Size does not always mean quality with speakers, though as you can see, the larger a speaker gets, the more it costs.

Aside from the obvious "potential" for greater bass, why is bigger better?

because most of us are in america,

Duh.

lol. i dont really understand you question. bigger isint always better. You need to understand that it costs more and alot more materials go into a big speaker than a small one. I know of some really big speakers that cost less that a hundred bucks. doesnt mean theyre good.

Your nickname and picture caught my eye today...

I'm sure I've seen your name before, but never made the connection until now...

The reason I'm writing is that I happen to own 2 volvo p1800's - you know - the "Saint Car." One is white as well, although i get tired of driving in a white P1800 - since they ALL seem to be that color!

As far as the speaker question - I think that the ONLY reason to go with a bigger speaker is to be able to push greater volume. If you are in a large room, you need big speakers... otherwise, small speakers and a sub seem to work great for people - look at all the people using m22's and a sub!

I have personally always preferred towers that can handle the bass w/o a sub - but the more I learn, I think it's just because I've never heard a properly set up subwoofer.

well... I hope that helped answer your question...

Thanks, I'm a huge "Saint" fan, the image you see I have tattoed on my back right shoulder.

I have M22TiSE and a EP-175 Sub. I suppose for pure musical listening, I'd ideally like a speaker than could handle the bass itself, as I hate trying to get the crossover and volume properly set up on a sub, not to mention proper placement.

For HT Sub is 100% neccesary in my opinion.

Wow.... a Saint tattoo! You are a fan!

I'm not a huge fan of the show... I love my cars, though... my next tattoo though is actually going to be in memory of my last car that met an untimely end - it was an MG... loved that car.

I've got M40's right now - and they give me plenty bass for music - that's all I use my speakers for. I may hook up some speakers to my TV eventually, and then I'll get a sub for sure - you're right, HT needs a sub - but for music... I'm fine with my M40's. - placement is a snap.

I also only listen to vinyl. I'll have to get a CD player sometime for the stuff I can't get on record... but the sound of CDs I find grating at times... and records don't have QUITE the bass response of Cds, but I find the bass much more natural - so a sub would be pretty much wasted on me at this point.


As an aside - a thread asking people to post their tattoos would be fun... I wonder how many there are...

I'm too young to have had a record collection.

I have recently ripped ALL my music (200+ CDs) onto my PC in non-lossy compression (Monkey's Audio). Took about 50 GB so you can see not nearly as small as MP3, but non-lossy = perfect quality.

I streem the music to my Harman Kardon receiver via a digital cable, so all the D/A conversion is done at the receiver level.

I listen with Grado SR-80s or my M22s w/sub.

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Yeah I collect all the Saint books, my dad did in the day, and I completed the collection in Hard Cover.

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I suppose for pure musical listening, I'd ideally like a speaker than could handle the bass itself, as I hate trying to get the crossover and volume properly set up on a sub, not to mention proper placement.

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Why??? The calibration and optimization of the subwoofer/main speakers is essentially a one-time hassle. Yes, it may take some time to find an optimal setting that really pleases your ears, but as long as you are equipped with the right tools (basically a test-tone CD/DVD and an SPL meter), the process is not too difficult, daunting or tedious. Once you get the right setting, you should not need to change it from music to music. Even with a full-range 2.0 setup, you still do need to optimize the speaker placement etc., which may well take the same amount of time and effort.