Meridian Unplugged - Powered by MrTechGuy.co.uk Forums Thread Like Summary - Adding subwoofer(s) to G61R SL

I have never ever had subwoofers in my audio.
I'm mostly listening to music on 2 or 3 channels, occasionally movies.
Manuals say two SWs needed for music listening. And the G61R can connect two, even another one, when only one used.
Anyways, is it a thing to put SWs along with the DSP7200s? Probably the answer will be, depends what subwoofer.
But budget is low for this experiment.
Any advice or even recommendations for particular budget friendly solutions?
Thank you.

I've been using one sub for years for music and movies. More would be ideal but i've never had the space for more.

My use case is infrasonic reproduction, currently it's about 0dB at 12hz, that's the point it starts to roll off.
So if you care about those ultra low frequencies, which do occasionally come up in the music I listen to (and create for that matter), and often are present in movies, absolutely add a capable sub to your speakers.

I paid about £800 for my 15" sealed sub secondhand and then another £300 or so for a 3kw Behringer power amp. I wouldn't play music or movies without it.

Another nice thing a sub does, even at "normal" bass frequencies, is relieve the main speaker woofers of those frequencies. At higher volumes, it's possible to hear the modulation of a low bass note in the vocals. The sub removes that colouration.

It’s not an easy to answer question. It depends on a lot of factors and personal preferences.

The 7200’s are able to give deep nicely defined bass if they are placed correctly in the room. Adding a subwoofer can help or harm that bass.

That depends on placement, loudness, delay/timing, phase, crossover frequency.

My personal preference with stereo is letting the sub extend the missing bass response but I never found a single sub and adjustment that didn't harm the bass clarity in my room. But adding a subwoofer adds more flexibility with combating room modes as mentioned by Nemesis.

Reading the white papers written by Harman Kardon on multiple subs made me want to experiment.
The results with four secondhand and very cheap active sony 6"subwoofers where convincing enough to invest in my current subwoofer setup which still isn't that expensive. Having multiple subs placed on the right spots produces even pressure around the room and gets rid of most of the room modes.
Those subs can be a lot smaller than 1 single subwoofer.

I have a very small room with 4 small 10" diy subwoofers measuring 12 x 12 x 6" with dsp to compensate for the much to small enclosures.

They are easy to hide so there is only one that's visible. It sounds amazingly clean and defined in a way that no normal single subwoofer can ever produce.

It can create the illusion that two small monitor speakers produce the full frequency range of a church organ.

I have added a DSW to my DSP7200SE's and found it made a positive impact.

However, it is not only adding extension to the DSP7200, it is more getting a better grip on room interaction. I use two different placements in my room, in one set up I have a massive 8dB dip in the bass 40Hz region.

Adding the DSW solved this because I could move it around, reaching a flatter response. In the other orientation (speakers firing in the other direction of the room) the bass from the DSP7200 was good, but even then adding the DSW improved it a bit.
You dial it in so you think you cannot hear it until you switch it off. In music mode it adds a little space and impact.

I never used the sub1 setting of the DSP7200 though and would have preferred I could set the sub independent of the speakers. I set my mains to "free" in the speakers and set the DSW to sub1.