In an AES paper published some years ago, researcher James M. Kates showed that a dipole has smoother in-room bass than a monopole. Two dipole main speakers will have significantly smoother in-room bass than a single monopole sub, which can be frustrating because you can hear the discrepancy.
It seems to me that people who try a single sub with their Maggies eventually go back to using no sub roughly half the time. But people who try two subs are much more likely to keep the subs in their system. It's a matter of quality, not quantity. As a general principle, the in-room smoothness improves roughly in proportion to the number of bass sources spread around the room.
The word "smooth" doesn't sound very exciting as applied to bass, but that's where we get good pitch definition from (dipoles do this very wall, though they lack impact and "slam"). But lack of smoothness can make it hard to get satisfying low-end authority without boom or mud. You see, when the bass has significant peaks, we tend to set the level (loudness of the sub) based on those peaks, because they stick out like a sore thumb. So if we have a +6 dB peak, and we can only tolerate +3 dB, we set the level of the subwoofer -3 dB relative to the mains. However if, because of judicious use of multiple subs, our peaks are only +3 dB, then we can set the level of the subs equal to that of the mains, and have an overall more authoratitive, natural-sounding low end.
Imo, ime, ymmv, etc.
Duke
dealer/manufacturer
It seems to me that people who try a single sub with their Maggies eventually go back to using no sub roughly half the time. But people who try two subs are much more likely to keep the subs in their system. It's a matter of quality, not quantity. As a general principle, the in-room smoothness improves roughly in proportion to the number of bass sources spread around the room.
The word "smooth" doesn't sound very exciting as applied to bass, but that's where we get good pitch definition from (dipoles do this very wall, though they lack impact and "slam"). But lack of smoothness can make it hard to get satisfying low-end authority without boom or mud. You see, when the bass has significant peaks, we tend to set the level (loudness of the sub) based on those peaks, because they stick out like a sore thumb. So if we have a +6 dB peak, and we can only tolerate +3 dB, we set the level of the subwoofer -3 dB relative to the mains. However if, because of judicious use of multiple subs, our peaks are only +3 dB, then we can set the level of the subs equal to that of the mains, and have an overall more authoratitive, natural-sounding low end.
Imo, ime, ymmv, etc.
Duke
dealer/manufacturer