Remote Volume Control for a Sub Woofer

I guess things were simpler and I wasn't as fussy when I was younger, I'm 66 going on 67 this year.  When I was in my 20s I had an Onkyo integrated amp (can't remember the model number), a pair of Cerwin Vega speakers, a Dual turntable, a Sherwood tuner, and a TEAC cassette recorder/player and I was in heaven!  Subwoofer?  What was that?  Never heard of such a thing.  If I needed more bass, that's what the Loudness switch was for (Loudness On/Off).  Bass problem solved.  Damn, why is equipment so much better and expensive these days!  But I love it!

OP I still have a loudness contour, bass, treble and balance. I wouldn't give it up for anyone. 

Second the actual problem is the sensitivity of your main speakers vs your subs. 10 to 1 says your mains or subs are a mismatch.

Kind of like conventional subs with horns. You have to match speaker types. 

My subs are all above 90% sensitivity even GRs OB servos are higher. I use a HO44 10" because of the sensitivity, speed and depth it can reach with a passive and stay very accurate with super low distortion and lower watts for a normal sub.

That drove my wife nuts 25 years ago. She hated it. She likes listening to reel to reel mix tapes. It could have Mic Jagger or Carman Miranda on one of her tapes.

With Macs it's never been a problem controlling subs or bass. Their MX series have sub, bass, treble and variable loudness. The cool thing is from the remote.

We used a C20 for years too, NO REMOTE at all. BUT it's still the best sounding preamp on earth. Samra C20..

I also like playing with the remote on my pair of Velodyne DD10+’s. I mostly adjust adjust the volume to taste but on some truly bass shy recordings I’ll adjust the slope as well. I’ve got buttons 1-5 programmed to alter the slope from 6db all the way up to 36db. I also mute the sub often to appreciate its subtle but important contribution. With the sub muted the system often sounds like a top performing Hifi, but with the sub in it gives enough bandwidth to feel like the performers are in the room. Another benefit to the remote it that the subs allow dual hook up, so when the home theater system is on and feeding the subs, I often am too lazy to get up and change the crossover frequency from 40 hz (for 2 channel) to 80hz for HT, so the 6db slope setting helps fill in the gaps that are there from below 80hz.

Emailists, FYI, the plastic on my 2011 subs remote became sticky from what seems like age. Has yours?

Mine is sticky as well - the rear anyway.   I found this company selling a compatible remote for a very low price.