Originally Posted by
coherent_guy
I have found that a sub-woofer is not only useful simply in the reproduction of very low frequency musical tones. They can reproduce the ambient acoustic sound or feel of a room that may exist on a recording. For example, The Trinity Sessions by the Cowboy Junkies, which was recorded in the Church of the Holy Trinity in Toronto, Canada, with a Calrec Ambisonic microphone. When the song Mining For Gold begins, there is silence, yet you can hear and feel the venue, the space or the atmosphere within the church, almost a shuddering movement of air reaching up from the sub-sonic. The woofers are pumping away madly yet there are no instruments playing, and this is on a CD, not a record and turntables "woofer warble". The song is sung acapella by a woman so the sub is not reproducing voice or instruments. Turning off the sub removes the realism of the space that was captured on this recording. There are many recordings that have similarly captured this room acoustic sound or feel that I believe is only revealed with a good sub-woofer or other specialized low frequency speaker system. .