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wrote:

I have heard a lot of sub/satellite systems and some are quite good, I
think, but the mid-to-low bass never seems to be as realistic (the
lowest bass registers are fine) in terms of where the instruments
'appear' to be located. I guess in the Holt vocabulary this is part of
"soundstage". On a lot of material it doesn't matter, but on those
relatively few stereo discs where you had true stereo room recording
and instruments in physical space together, the sub/sat systems present
the material with as much or more detail but without the audible image
in that register.

Correct. This is because the room is large enough to where the
lower frequency sounds coming from the subwoofer are still directional.
The only way to get around this is to lower the sub's crossover point
and get speakers with 6-8 inch woofers in it that can at least go
down to 40-50hz. In a small room, 50-80hz is likely where the sound
stops being directional, so satellite systems manage to get by
a bit better.