Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Technical Questions When plotting frequency Response....?

I have to respectfully disagree. When a sound appears in the middle of a stereo soundscape it is not "in both channels" but is "divided between the channels" so the result is what appears to be a sound source physically located in the middle at the proper volume.

If you pan that instrument/voice to one side or the other you get more signal on one side and less signal on the other. Put differently, a bass signal in the middle is already taken down 3dB on each channel during the mix so the result is at the right volume.

Your sound reproduction system is expected to have a flat response across all frequencies, not to treat bass signals (or anything in the center) differently.

Same thing when you add a sub -- the sub isn't supposed to give you "more bass than flat", your system just tries to route signals to speakers which can accurately reproduce them. At the crossover frequency for the sub both main and sub signals should be down 3dB so the result is the same as if you just had a super-full-range speaker.

Some people leave their mains set to "large" AND route the same signal to their sub which gives them some EXTRA bass between the sub crossover signal and the mains rolloff but that is not "flat response" that's "their personal preference".