It may depend on what you define as bookshelf. A 7” or 8” woofer can go low enough to make the sub truly a subwoofer. A 4” or 5” woofer usually cannot, so the “sub” is really covering a range into the midbass where its presence is more discernible and thereby harder to blend in. The other issue is placement. Not every room affords you the option of putting speakers where they can sound their best. Having a sub can either ease or worsen this problem…
Two powered subs with bookshelf speakers or two floor-standing speakers?
What is your experience with this topic? In my current setup, I have amp to subwoofer in and subwoofer out to bookshelf on each channel.
My girlfriend has an old receiver out to two old floor-standing JBLs, which sound WAY better.
Your thoughts? Thanks.