Subwoofer. Great one song. Not so great the next song.

Sell the subwoofer. 

Hmm yeah well looking at specs for your mains which go down to 32hz and the 10” sub which only goes to 25 hz, on paper, it does not seem like the sub adds much. Maybe in a larger room and/or if main amp is underpowered to drive the speakers to their full capacity. Also relatively few recordings will have enough going on at those frequencies to tell. Sounds like a tough task with very marginal benefit at best. Losing the sub may not be a bad idea. You probably do not really need one.

To everyone’s credit in this thread, I saw info & equipment resources either I would use or recommend to empower others.

To all I MUST emphasize caution using EQ boosting more than 2-3dB to “correct” system frequency response. If you take on the mindset of a wood or stone carver, using an EQ* to remove to shape the response, you’re far less LIKELY** to blow your speakers or sub. Too much EQ often introduces other artifacts. YMMV
*I much prefer PEQs over graphic.
** boosting much below a sealed sub’s F3, can cause trouble FAST. I would NOT the same a ported sub the bottom octave or so unless I had the $ to replace - but that’s me

OP: Consider listening to just the sub at length using different cutoff frequencies. Also moving your sub and/mains an inch or two in one direction or another can make a big diff in room response. 

Also the “mains” F3 vs the sub F3: the main’s driver handling 100hz up to the mid range, typically though several factors govern same etc, that driver’s octave, octave and a half MAY not be it’s strong suit in bass quality. YMMV on this.

I agree that using a sub to relieve the mains below 100 hz benefits the mids by reducing Doppler effects.

To be fair, my 5.5 Home Theatre, before I deployed a dedicated sub* for each corner* channel*, I listened to music full range, NO sub(s) because of what the OP and others w/integration struggle.
*each corner channel sub**, thanks to extensive DSP driven XO use, receives the sub signal just for that channel. The System LFE/sub*** handles the Center frequencies below 80hz.
** a 12 1/2” WAF cube that’s accurate, but not loud, to 27hz
*** a bigger brother, like** but accurate to 20hz

Thanks for reading this far, tony

Thanks again guys. I've read through all this and I'm trying to process it. I've only been into hi-fi a few years and it has mostly been with equipment that has been handed down to me and in this case inherited.

All of which is to say, my technical understanding is meager. For instance, I don't know what a PEQ is. I'm assuming it is a separate equalizer? And that is to say that a fair amount of what you guys are saying is sailing right over my head.

As for sealing the ports on the back of the main speakers, Aerial Acoustics makes plugs for them (well, they do on their other speakers, I can't swear they do with the 6T) so I'm assuming the speaker was designed to incorporate them. It was also my assumption that if a speaker with a rear ports had to be up against a wall then it could be beneficial to close the ports. Without the sub I left them open and thought they sounded fine. I plugged them while using the sub just because it seemed like the thing to do.

There is a chance I might be able to get away with placing the sub in a better position. Will have to see if I can sneak that in. Not at home right now. Will try tomorrow.


Once I do that I will play with the controls as you guys have recommended and see what I can come up with. I'll make a list of several songs that bring out the best and worse and see how it goes.


As for running cables from the sub back into the amp, well, right now everything is being driven by an old integrated. I will be replacing that either with a Sprout100, a Sonos Amp or something similar so I'm not sure how to do that.


Several of you have recommended that I get rid of the sub. That is currently my intention and it is for sale (I've sold one of the pair of them already). The truth is that there was never a perceived need for the sub to my ears; I just tried it because it was there with the other pieces from this estate. As mentioned, in some cases it did sound good. If I can get it to sound decent within the serious constraints I'm bound by then it is mine to keep. If I decide not to keep it I will sell it and the funds go to the estate which I'm fine with.

Again, I genuinely appreciate all the info given here.

George

Followup:
Moved the sub around a bit. Made various adjustments as recommended in some of the posts above and did in fact get close to a balance among various recordings. But in the end I also listened to just the mains, ports unplugged and position optimized within the limitations of the room and by themselves they sounded as good or maybe even better than with the sub.

Bottom line, within the restrictions I have and within the bounds of my ears there is no need for the sub.

Thanks again for all the assistance.

George