Should I bother to try a subwoofer?

So...I am auditioning an old REL Q150E over the weekend. It's and interesting process if I don't get to manic about it. Lots of knob twisting and changing of music. I'm honestly not sure I like what I hear all of the time. It seems I keep lowering the sub volume and the crossover frequency. Pretty soon I may have eliminated the sub altogether!

It's a side-firing speaker and I found it to sound very directional in spite of what everyone says. I turned it backwards in the corner and that made a huge difference--night and day, really.

More later. Thanks to everyone who has offered their two cents worth.

Tostado,

Audioquest provides an excellent idea. The Velo SMS-1 sub controller will help you get the set up right. It's a 180 degree difference from set-up by ear.

The cost is +/- $400, in-home money back trial period. If you decide against a sub - return the SMS-1. IME, it's a mistake to try to judge your subwoofer set up 'til you've used a tool like the SMS-1.

Marty

I'm sure the Velo electronic setup is great, but it's a bit of a budget-buster for me.
I've spent parts of three days listening and tweaking and am happy enough with it that I decided to take the plunge and buy the REL. I'm sure I'll continue to make adjustments hear and there, but overall it's been educational and fun, if perplexing at times. Bottom line is, it's a significant overall improvement and I'm a born-again audio freak. I'm digging up a lot of material I haven't heard in ages, and it's never sounded so good. Maybe I'll upgrade the CD player down the line, but for now this is really satisfying.

Yes. If you can flip it for minimal loss, why not?. I was very happy with my aerial 7b's but decided to try a sub to get a bit more bottom end. below 50 is all I wanted bumped up a notch.

Went with a dd12 and took the time to set it up right (many hours). Ended up running full range to the 7b's and cut off the dd12's at 48. Have the volume set at only 14, on a scale of 99. Like I said.....just a tiny bump up, but it yielded incredible improvement imho. The aerials are still doing their full range thing with the dd12 offering a tiny kick way down low. was really surprised by how much I liked the addition. The key of course is the set-up part.

Don't be scared =)........give it a go man!

Cheers

Yes, do bother. Just don't get crazy with the volume. You don't want to know it's there when on, but miss it when it is off. And don't be afraid to move it around the room a bit for optimal sound.