a properly matched system will not make you aware of "missing bass" 90% of the time, but i have at least 3 pipe organ recordings that are fairly palpably loud below 20 cycles per second [locks the air in the room with a vigorous pulsation of air pressure] that NO standalone stereo speaker system i’ve heard can touch, not even Snell type As or KEF 105.2s with monster amplification. for those 3, a great sub is MANDATORY. i know of a retired doctor whose large house contains a massive digital pipe organ - to reproduce those 32’ contra bombarde pipes he uses 8] twin-12" acoustic suspension subs in massive cabinets. that amount of speaker enabled the visceral pulsating room-shaking sensation of real 32’ organ pipes to fully manifest.
What does a subwoofer solve?
My previous amps were BHK 300 mono blocks. The bass they provided for my Monitor Audio PL 300ii speakers was exceptional. For several reasons I replaced the BHKs with a Luxman M900u. Very happy with the new amp, except for disappointing bass performance. Would a set of good subwoofers help resolve this, or do subwoofers only address a lack of bass in standard speakers?
Thanks in advance for any advice or suggestions.