To sub or not to sub

I am soliciting opinions as to the need for a seperate sub in my present system:
950/770
with 3 Def Tech 2300 C/L/R's across the front.(I have Def Tech surrounds too) Each has an 8' powered sub (150w each)and I run them with the LFE inputs for each from the LFE on the 950. They are set to large and bass management is on at the 950. (I run seperate DVD-A and SACD players.
Question is??? what do you think I am losing or put the other way, would gain from a seperate sub in this array.
By the way, the sub response sounds pretty darn good as you might expect from 3 subs across the front...but not until I wired them using the LFE inputs.
Finally if I did get the sub...would you still then wire them all for LFE out of the 950? End result 4 powered subs. (I might need to add seat belts to the sofa huh?)

If the powered subs are connected to the 950's LFE output, I'd set the speakers to small and the sub to on -- that way the subs will get the LFE track and the low frequency material from the speakers. Before you add a dedicated sub, you might experiment with that. You will need to play with the crossovers a bit to find a good spot, as I don't know what the frequency response is for the 2300's.

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gonk -- Saloon Links | Pre/Pro Comparison Chart | 950 Review

thanks Gonk for the opine
Def Tech suggests that when wiring this way to set speakers to large and yes to subwoof. I've listened to it both ways (but not with all types of input) and don't find a lot of difference. I'll try a few more types of sound and see if I can notice much. The Freq resp for these guys is 22Hz -30kHz I now set the crossover at 60

arica9:

I would still add one dedicated sub for movies. You know, those chest pounding thump and floor shaking rumbles… If you do, make sure it’s a nice one like Adire Audio’s Shiva, Tempest or Tumult. Depends on the enclosure, those drivers can easily hit below 20Hz which will be noticeably different from your current speakers with 8” built in sub. It will be like comparing Outlaw’s 950 and multi channel HT amp (770 in your case) vs. a dedicated stereo pre and amp for 2 channel music listening. Outlaw system is good for stereo sound as well but will not be fair to compare it against a dedicated stereo system.


[This message has been edited by Spiker (edited February 11, 2004).]

i think a separate sub (more than an 8in) would be a big improvement. i have never heard anything out of any powered tower that really blew me away. if you did get a separate sub i would dedicate it only for lfe, then i would set any front speaker with a powered sub to large and feed it its bass through the pre-out for that channel which would have to be split (to power amp and to speaker). if you think that 3 8's 150wts each is the best bass you can get, then perhaps you need to audition some good subs. i have used a lot of setups in my hts, and i really prefer the setup mentioned above, although my current setup is slightly different, being that i have seperate subs for every speaker (seeing as they are not powered towers). my settings above could be tinkered with (i.e. large in relation to crossover adjustments may need to be different, meaning if you could crossover really low then you could set the speakers to small still... i dont know what the 950 has..)