Yet, I am told you cannot hear the localization of lower frequencies, yet that it is best to have the M80's over Satelites because it give better bottom from the mains up front and fills the room.
I think you’ve been confused by the way things are being said. It is generally correct that in a room the direction of frequencies below about 80 Hz are difficult to discern becoming increasingly more difficult the lower the frequency, the farther from the source and the smaller the room. When people like me say that the M80s give you more “midbass” punch we’re talking about mostly the 50 Hz to 80 Hz range not the bottom end or below 50 or 40 Hz going down to slightly below 20 Hz.
While you still can’t hear the direction the midbass is coming from you can often feel it just like in the real world outside you can feel the direction an explosion comes from. I say often because it’s very dependent on the room size and shape and the seating distance from the source. Again generally the closer you are to the source of the midbass the more you feel the directionality. This is why HSU’s midbass modules are designed to be placed near the listener. So in reality the “ideal” system would have monitors for the mids and highs placed for best sound field, midbass modules placed near the listener for midbass punch and subwoofers placed for best bass response.
While I agree with John’s statement that sound is sound and that no artificial distinction should be made between music or movies I find in reality that isn’t always true because much of the action in movies overemphasizes the midbass frequencies even when you expect that the sound associated with the on-screen action should be a much lower frequency. I surmise this is partly because the movies being mastered for the average person are not expected to have a very good subwoofer so the keep them up above 40 Hz where they can actually be reproduced by someone’s home theater in a box. Also that many people associate punch with bass rather than the rumble you feel from truly deep bass which my Buttkicker tells me is not as prevalent as most people (waterfall graphs aside) would like to think. In most movies I have to turn the crossover on my Buttkicker up to 55 Hz or higher to get anything out of it at all even in movie scenes where there are earthquakes and other action that should shake and not punch.
