Subwoofer importance?

Question

will the absence of a subwoofer within a stereo system make the sound difficult to hear? ie. decrease my sound clarity?

Answer 1

No, and no, but it'll be lacking when you listen to anything with bass in it.

Answer 2

No but you won't get the deep bass sounds.

Answer 3

most music is covered by a speaker system with a 20hz to 20khz responce. however, some music dips below these frequencies, and really puts a power load on your amplifier to reproduce. as far as home theater ,even with the best(which i consider to be KRELL) speakers and amps, a sub is reccommended. because allot of content is below the stated frequencies or boosted for effects! as long far as clarity goes a sub has to be adjusted and placed properly to get it's full benefits. and it will increase your dynamic range from say 20 to 20 and in my case 12 hz to 26 khz, this is definetly an improvement! remember sound is a combination of vibrations (tweeter) and air being pushed (sub) without both you will at times even on music that you won't get true recorded sound, movies are even more important, they boost and steer signals that only a sub could reproduce! line level or speaker level! if your amp is smaller than say 300 watts per ch. speaker level sub hook up can save your amps power and headroom for the explosive parts of music and movies! beethoven has a cannon blast that is measured at 10hz. do you think there is a speaker on the market without subs that can reproduce that note? (no) but there are some subs that can. and like i said movies are boosted at many lower frequencies to actually draw you in and scare you at times! i am an avid audiophile and videophile and also repair electronics. look at the krell gear and ask your self, with that power and those speakers, why do they make such powerful subs? i think you will find your answer! [e-mail]     enjoy the most your system will allow. krell or not! sorry about any misspelling i typed it fast!

Answer 4

It depend what speakers you have!

If your speakers support a full dynamic range (base frequencies) then you wont need a subwoofer.

Subwoofers are fine for surround sound (5.1 etc) movies where the sound system has an extended dynamic range to cope with movie sound effects, but don't really add anything to stereo music ( If you have full range speakers)