Six months ago I would have completely agreed with David but my visit to hear the Wilson Wamms provided an insight into the music that i did not think was possible. The subwoofers that operate with The Master Chronosonic System use a high pass on the order of 23hz and go down to 10hz. We listened to blues, jazz, voice and orchestral music during the demonstration. There were no pipe organs or 1812 cannons. The vast majority of the music we heard had absolutely no musically audible sound below 23hz-theoretically. The kind people at Wilson made the point that one could save more than 100k if the system is purchased without the dual subs. Via a single flip of the switch while listening they could disable the subs. During the factory tour we were able to hold the 12 inch triple drivers that constitute each sub. They were so heavy that 2 people stood at the ready in case I dropped the driver. The actual cone material is very light and the box is big(675lbs) so i don't think 6,000 watts are necessary to get down to 10hz. The satellites themselves are flat to 20hz. The Wilson folks are quick to mention that their previous best effort at ultralow frequency, the Thor isn't even in the same ballpark as this monster-musically that is. Long story long, no matter what music we were listening to, turning on the subs created a vast and surround like soundstage. There was no sense of hearing deeper bass but the most striking sensation was how utterly real the music sounded on some recordings. My eyes were closed before they played a Kodo drum set. I opened them immediately because i would have sworn they snuck the drummers in. So bizarrely startling that I almost fell out of my chair and it was a deep chair. My very first experience in many years of hearing audio systems that I legitimately could not distinguish the recording from the real thing. Normally its obvious just walking down the hall if real musicians are in the building. With the subs off this effect completely disappeared and the system became merely a competent reproducer of music. This super real effect was not always present but no matter what music we listened to it was massively augmented by these subsonic sound giants. Even blues guitar which I would think could not possibly have any frequency anywhere near 10hz just sounded more real. The Wamms aren't perfect. For example, I think my own horns sound more realistic on horns. Full scale orchestral music sounded like two speakers struggling to reproduce, well, an entire orchestra.
Since this experience, I have been on a mission to find a pair of subs that plumb the depth without the 6 figure price. It could simply be that Wilson's subs are unique but my search revealed something I had noticed years ago but not heard much since. The Thigpen Rotary Subwoofer. They claim robust output all the way down to 7hz with 110db output. They have slightly lower output at 1hz. I have not heard them but what caught my attention on their website was that they were hearing things in recordings that no one knew existed because there never has been a subsonic driver that went down to 1hz.
Getting back to the thread, I viscerally understand why so much expense and technology would go into a speaker that can go very deep-even though no music supposedly exists there. Using a 21 inch driver with an alloy cone is diametrically opposed to Wilsons approach utilizing a super light cone(I know alloys can be light but 21 inches?) and only 12inch drivers to allow the speed necessary for realism. To Ron's question about a showdown, I heard an REL stack recently. It did provide a lot of ambiance however it sounded muddy and sloppy in comparison to the Wilson. I hope someone in WBF has an opportunity to hear this sub and report back.