How do I know if I need a sub woofer?

As long as you own good speakers that (1) comfortably reach down to the low 30Hz range, whether floorstanders or bookshelves, and (2) have reasonably wide horizontal and vertical dispersion, you don’t need a subwoofer. I’m talking strictly about music listening. The problem with subs for music is that they are very difficult to blend seamlessly with the main speakers, especially in terms of pace and texture.

Movie watching is a whole different story.

Maybe you haven’t heard a truly good system that delivers excellent imaging and soundstage without the aid of subwoofers. At audio shows, high-end systems are usually not demonstrated with subs. Dealers want to highlight the unique, inherent sound characteristics of their speakers and electronics—not the contribution of a subwoofer. On the rare occasion when a subwoofer is present in a demo room, the first thing I (and many other audiophiles) ask is, *“Is the sub on?”* If the answer is yes, the immediate request is usually to turn it off.

Listen, I don’t wish to argue with you—especially on this subject. My personal conclusion, based on numerous trials with one or two subs from AR, SVS, and REL (brands known for musicality), is that none of these experiments have been satisfactory to my taste. Even when I carefully dialed in the position, crossover, phase, and volume, and set high/low-pass filters to leave headroom for amplification, EQ, and other fine adjustments, the results still fell short in terms of pace and texture. Larger woofers sitting in separate boxes, driven by separate amplifiers, are just extremely difficult to blend seamlessly compared to the integrated subwoofer designs you find in speakers from companies like GoldenEar.

And yes, I did miss out on those sub-30Hz information, but I would rather have a coherent, natural presentation of the music than be distracted by non-integrated bass floating around my listening space and ruining my appetite.