Two subs in a small room....

It's probably useful to think of "woofers" rather than subwoofers. Some subs aren't really subs at all, in the literal sense. (See the thinline models from NHT with response to 38hz). Remember that bass issues are pretty severe below 150hz in most rooms. Good monitors, together with a pair of (so called sub) woofers placed flush against the walls, will probably help mitigate these issues - versus floorstanders which place their woofers out away from the walls. Note that the bass response in such a monitor/"sub" system will be smoother, even if it isn't particularly deep.

Good Luck

Marty

BTW, as to placement:

The whole idea of 2 subs is to have each sub excite the room differently. This usually (not always) means asymmetrical or "random" placement. One key is to keep the subs close to the nearest wall (or walls, corners sometimes work well)so that there is less cancellation of the original bass wave from the sub with the reflection of that wave off the walls. These cancellations - and accompanying reinforcements - cause significant irregularity in bass response below 150-200hz from most speakers. Unless your room is large enough - speakers >15ft from the nearest wall - to behave like an anechoic chamber, you are unlikely to get the smooth response you see in that speaker's anechoic FR test. This is no reflection on the speaker, just an illustration that deep bass should be generated near the walls in "normal" listening rooms.

With due rerspect to Vandermeulen, with the exception of digital room corrected speakers, I have never seen accurate (as measured) bass response from a freestanding speaker that can approach that from a correctly implemented subwoofer systems.

And note: I have measured the bass response of my systems for years.

Marty

To incorporate Duke's and Bob's comments into my previous post.

1) An optimallly placed single sub together with a bass restricted main speaker will usually produce smoother bass than a full range speaker that has been placed for best overall performance. (The best spot for bass generation is usually different than the best spot for generating mids/highs.)

2) Optimally placed multiple subs usually allow smoother response than an optimally placed single sub.

3) Room EQ can achieve smooth bass response with freestanding speakers or with subs. If you don't want to EQ your main speaker's signal (that would be audiophile heresy!), think about room EQ for one or more subs.

Personally, I use 2 asymmetrically placed subs and the Velodyne SMS that Bob mentioned for bass EQ. My main signal path is interrupted only by an NHT active x-over (that I can't identify in blind A/B tests) which feeds my main amps and the SMS, which is turn EQs and feeds the subs. I get outstanding results - both measured and perceived.

I'd also add that the SMS has a built-in room analyzer that makes optimal placement of the subwoofers a hell of a lot easier. The SMS includes an active x-over, can control up to 3 subs and costs app $450. IMHO, it represents great value. I'm not crazy about the unit's built-in, basic (digital) high pass filter, so I added the NHT x-2 active x-over @ app $300. So the total budget for my sub control set-up is $750 plus the cost of sub(s).

You can either buy cheaper subs and apply the savings to fund the SMS and/or X-2 or you can always start with sub(s) and add these control unit(s) later, as budget permits.

Either way, I believe that you'd be going down a good road.

Good Luck

Marty

If you want really deep bass from your subs, JL makes a great product, albeit at a premium price. SVS appears (from test results, not listening experience) to be a great value; a bigger, less attractive cabinet with very nearly the same performance as JL at a real discount.

From my own experience, Rythmik (in my system) might trade away a little bit of performance below 35hz, but works very, very well for music only systems, where full, clean output at these frequencies is rarely an issue.

If you're music only, I'd also think about the $300 NHT "lifestyle" woofer I mentioned. I have not heard them, but NHT usually makes a great product and I suspect that a pair of these small cabinet woofers might work well for music in a small room. Each unit combines 2 10" metal drivers and a 200w amp in a cabinet 6" deep. The primary quarter wave cancellation should be pretty benign when the front of the driver is that close to the wall. Even though you won't get true "sub- bass", this could be a really cost effective music solution in a room like yours.

Money back policy from Audio Advisor minimizes risk.

Good Luck

Marty