I have no trouble getting a good, solid bass response from my system with one or two bins. They don't have a separate vol control, but the overal bass pot on the remote adds just the right freq for my taste.

The issue of crowds in front of you has not come up for me yet. Even in tight situations, the height seems to carry the sound where it needs to go. I suppose if the conditions were horrid - a pole mounted speaker WAY above the heads of the corwd COULD carry better, but I'd need to see it in each situation to verify that. So far .... my big mouth is amplified in every corner of every room I go to........... not sure if that's good or bad (kidding, of course)