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Are subs worth the price for music?

My current speakers are Vandersteen 3A's. I consider them to have a good, solid low end. Specs say 26hz, -3db, if I remember. That's lower than most any music. I'm considering adding a vandy sub, possibly two to the system. My question is, for strictly music, are subs even worth while...$$$......if so, why? What could I expect that's different and/or better than what I'm already hearing..............No experience with subs and music, so forgive the lame question for those of you who already use them.
shadowcat2016
shadowcat2016 OP
132 posts
 
Thanks tangramca.................wow, 6'5"................I thought MINE were low!!........Hope you're not a basketball player :)..............I think I'll give Vandersteen a call next week, describe my room layout and ask them their opinion. Might as well talk to the guys that built my speakers :0.......If they think it's a go, I'll give it a shot........I'll buy used, if it doesn't work out, resell and take a small loss just for the experience.......... Agreed, most of the responses are for subs, rather than against.

Audio is my sole form of electronic entertainment now, gave up TV/movies a while back. Winter is coming, long cold days and nights. Might as well pump the system up :)

You need to jack that house up a couple feet brother, give that system room to breath!! LOL
tangramca
59 posts
 
Century home. Have thought about digging out the basement numerous times but my Better Half is dead set against it. My son is 6'4" so he barely fits. I'm 6'2 so I fit no probs. Good luck with your sub search. I have a JL Audio and love it.
johnnyb53
3,510 posts
 
My question is, for strictly music, are subs even worth while...$$$......if so, why? What could I expect that’s different and/or better than what I’m already hearing..............No experience with subs and music, so forgive the lame question for those of you who already use them.
This is particularly true with larger musical ensembles in larger music venues: The frequencies that define the dimensions of the auditorium are much lower than the lowest frequencies of most of the musical instruments involved. If you want a credible re-creation of the sound of the performance in its auditorium, which includes infrasonic content that defines the dimensions of the performance venue plus the energy that defines the venue and the performance, you will get that only with one or more subwoofers that can re-create the dimensions and energy of that venue.
The lowest frequencies generated by the instruments involved is irrelevant; it’s the re-creation of the infrasonic energy of the venue that puts you squarely in the performance. Many of the omnidirectional microphones used for recording in such environments capture frequencies below 10 Hz. This is how deep plummeting subwoofers can augment even solo classical guitar performances.

Go to http://www.tonepublications.com/magazine/toneaudio-magazine-26/ and read the review of a pair of JL Gotham subwoofers and you'll see what I'm talking about.
audiokinesis
2,723 posts
 

The elephant in the room IS the room. The room’s effects at low frequencies are huge. Like enginedr1960 above, I’m a disciple of Earl Geddes when it comes to how to do a subwoofer system right. The justification for using multiple (often four) intelligently-distributed smaller subs is qualitative, not quantitative: The sum of their multiple dissimilar in-room curves is quite a bit smoother than any one alone. And smooth bass is "fast" bass because the peaks are where the energy takes longer to decay.

Most speaker/room combinations have significant room for improvement in the bottom couple of octaves, so subwoofers done right can make a worthwhile difference.

Note that the ear is actually more sensitive to differences in SPL at low frequencies than it is higher up the spectrum. This is revealed by the way equal-loudness curves bunch up south of 100 Hz. In the 40 Hz region, a 3 dB change in loudness is subjectively as large as a 6 dB change in loudness at 1 kHz. That’s why bass peaks stick out like sore thumbs.

As a general principle, the in-room smoothness increases in proportion to the number of intelligently distributed bass sources. So two subs are potentially twice as smooth as one, and four subs are potentially twice as smooth as two (and that potential is not elusive - but neither is it automatic). And unlike smoothness achieved by EQ alone, which is limited to a small listening area while the bass is actually made worse elsewhere, the smoothness of a distributed multisub system holds up well pretty much throughout the room.

Duke

dealer/manufacturer/Geddes Mafia charter member

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