is there really a need for two subs?

I also have a small room and found that when I went to two subs sound was much improved.

Sales people will tell you anything. Two subs are better for imiging, depth, balance, etc. Go to a showroom with a good system on display, including 2 subs. Listen, then ask the salesperson to disconnect one. Listen. You will never ask that question again.

Hi Dennzio:

Two subs are an improvement over one in just about any room, even at low levels. The advantage of multiple bass sources is that it breaks up standing waves that may be present in the bass, smooths the bass by "filling in" dips that may occur due to room interactions, and adds a spaciousness to the whole soundstage presentation. It also adds at least 3 dB more gain in the bass frequencies with 2 subs working together, which can allow you to reduce bass levels and enjoy lower distortion. Two subs also gives you a lot more flexibility in room placement, as you learn to "work" the room for best sound (corner placement vs wall placement, even stacked subs.) With recordings that are not typically multi-tracked studio productions ("multiple-mono"), you will discover stereo bass effects, typically in orchestral recordings with minimal mics used. This preserves phase information, and allows it to be reproduced in your listening room as recorded, with real space and dimension,(an argument against stacked subs, which will not do the space thing.) You don't need monster subs to get all of these benefits; this is a case where 2 smaller and more agile subwoofers can potentially outperform a single large one. Good luck and have fun with it!

No, there is no "need" for two subs in a moderately sized room. You can get very good results with just one if properly done. However, once you hear the difference between two properly set-up subs and one doing the best that it can, you will "want" two subs. There is a difference between what we "want" and what we "need" BIGTIME in this hobby : ) Sean
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Well, as always, we have achieved complete unanimity of thought on the topic under discussion... (grin). Sean's comments are valid: there is no "need" to have two subs, unless your personal criteria include getting the best performance from your system (sorry, Sean, no attack meant). Gasman has identified some of the reasons favoring two subs in a system, to which I would add that using only one sub requires that you sum the left and right channel inputs, thereby losing phase and channel-related information that can be important in creating a cohesive sonic picture. (This may not be a major concern if you only want to reproduce low frequency sound effects from DVD's, but will definitely be an important consideration if you want good music fidelity.)

When I began playing seriously with subwoofers in my system about two years ago, I started with a single sub of modest quality. When I added the second sub to make a stereo pair, I was surprised how much the overall sound improved for music as well as HT. Last fall, I sold the two subs I had and replaced them with Vandersteen 2Wq subs, and the overall musicality of the system went up dramatically.

Richard Vandersteen has made the comment in several interviews that subwoofers do more than just juice up the deep bass. If the sub and crossover are properly designed to integrate well with the main speakers, the main speakers will have less -- often significantly less -- harmonic and intermodulation distortion because they are not trying to reproduce the low frequency range. The result is clearer, better focused upper bass and lower midrange reproduction, which yields more transparent, detailed sound. My own experience with the two Vandy subs certainly proved this to be true.

Hence, if you are looking for the best musical performance from your system, I urge you to think about eventually having two subs. If money is tight, start with one sub now, and add another later. However, don't get cheap subs that are intended mainly for HT LFE reproduction. There are a number of subs that do a fine job with music that aren't terribly expensive -- see the Audiogon archives for the numerous threads of recommended subwoofers for ideas.