Single vs. Dual Subs

The technical theory behind multiple subs stacks up and there’s a lot of support for it.

People I respect a lot like Toole propose this, but they often are talking about large rooms.

Conceptually this practice makes perfect sense to me. However in simulation, I just can’t get it to do much. So I’m unable to recommend it as much as I used to. If only I had the time energy and money to buy another 15" sub and shlepp it around my room. :)

I defer to those with more hands on experience than I.

Of course, you all know, the middle course here is bass traps plus EQ. The traps reduce the nulls and peaks, and the EQ takes care of what’s left.  Unlike multiple subs in a room, this is an approach which I have enough experience personally to recommend.  Of course, I'd never deny anyone the right to spend money, and I acknowledge my limitations in experience.

I agree with @mijostyn - my experience is that adding a second sub resulted in significantly better sound compared to using a single sub.  The designer of my speakers (Michael Kelly with Aerial) has commented about the benefit of multiple subs in the Aerial literature, in addition to saying more than two subs is even better.  As full disclosure, at the time I added the second sub I also switched from larger, (almost) full-range, bass reflex floor standing speakers to moderate sized, acoustic suspension, stand-mounted speakers.  The stand-mounted speakers are solid to about 40Hz and the subs roll in at that frequency.  The result is a vastly superior ability to tune the bass to the room, lessening of nodes, absence of boominess, more power/drive in the low frequencies, and greater clarity up through the midrange.  Both sets of main speakers utilize the same midrange and high frequency drivers so the only difference is in how they handle the bass.  It is a bonus that the subs have their own remote control, making it easy to dial the bass volume up or down to sound best with specific musical content.

For two channel stereo the best to the worse is: A pair of woofer towers, a pair of front firing subs, a pair of down firing subs, a single front facing sub, one down firing sub.

I would say that with dual subs you can have stereo bass if you mount them in the same plane as the main speakers if you use a single sub you need one with a blend circuit and again mount it in the same plane as the speakers both types work well for music but finding a good single sub with a proper musical sound is more difficult. Same plane is no more than two feet forward or back from the main speaker baffles.

Thank you all for sharing your experiences, seems like a majority of people have seen great benefits going with two instead of one. I will go for two for my 16x23 room and report back.