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@mijostyn

You do not want to add another processor.

That sounds right, I am going to shelve any tinkering with more processors, etc. I think I’ll go in the opposite direction and try 2.0 with no subs and no dsp when I get the new Sony preamp delivered and will post how it goes. The Paradigm passive 40's go down to 45 hz or so. The active version I use go down to 32 hz which should be fine for music.

They may go down to 32Hz, but that is probably with drop-off and high distortion, and if using 2, more room mode excitation. Subs are to reduce distortion, go deep without roll-off, and reduce room mode excitation. Ideally you cross your speakers higher so they are not taxed with frequencies/excursions where they distort.

@thespeakerdude , the active 40's have a high pass filter switch on the back so I can cross them over with a sub, NP. I'll try both and see how it goes, thanks.

@thespeakerdude 1+

@kota1 There are very few speakers that do anything gracefully below 50 Hz. The specs are highly misleading. Standard frequency response measurements are taken at one meter. That is fine for wavelengths one meter or less. The longer wavelengths dissipate rapidly with distance in a room and the longer they get the more rapidly this occurs so by the time you get to the listening position a speaker that measured flat to 40 Hz is now down 10 dB at 40 Hz and depending on the room and interference patterns it could be down 20 dB in some places. Then you get some places in the 50 to 100 Hz area that might be + 10 dB producing what I call one note bass. Producing accurate bass requires clever room management, a subwoofer with a lot of power and room control. Why is the sub necessary? Simple, if you try to correct a regular woofer to run flat down to 18 Hz in most rooms you will either run out of power and clip your amp or break your woofer trying to get long excursions out of it that it can not handle. Subwoofer drivers are designed specifically to take long excursions and handle lots of power. They have ported and vented magnet structures so that there is no compression behind the voice coil and spider. The spider is the suspension element that centers and controls the voice coil and the apex of the cone. Another thing is, for a large high fidelity system do not bother with subwoofer drivers less than 12" unless you plan on using them in multitude. I would use no less than 4 10" drivers, or two 12" and up. The more driver area you have going the better. I would not use anything larger than 15" as I think the larger cones are more difficult to control. I have seen slo-mo videos of large cones wobbling instead of moving in pistonic fashion. The "speed" of a driver determines it's frequency response. The larger driver will not have to move as fast to produce a specific frequency because it does not have to move as far. Smaller drivers have to move faster! Larger drivers produce less distortion because they do not have to move as far as fast. They are thus capable of generation much more acoustic energy the result being you "feel" as if you are at a live show. Feeling the music is almost as important as hearing it. It is the feeling that is missing in most systems which IMHO ruins the illusion. 

You are overthinking it, many people have 2.0 systems and enjoy them without subs.