Do I need a subwoofer?

[Groundbeef]

I am needing some help setting up my home theater. I currently am running a very old Marantz amplifier, and am going to be in the market for new shortly. I am going to pick up some rear speakers to mount off the ceiling, and I will also be needing a center channel for the front. The subwoofer is the question of the day however. My current front speakers are Marantz SP1515, 165 watts, 15" woofers. I like them and they produce plenty of bass. How do I hook them up to my new reciever so that they produce the correct sound. Do I hook them up to the Subwoofer feed? I must confess I havent looked for new equipment in a while. Any help will be appreciated.

[noddin0ff]

A new AV receiver will have menu options to tell it how to direct the Low Frequency Effects. Typically you tell it your Mains are 'Large' and the full frequency range is sent to them (or any other speaker specified as Large. If they are set to 'small' then then there is a frequency cut off and the LFE goes to the subwoofer out, if you tell it you have a subwoofer.

[Sir Terrence the Terrible]

I am needing some help setting up my home theater. I currently am running a very old Marantz amplifier, and am going to be in the market for new shortly. I am going to pick up some rear speakers to mount off the ceiling, and I will also be needing a center channel for the front. The subwoofer is the question of the day however. My current front speakers are Marantz SP1515, 165 watts, 15" woofers. I like them and they produce plenty of bass. How do I hook them up to my new reciever so that they produce the correct sound. Do I hook them up to the Subwoofer feed? I must confess I havent looked for new equipment in a while. Any help will be appreciated.

Whether you NEED a sub or not depends highly on how much clean bass you desire. You mains have very large woofers, but that is no guarantee that they will reproduce the first octave cleanly. I would say to try your system without if first, and decide from there if you need to purchase one. I have two built in 15" subs in my mains and I didn't think adding a sub to handle the LFE was necessary. I was wrong. Once I relieved my mains of the LFE channel(they still handle the bass in their respective channels) I immediately noticed the midrange open up completely.

Adding a sub moves the bass where it is the flattest and loudest, near room boundaries. It also relieves stress on the main channels amps and lower distortion in those channels. The most noticeable characteristic, the midrange opens up and becomes more clear.

[kexodusc]

Sir T said, you really relieve the woofer of alot of excursion duties...this can mean a much faster and tighter sound as the woofers no longer have to move as far to produce frequencies. Faster start and stop timing. Less distortion and a more accurate playback. You'll also get more power handling out of your speakers before they do start to distort.

Not a bad thing at all IMO.