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Turned Off My Subwoofer ... And My Speakers Sound Great

I’ve had a pair of JA Pulsars (non-Graphene) for a couple of years now, and have been using them with a subwoofer. Today, I noticed that my Pulsars sounded very different. There was an expansion of soundstaging, the bass was more articulate and robust (i.e., it had more weight to it), and the highs really sparkled.

This was somewhat different from the sound to which I had become accustomed, so I looked on the panel and discovered that the sub had been turned off. Apparently, my wife had been dusting around my listening room and had accidentally hit the off switch.

I am kind of befuddled by this because I thought use of the subwoofer was supposed to achieve those sonically pleasing effects. Apparently not in my case. Have any ’Goners had this happen? I’m really happy with the "new" sound sans subwoofer, but continue to wonder why that is. I mean by all objective measures, the sub should improve the sound, not detract from it. I just don’t get it.
rlb61
uberwaltz's avatar
uberwaltz
13,381 posts
 
If you can actually hear your sub or detect where the bass is coming from at it's location then it's either too loud or xover incorrect or likely both.
I have two subs.
I feel the bass but I stare right at one sub but cannot detect any bass coming out of it in my listening position.
I quite often forget there is two as second one I cannot see from my listening position.
turnbowm
353 posts
 
@rib61 - TAS reviewed the JL Audio E110 sub that you have and talked about the software available for dialing it in. Something that be worth exploring....

https://www.theabsolutesound.com/articles/jl-audio-e-sub-e110-subwoofer/
b_limo's avatar
b_limo
2,273 posts
 
It is my thought that If you have more bass without the sub, you are getting frequencies that are cancelling themselves out.  I recommend that you try playing with the phase and position of the sub.  If a sub is 180 degrees out of phase with your speakers, the bass will cancel itself.  Either that or the actual waves are cancelling out due to placement issues.  Like Douglas said 2 is better than 1.  Like MC said, 4 is better than 2.  It’s not about total output but rather smooth output.  With 2 or 4 subs you have less dips.

I’d possibly be interested in the JL.  PM if you want to sell it
limomangus's avatar
limomangus
1,190 posts
 
Personally I done use a subwoofer. 
grey9hound
1,112 posts
 
Subs have an inherent delay which a lot of times causes Phase Canceling .
When using room correction software ,the delay that is setup for your Sub , is actually delaying the signal to your speakers to match the inherent delay in the sub. You see a lot of people and places talking about delaying the signal to the sub, but you are actually delaying the signal to the L/R speaker to match the inherent delay in the Sub
This software usually sets the subwoofer distance quite a bit farther than it actually is. Leave it that way . This is how it compensates .
So if you need to manually set the distance or delay and your are not using room correction software .

A rule of thumb is 1 foot equals 3 millisecond
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