To Sub or not to Sub...?

Aaron,c'mon, why did you let the cat out of the bag so soon. I was hoping for some more fun. Mind you, if you set phase, crossover point and slope right and place the subs where they upset the least nodes, you will find that you can hear every single wheel turning on the London Underground and the only things dis-jointed will be those, who haven't been greased.
On a serious vein now: I must agree with you, at least in part, many setups with subs do sound disjointed, as you very rightly say. In the very rare cases, when they did not to my ears, a painstaking process of adjusting and placing went beforehand. The seamless meld which you have in a life event, I have never really heard achieved in a system, so I can understand and respect your point of view. I have subs, set for 30hz and below. I am never a 100% happy with them, but more unhappy without them. So its a matter of compromise and taste , I suppose. Regards,

Yes, bag end elf with 2 18 bag end subs in stereo!

I too, am wary of subwoofers. While auditioning speakers in a local shop, the salesman let me hear some JM labs monitors he was enthusiastic about (I forget the model). They did indeed sound impressive but when he kicked in the sub, it totally muddied the sound IMO. I much preffered no sub. Also, I owned Maggies for many years and loved them (no one told me that they were lacking in bass and I never noticed it that much). Therefore I have concluded that maybe a sub is not for me, although I am still open to trying one. My rather convoluted point is, some ears may not require the bass that a sub puts out.

Most dealers have their subs set up terribly, because they get moved around, turned on and off a lot, and reset constantly for different speakers. It takes more than the minute the salesperson takes to integrate a sub properly. So do not forsake subs because they sounded lousy at the store. Find a local audiophile who will demo theirs in their home. You bring the Pizza and Beer.

Mvwine, PS: I forgot to say that I was assuming the salesperson even understands how to integrate a sub. A lot are completely clueless or even worse (ie, they think they can sell you with a big boomy sound that shakes the room).