns a person’s business is their choice. I assume that subwoofer manufacturers who went to the trouble to achieve a flat curve sincerely believe in its merit.

"At the end, its a customer like myself who has to go to enormous lengths and months of tinkering and treatment to make it all work right."

To me, this statement implies that there may be room for improvement over whatever it was you tried.

"I may have very few variables to work with actually... Let’s see, a sub volume control and a crossover if my amp doesn’t have bass management, that’s it. To my knowledge, only Rythmik even offers a phase control that’s more than just a 0-180 flip switch. The rest is...crawl around, throw a bass trap, etc and make it work somehow."

Some subwoofer systems offer more degrees of freedom than others. For the record, Rythmik is not the only one who offers a phase control which is more than just a 0-180 flip switch. (Also just for the record, while I mentioned the crawl and bass traps in a previous post, neither are tools which I rely on.)

"Is my perception right or wrong gentlemen?"

It sounds to me like you are disappointed in your experience with subwoofers, and hold subwoofer manufacturers accountable. Is that correct? If not, can you clarify?

Duke

Is my perception right or wrong gentlemen?

I think you are more or less right, though I come at it differently in my blog post. You almost tie it all together like I have and state that a subwoofer is like another driver in a speaker system, and that to integrate it well to the speaker is as complicated as making a multi-way speaker system.

And this is why my usual advice is to think about exactly what steps you'll need to get to "done."  The easiest answers are preamps and processors with automatic subwoofer configuration, usually a component of room correction, along with appropriate room treatment.

I do believe that the difficulty in integrating a subwoofer is usually under-sold.

You are also perceptive about how big the gap is between home theater and 2 channel in this regard. While 2 channel systems vary greatly, THX specified waaaaay back in the early days of Dolby Pro-Logic, sealed, 80 Hz cabinets for small satellites specifically to address part of this problem. 

Subwoofers are marvelous, glorious tools, but getting to done for the average music lover is just a lot harder than consumers and probably many salespeople realize.  OTOH, let's face it, 90% of those who buy subs aren't actually trained listeners.  They may be perfectly happy with poorly set up subs.  I know I tried to be for a long time with my first M&K V1.

Best,

E

If you wan5 fast responses check out the Svs 3000 or ultra 16 
they have 52 bit processors built in and monitor any variations 
in milliseconds and are superb with split shaft voice coils Great app and a bunch of other things including free shipping 
and 45 day satisfaction or full money back . I hav3 the SB 3000
for $995 or 2 for $1900 delivered. It best my $1700 JL audio sub 
and beat any Rel it is the only great sub with an app the split pole voice coil works only 5he inner part at low volume which is very tunefull, when more power is needed uses the larger outer part 
of the voice coil and goes down to a true 18 HZ.

@audiokinesis , Many hardcore audiophiles i know stick with 2 channel music systems, a.k.a, their high end turntables, DACs, integrated amps/monoblocks, etc with no bass management. These guys try subs and abandon them because they can't get it to integrate right. Many of them buy RELs because it is "supposed to" integrate better (tribal hearsay). But, when they realize that the RELs were hype but lame on delivery, they abandoned them as well.  I sure would not want to add another adc/dac into the chain with a subpar DAC on something like miniDSP for bass management (when i have a Denafrips DAC in my 2 channel setup). Guys i know have waaaay more expensive speakers, DACs, monoblocks, etc on their 2 channel music setups than i do. They are probably not gonna do that either. It's almost like there's a huge disconnect here.

But, of course, once you taste the ecstasy of a well-integrated sub, it's really hard to go back to music without one.  I often find myself listening more in my room1 with active bass management (on my Yam A3080 receiver with the Jungson Class A preouts) than in my 2.2 room2 setup. There may be room for improvement or i may never get there with the tools I have in hand for room2. 

This might be a gross assumption. But, i think some of these 2 channel guys have waaay more cash to throw at a sub manufacturer than the average guy buying a sub for his hometheater. So, It may be a loaded market chunk which is out there i.e., if a manufacturer chooses to tap into it and cater to their systems better (monopoly for sure). More DOFs or.... whatever the R&D/solution may be to better integrate them...you would know better.