Subwoofer needed with towers?

[Keiths Light]

Im probably gonna end up buying tower speakers for my left/right channels. my question is whether it is really necessary to buy a subwoofer, or would it be sufficient to let the towers handle the lfe channel with 5.1 tracks and music. i won't be using any lossless tracks if that matters.

[gearyt]

Ahhhhhh. what is life without the LFE !!
gotta have a sub !!

If for movies you also need a strong center

[Marcusarilius]

I personally would still get a sub. Letting the subwoofer handle the LFE perhaps 80 hz and below will allow your two mains to produce a cleaner sound without having to strain down low at the same time it is trying to produce nice mids and highs.

[Big Daddy]

Originally Posted by Keiths Light

Im probably gonna end up buying tower speakers for my left/right channels. my question is whether it is really necessary to buy a subwoofer, or would it be sufficient to let the towers handle the lfe channel with 5.1 tracks and music. i won't be using any lossless tracks if that matters.

Definitive Technology 7000 series tower speakers have massive subwoofers with separate amps built into the speaker. They can handle all your bass in a home theater.

http://www.definitivetech.com/loudsp...upertower.html

[Keiths Light]

well good subwoofers are quite expensive, and i live in an apartment, so i figured a decent set of towers could provide pretty good bass response if i tell my receiver to output the lfe channel to them. certainly better then sattelites correct?

[Marcusarilius]

Originally Posted by Keiths Light

well good subwoofers are quite expensive, and i live in an apartment, so i figured a decent set of towers could provide pretty good bass response if i tell my receiver to output the lfe channel to them. certainly better then sattelites correct?

If you are going for a 5.1 surround system. Get all of those channels going first. Then think about a sub last.

[Clark Kent]

Even expensive towers are rarely full range throughout the entire music frequency. You don't have to have a subwoofer but many movie soundtracks contain low frequency sound that only a subwoofer can accurately reproduce. Black Hawk Down on Blu-ray goes very low and can bottom out even good subwoofers. It's up to you if going without a subwoofer is worth it but most would recommend getting a subwoofer even if you have towers.

[Keiths Light]

Originally Posted by Big Daddy

Definitive Technology 7000 series tower speakers have massive subwoofers with separate amps built into the speaker. They can handle all your bass in a home theater.

http://www.definitivetech.com/loudsp...upertower.html

those look super nice, but they are wayyy out of my price range at this point in my life. im still in college.

[Big Daddy]

Originally Posted by Keiths Light

those look super nice, but they are wayyy out of my price range at this point in my life. im still in college.

Take a look at HSU Research package deals. Performance 1 or Performance 2 packages may be within your budget.

http://www.hsuresearch.com/packages.html

[Keiths Light]

thanks for the responses guys.

i think with my current receiver(yamaha htr-6030) and budget, i may be better off just buying a 5.1 speaker set from polk or something similar for now. i can always put together a real good speaker set in the future when my budget permits.

[JohnGalt]

For apartment living I'd think a sub wouldn't really be all that great an investment. Any significant amount of bass is probably going to get you into trouble with the neighbors. If I were you and if I were going to be in the apartment for a while I'd buy a nice set of towers and just hold off on the sub until my living situation made it possible to really employ one to good effect.

[ArkGuy]

If I were you:

• College student on a budget

• Living in an apartment

• Already owning a decent receiver

I'm pretty sure I'd do the following:

Take what you seem to be prepared to drop on a modestly priced Polk 5.1 system, and instead spend almost all of it on a pair of better quality fronts, towers if you like, with an eye (ear?) toward those with a good reputation of providing decent bass without a sub. You can enjoy your "2.0" system for quite a while, especially if you use your system alot for music. You can always look for a decent used center channel on ebay or craigslist of the same brand and similar build and run three across. If you're just dying to add some rears while still in school, you can pick up a tolerable pair of used extra speakers for a song, especially in a college town.

You may find that spendng the bulk of your money now on two fronts, instead of spreading it around on a six channel system, means you'll eventually build a good 5.1 faster because you won't be paying for every speaker twice.

Just a thought.

[Keiths Light]

Originally Posted by ArkGuy

If I were you:

• College student on a budget

• Living in an apartment

• Already owning a decent receiver

I'm pretty sure I'd do the following:

Take what you seem to be prepared to drop on a modestly priced Polk 5.1 system, and instead spend almost all of it on a pair of better quality fronts, towers if you like, with an eye (ear?) toward those with a good reputation of providing decent bass without a sub. You can enjoy your "2.0" system for quite a while, especially if you use your system alot for music. You can always look for a decent used center channel on ebay or craigslist of the same brand and similar build and run three across. If you're just dying to add some rears while still in school, you can pick up a tolerable pair of used extra speakers for a song, especially in a college town.

You may find that spendng the bulk of your money now on two fronts, instead of spreading it around on a six channel system, means you'll eventually build a good 5.1 faster because you won't be paying for every speaker twice.

Just a thought.

good advice and along the lines of what i was initially thinking. my pc is connected to my receiver, so i will be using my home theatre quite a bit for music. i just wanted to be sure that i would'nt be losing too much low frequency quality without a sub. i think im gonna drop my whole current budget on adecent set of front towers and then add the rest as i go, with a sub most likely coming last.

thanks.

[MaleManGuy]

Originally Posted by Keiths Light

Im probably gonna end up buying tower speakers for my left/right channels. my question is whether it is really necessary to buy a subwoofer, or would it be sufficient to let the towers handle the lfe channel with 5.1 tracks and music. i won't be using any lossless tracks if that matters.

Subs can take an enormous amount of power... I would prefer speakers with separate subs to ensure everything has it's own separate power-draw.
perhaps less distortion that way... some speakers such as definitive tech declare to have subs in their towers... perhaps it sounds great? I don't know... haven't checked it out.

[mdm1699]

Originally Posted by Keiths Light

good advice and along the lines of what i was initially thinking. my pc is connected to my receiver, so i will be using my home theatre quite a bit for music. i just wanted to be sure that i would'nt be losing too much low frequency quality without a sub. i think im gonna drop my whole current budget on adecent set of front towers and then add the rest as i go, with a sub most likely coming last.

thanks.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ACOUSTIC-RESEARC...QQcmdZViewItem

[Kratos3]

Originally Posted by Keiths Light

good advice and along the lines of what i was initially thinking. my pc is connected to my receiver, so i will be using my home theatre quite a bit for music. i just wanted to be sure that i would'nt be losing too much low frequency quality without a sub. i think im gonna drop my whole current budget on adecent set of front towers and then add the rest as i go, with a sub most likely coming last.

thanks.

I think that's the way to go. Later you can build around your towers and you'll have a kick ass system. You'll definitely want a sub later, but for now I think you're doing the right thing. BTW, what towers were you looking at?

[surfdude12]

Originally Posted by Keiths Light

good advice and along the lines of what i was initially thinking. my pc is connected to my receiver, so i will be using my home theatre quite a bit for music. i just wanted to be sure that i would'nt be losing too much low frequency quality without a sub. i think im gonna drop my whole current budget on adecent set of front towers and then add the rest as i go, with a sub most likely coming last.

thanks.

hey, just FYI, my system was a steal:
Front Towers (HT-75): $280 for pair
Center (HT-65) $139
Sub (H100) $250
check out:
http://www.acousticsounddesign.com/b...dex.cfm?bid=67

[RIPSeanTaylor21]

Originally Posted by Keiths Light

Im probably gonna end up buying tower speakers for my left/right channels. my question is whether it is really necessary to buy a subwoofer, or would it be sufficient to let the towers handle the lfe channel with 5.1 tracks and music. i won't be using any lossless tracks if that matters.

Def Tech Towers come with Built In Subwoofer 8 1/2

[Memnoch71]

Here's a decent set of Tower Speakers to start with...

http://cgi.ebay.com/INFINITY-BETA-50...QQcmdZViewItem

The CMMD Drivers are the same ones you will find in the Top of the Line Prelude, Intermezzo & Kappa Series speakers. I've had Infinity speakers for the last 8 years and they are very impressive. You could start with these and then Get the Beta C360 Center channel, Beta ES250's for the Rear and a set of Beta 20's for 7.1 sides. Round it all off with the SW 12 to match it all.

If you're going to piece it all together over time just try to stay with the same Brand and Series of speakers for Voice Matching. It helps with the overall Sound. The Sub is the only speaker that this really does not matter on, though I'm sure some will disagree.

[dobyblue]

Originally Posted by Memnoch71

Here's a decent set of Tower Speakers to start with...

http://cgi.ebay.com/INFINITY-BETA-50...QQcmdZViewItem

The CMMD Drivers are the same ones you will find in the Top of the Line Prelude, Intermezzo & Kappa Series speakers. I've had Infinity speakers for the last 8 years and they are very impressive. You could start with these and then Get the Beta C360 Center channel, Beta ES250's for the Rear and a set of Beta 20's for 7.1 sides. Round it all off with the SW 12 to match it all.

If you're going to piece it all together over time just try to stay with the same Brand and Series of speakers for Voice Matching. It helps with the overall Sound. The Sub is the only speaker that this really does not matter on, though I'm sure some will disagree.

God bless Infinity, but how the mighty have fallen. Even their low end isn't what it used to be.

I am a big admirer of the Kappa's, The SM-122's and SM-125's, anything from the IRS. I guess they wanted to go more mainstream and less reference.

Who can forget the incredible Infinity Reference Series V speakers once they've seen a pair? Even a 10-year old used pair will still set you back around $40,000.