subwoofer crossover- lowest is best almost always?


In my experiences with subwoofers, I have found that lowest setting has always given me the least colored bass response as well as the tightest.  I have found in almost all cases that anything remotely close to crossing over at the speaker frequency seems to overblow the bass almost every time and have a negative effect on the overall sound most noticible with digital.  It seems that any other setting is just trying to compensate resulting in sound that does not sound right. Albeit some may think that systems that do not crank the subwoofer as being thin sounding. Well, I think that depends ultimately on placement and setup of speakers and sub.  Just curious to what others think.
tzh21y
I used subwoofers for many years but could never completely eradicate occasional room node or crossover aberrations. As also noted by wolf_garcia, different recordings also contain quite wide variances in bass levels which can be extremely annoying. I do not want to constantly adjust settings on the subs to be able to enjoy music.

Several years ago when I heard a friends system using a DEQX processor & two subs I could not believe, firstly the clarity of the overall music, but mostly the absolute slam and transparency of the bass and no sense of room nodes or crossover point. I had heard nothing like it before.

I added DEQX to my setup early 2012 and, likewise I now have no issues whatsoever with twin sub bass integration. I have also created four configurations, selectable by remote, with 2-3 my ’normal’ listening setup and 1 for bass light music, 4 for bass heavy. In that way I can choose the appropriate setting and whatever type of music is played, bass is as near perfect as I could ever want.
Nah, you just didn’t place the speaker/sub correctly. It’s very hard to do. On some odd rooms it can be  impossible.

Also, make sure you have bass management, and AVR or processor is really what you need, something like Dirac.
Actually, I do know how to set up a system and from my experiences, anything above 30 hz and systems start to sound more like a pa system.  The most important part for me in setting up a system is main speaker placement.  Then, where do I have my components.  Sticking a huge subwoofer in an area close to my other components causes problems.  Ideally, they would be on a side wall but that is a luxury in my view.  Subwoofers are made to reproduce low frequencies, not be a midrange.  If my speakers only go down to 50 hz, I cannot expect miracles.  I will never get the soundof a true full range speaker, but their are compromises there two. Most full range speakers are rather large objects so they need a larger room.  Speakers that go down to only 50 hertz are not made for a large room.  So a sub crossover set at under 30 hertz should give you more than enough low end and integrate fairly well with main speakers down to 50 or 55 hz.  
Actually, I forgot about room acoustics, that is probably the most important part of good sound