I agree Unsound, Viridian did bring up a VERY good point. The fact that the mass majority of powered subs that are out there are not properly calibrated in terms of crossover frequency does not help any either. Most all subs are actually crossing over at a higher frequency than what the controls state. Top that off with most of them having a less than "ultra-steep" crossover slope and you have a LOT of "blending" between the sub and the woofers. Too much in most cases. That is why so many people have a hard time trying to get a good blend between the mains and the subs.
As i mentioned earlier though, downloading will help to reduce the amount of apparent upper bass output. This has to do with the "tuning" of the space between the driver / baffle board and the flooring underneath it. This type of system has a narrow band of efficiency with everything else acoustically sloping off outside of that band. By playing with the distance of the driver from the floor, one can alter the loading / coupling of the driver via the pressure front and "fine tune" the bandpass that you want highlighted most. This also changes the "Q" of the speaker system, which will affect the low frequency extension, output and transient response of the sub. If you are looking for anything BUT the lowest bass though, downloaded designs do not have as much apparent "attack" and / or defintion due to the lack of upper harmonic structure. As such, they do not work well when being used as a woofer and are best suited for sub-woofer only use. Sean
>
