Mule,
I totally agree with you. Excellent logic. You want the best sound from the receiver to the speakers without any bass management. The problem with today's surround receivers is that if you don't choose base management, it kills a large percentage of the output to the subwoofer. If you choose the best sound for your mains with bass management off, then there is almost no low frequency signal left to the sub. It amazes me the signal loss I get to the sub when I switch from LFE to LFE+Main. It also makes a tremendous difference when I switch the receivers crossover from 100Hz to 40Hz in total output to the sub (makes sense). I was listening to Time Warner's digital "smooth jazz" on channel 920 or something close to that in 2 channel mode. It sounds wonderful, but I couldn't get enough bass from my Polks with just the mains and sub when the input read LFE+Main, so I had to choose LFE only and select a 100Hz cutoff to get some bass back into the mix - then tune the subwoofer with the eq and db controls on the back of the sub. Now when I shut off the subwoofer altogether via the receiver, the sound is for the most part excellent, but in no way do I get the same bass effect I get with the powered sub turned on and using the LFE effect at 100Hz. I ended up using the sub with the two mains and LFE only at 100Hz. Took a lot of comparing, but I have it where I think it sounds best. It boils down to the Polk 7" dual woofers not being able to produce the bass I like for the music I listen to. They are wonderful for punchy, tight bass. Probably should have bought some higher end towers with larger woofers, but they just don't seem to come much larger than dual 8" anymore. In any event, the subwoofer makes up for it, and I'm happy sippin' my Blue Moon and slice of orange to endless digital music.
