Why more companies don't build in powered subwoofers

You'd imagine a built in subwoofer would be an obvious choice but…

[net_news]

Being able to move around the subwoofers is a must!! Very rarely the best place for the subs in your room is right below the speakers!!

[rodm]

Did that when I built my open baffles, now percussion instruments actually have percussion. Very tidy and no complaints.

[robertfiorellino]

My Goldenear Triton 3+ have them and they sound great. Placement took a while but when done the speakers disappeared.

[BradfordWarner]

I struggled with achieving the bass depth and control until moving to the JL Audio Fathom series with its room correction capabilities. Now with two units working in tandem it's amazing.

[cesarjlisboa]

Loudspeakers placement and tuneup, is the must have, and the most important process in a listening room.
It’s like the cooking process: The ingredients it’s important, but the chefs and the cooking process are the responsible for the final flavors of the dinner.

[larryhoffman]

I have an old set of Mirage speakers: frx-9, that have side firing powered subs. They still sound quite good, even after many years.

[killacallahan]

VANDERSTEEN speakers has a built-in sub with a unique room correction technique

[betrthanren]

Phase Tech or Phase Technology made a pair of speakers called the PC-500s which had 12” powered subwoofers. This was my first set of real Hi-Fi speakers and they were amazing. I sold them to a friend who used them in a surround sound setup and they just sang! Fun fact, Phase Tech made McIntosh’s first speakers in the 70’s the ML1.

[jamiesmith]

Paradigm 120H and persona 9H both outstanding speakers and have the built in 1000 watt amp for the bass drivers

[googoo-gjoob]

yes, Sandy did in all three of his companies... Polk Audio, Definitive Technologies & Golden Ear.

[GrPassionMusic]

Old 70's National Panasonics with separate speaker boxes also had a woofer, a mid-range and a tweeter, all 3 in one box each, for left and right channels, which they called "speaker systems".

[martinlindberg]

I am with you fully on this one. I have the same experience... IF you care about sound stage depth, height and are after that fascinating and immersive HiFi experience you cannot have the main speakers near the walls OR have your listening position against the back wall. The trade off is that you will lose bass and need to experiment with one or two subwoofers... These subs can be closer to the walls to get back low frequency performance, often due to wall reinforcement. They can sometimes be placed behind you to tame the phase/time issue or perhaps to tame room modes, but that will depend on the room acoustics. If done right - be prepared for a new experience :)

[onepieceatatime]

Why don't all rooms come with a dedicated powered subwoofer is my question...

[georgekost]

Curious that Paul doesn't seem to remember that his own work (along with Arnie) produced several speakers with integral subwoofers at Genesis. (e.g. the APM-1... which is still working well in my home theater)

[jkbunnell]

GoldenEar T66 has powered subwoofers. Considering getting a pair.

[SuperMcgenius]

Vandersteen has been doing it for years with a 11 band eq for the bass. You can still add a sub if you want.

[IliyaOsnovikov]

Harman used to build Infinity speakers with active subwoofers. Many of them had R.A.B.O.S. room equalization option.

[edwardlai]

Klipsch had one way back 1998, a floor standing speaker with power sub. Basically for Surround sound set up.

[audiorick]

Avantgarde Duo does it. Hybrid with passive mid-high and active sub with DSP.

[medonkrs]

Paradigm 120(h?) is passive mid abd tweeter, active for bass drivers.