Hi,
I have several setups that do not use subs, and use full range tower speakers. And by full range, I'm saying they hit 30hz comfortably in the room. I'm not saying they go to 20hz with authority, they do not. But for my needs and 99% of the content that comes through them, 30hz and up is all they need to do. This is not a huge challenge for many tower speakers and they don't even have to be expensive to do it. So because of this, I do not use a sub (or subs) in several setups of mine through the house because not every room is a dedicated theater room or music room, but every single room with any sort of media access has a pair of speakers, stereo, at the very least, and I make sure they're full range from 30hz and up.
We watch plenty of movies, TV, shows, stream, etc, on a single stereo setup of full range speakers every day. My kids do not need a sub to watch their stuff. And I don't want to hear their sub when I'm listening to something in another room.
I'm very happy with and without subs. It depends on the setup and my content and purpose. For critical music and/or movie listening, I want subs. However, it also depends on the music greatly. Lots of music has no information below 30hz practically and so if you don't listen to music that is heavy with natural or synthetic sub bass, then you really don't need a sub for everything unless you just prefer it. Now, with movies, especially big titles, I want subs... lots of subs. I want them hot too.
The other day, someone pressed a button or two (kids...) and the AVR and towers on the living room TV stopped doing anything and so the TV speakers were playing. The kids and the wife were all asking what happened and why it sounds so thin and how they can't understand it and its muffled and just doesn't sound good anymore. Without knowing they've listened to full range speakers for
years now and without knowing it developed a taste for enjoying full range audio even in their every day TV content that you normally don't think of for audio quality purposes or just in general a rich full experience with. Needless to say they don't care if I have big tower speakers, they fit in the room much better than bookshelves (on stands, which can be knocked over too easily, wires dangling up high, etc), extend farther into bass than bookshelves, and don't have to have subs (even smaller subs take up important floor space) to get to 30hz nicely. So it's just way easier to incorporate full range audio into a room with two floor standers, than to use a sub with any other speaker combos. The exception would be taking two small subs and stacking the bookshelves or floor standing speakers on top of them in a fashion they cannot fall over or get knocked over to get a "true" full range that can go deeper than 30hz (depends on subs and room and placement obviously). But still, it's just way easier to place, deal with and listen to towers for all content. The moment you add a sub it puts more wires, more need on the source gear (unless you want to deal with high level inputs, etc), more foot print floor space soaked up, etc.
In non-dedicated rooms, towers rule.
Very best,
