What percentage of audiophiles use a sub ?


Since joining the site I have noticed that a lot of you don't actually use a subwoofer. I was pretty surprised by this as I could never listen to any music without some good low-end, so, curious how many do and how many don't and if not, why.
thomastrouble

Showing 2 responses by learsfool

Personally, I have yet to hear a sub that sounds anything like live, unamplified acoustic music. For me, they are for movies or electronically produced music.
Well, perhaps some of my issue with subs and people's description's of "deep bass" is that almost no acoustically produced music goes anywhere near as low as 28Hz. Some pianos don't even go that low. An organ, some pianos, perhaps a doublebass provided with a low C extension, maybe a contrabass trombone, I'd have to look that up, or the very largest tuba, that's about it. And very rarely are those notes actually called for even on these instruments, and when they are, they don't sound anything like any sub I have ever heard, even a well-integrated one (I have heard them both in stores and in people's homes). So I do repeat that they are really only for movies and electronically produced music, and are simply not necessary for listening to acoustically produced music. In fact, if they are used for this, the result is invariably not realistic sounding, IME. The timbres are just not right.