Do you use a Subwoofer when listening to stereo?

I have been using a pair of Vandersteen 2Wq subs with my mains for about 12 years.  I wouldn't want to listen without them.  Deep, clean, powerful bass makes listening more involving and leaves more power for my mains.  The battery biased external crossovers keep things transparent.  Bass integration with these subs is superb, and in my room, corner placement works best, as they were designed for corner placement.

Hmm. Could someone explicitly confirm what I read here is true: that, even if I use twin-subs, I should set the bass on my speakers to 'Large'?

My setup: a Denon X3700H AVR (used as a pre-amp) --> Parasound A21 --> Focal Electra 1038Be + Twin ML Dynamo 1000w subs.

Currently, I have main speakers set to small with crossover at 60Hz.

I've read elsewhere that this is the way to go, unless one is using very powerful amps. While my A21 amp is rated to 250W with 60A peak current capability, the 1037Be (close enough to 1038Be) speaker measurements on Stereophile.com show that my speakers may be quite difficult to drive at <60Hz frequencies (a combination of low impedance and -ve capacitive phase angle).

TIA.

Hmm. Could someone explicitly confirm what I read here is true: that, even if I use twin-subs, I should set the bass on my speakers to 'Large'?

If you really care about accurate integration with your speakers, connect the subs using the speaker outputs on your main amp. Now if all you care about is "more bass", then do what you planned.

Oz

Ozzy62: Unfortunately, my subs don’t have speaker level inputs, only line level.

I don’t care about ‘more bass’ - just want to integrate subs as well with the speakers as I can.

I had only two subwoofers with full range speakers (Salk Songtowers) so can't speak to having 4+ subs.  When I finally finished treating the room and locked the position of the primary stereo speakers, I decided to go without the subs.  The Salks were now putting out, what seemed to me, palpable sub-bass. You know, the feel-it-in-your-chest...coming-out-of-the floor kind of bass.  The only thing was that it was soft.  It was big but softer compared to the subs.  But it felt more organic to me and I didn't have to concern myself about it when I changed records. I don't miss the subs...but I also don't know any better sub solution.

At some point, I just didn't want to keep concerning myself with bass all the time. I think before you get into multiple subs, you got to nail the mids and the highs...an by that I mean the imaging. Great imaging is way more rewarding than great bass. Sometimes I think we chase great bass because the imaging isn't doing it for us.

Anyway, I'm in a different house.  It's been a year and I haven't locked down the imaging yet.  It's not a dedicated listening room either which make it tougher.  But I will keep exploiting the room...