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

I understand, I still have my original M&K Volkswoofer and Satellites. They still play in my office. I had the Volkswoofer amplifier and driver surrounds renewed last
year. They sound as good as I first remember them and bought in 1983.
I will say though, they don’t shine a light on my primary system.

Deep_333 wrote: "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."

Very interesting. To the best of my knowledge I have yet to have a subwoofer system customer fail to get satisfactory integration with his mains. In most cases they run their mains fullrange and then blend the subs in. Therefore I must give credit to the off-the-shelf Dayton Audio amplifier I use, and to whoever designed it:

https://www.parts-express.com/dayton-audio-sa1000-subwoofer-amplifier-rack-mountable--300-811

Deep: "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. "

You bring up an excellent point: How do we roll off the bottom end of the mains without any undesirable side effects? Not sure there is a totally transparent solution.

Therefore when I design main speakers with subwoofers in mind, my mains do not need a protective highpass filter unless extremely high SPLs are desired. Their inherent bottom-end rolloffs are intended to blend well with the variable 4th order lowpass filter of that Dayton amp.

Deep: "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..."

I hadn’t really thought about it in terms of degrees of freedom until this thread. I think there may well be a correlation between (useful) degrees of freedom and good integration with the mains. Lacking the financial resources to develop my own subwoofer amplifier, I count myself lucky Dayton makes an amp with a parametric EQ and a fully adjustable phase control.  My individual passive subs have some adjustability as well.

Duke

Charlie!
 Dude, your gonna make the list now.

Terra Mar? 4-6 foot South Westerly a few years ago. Nice left
Sad loss here yesterday. 

M

For those looking for music subs that aren't like cheaper HT oriented subs, I wonder if the home studio sub category would be a solution.  Sweetwater has a ton of options.