Are subwoofers necessary for a small gig?

[3notesAbar]

8O

 

[exxtreme]

It depends on what music is played. Size of place is also important. If a double bass can be heard from the back of the room, uh no i think u don't even need a PA to begin with, maybe just for the vocals.

Sub adds onto the spectrum where main speaker usually don't go down that low. Some speaker do go down that low (most line arrays do) but they don't do it very efficiently. Its not low that you talking about. Its the sub freq, which is range from 20 up to 150hz. Its that UMPH feeling. That thud feeling. Sub freq ain't hear but felt. If u think u must have have umph feeling, then yeah get one. I personally feel any PA system isn't complete without it. Unless it just used for speech....

 

[soft]

sub is good. help to reduce stress on the little main speakers. to experience sub woofers in action, can visit a any audio showroom and hear how a woofer helps to pump up the enjoyment. :lol:

 

[Colarndo]

No subs=no power in the sound. Harder to hear Bass and kick drum.
Haha.

 

[audiovox]

On the other hand, subs (when misused) can make your mix worse, contributing to muddiness and unintelligibility in vocals and acoustic instruments. For small acoustic gigs I'd doubt you'd need subs. As mentioned, it really depends on the genre of music you will be reinforcing.