Does a 100 watt subwoofer and a pair of 50 watts per channel loudspeakers have the same bass?

Question

at a given level of volume will a 100 watt rms subwoofer have the same or more or less bass/depth to a pair of two way loudspeakers/woofers of 50 watts rms each?

Answer 1

Subwoofers are MORE EFFICIENT at bass notes than a Loudspeaker ever will be.....

You don't try to mow your lawn with a Semi truck right?

Or drive to the grocery store on a lawn mower.....Am I correct?

That's because they have special equipment to do both jobs....

And that's why they make Subwoofers  and Loudspeakers, and Three way Towers and 2 way bookshelf speakers.....

So...your loudspeaker won't give you the DRIVE-POWER of a strong bass passage like the sub-woofer does.....

Answer 2

Simple answer: No.

Consider it this way.  ALL the power for the subwoofer goes into creating bass notes (which require more power than mid/high frequencies). Only part of the power for the full range speakers goes to reproducing the bass.  Furthermore -- and more fundamental -- 2-way speakers simply can't reproduce the bass frequencies that a subwoofer can. The subwoofer is there to deepen and improve on the (generally) inadequate bass response of the 2 -way speakers and allow the 2-way speakers to focus on the mid and high frequencies (frequency ranges the typical 2-way speakers are physically better suited to anyway ... which is why a subwoofer is often paired with mid-small sized 2-way speakers.