Did you read my earlier post about thinking my new, bigger subs were quieter? It was because the distortion I had not noticed before was gone and everything had more clarity and was cleaner sounding.
This is an important distinction. I’ve experienced this too. More telling is that I used the same sub with two different AVRs. Not that the old Onkyo HTIB Sub is “
Quality,” but it works. When I connected it to my Marantz AVR, it received a cleaner signal than it ever had before... distortion levels dropped like an ACME Safe on the Coyote’s head! I was able to run it hotter... and cleaner than ever before.
Things like cabinet doors rattling, or other secondary noises went away!!!
Now, I then experienced the difference of replacing that sub with actual good quality subwoofers on the same Marantz AVR, and the change was just as astounding.
Moral of the story... good quality bass is amazing. Distortion is what sounds loud. It sounds boomy. The signal is part of it, but the bigger part is how the speaker itself reproduces it.