Subwoofer recommendation and wisdom

@bartsw 

I have a real life example where this simulation is wrong. Running two speakers full range in the front of the room + two subs in the back of the room will give you much larger and even coverage than simply using two subs. Four is better than two.

I don’t doubt you. My sub placement is constrained by room layout. The stereo is at one side of a great room. To put subs in the back, analogous to your situation, would require subs in the island of an open kitchen. Ain’t gonna happen. 
 

Given my constraints on the where to place the subs, simulations show that cutting the lows to the mains is actually helpful. This is why I said “The only way to know for sure is to place the subs in the real space” but simulations are useful until you can do so.

I will have the option to run my mains full range, and may in the end do so, but for now I need to take my best guesses as to where to put conduit. For that, I use simulations rather than intuition.

@soix ”Two subs are much better than one”

Just like two ears are so much better than one.

+1 Rythmik

Their sealed subwoofers are very good.  Although they are not talked about as much as REL and SVS, most of the reviewers like Nemopropoganda have reviewed them and all state that they are the best they have heard for clean and articulate bass.  I use them with Apogee Stage (quasi ribbon) speakers.

I have always used one subwoofer in my setup, for a variety of reasons. The sub that finally solved my standing waves issue and also integrated best with my main speakers was the Golden Ear SuperSub X. It retails for $1500 new. The larger model (SuperSub XXL) retails for $2,000. Audio Advisor and Crutchfield are retailers, and both have "buy it, try it" policies. I don't see any used ones on the market right now. 

While there are no user reviews on Audio Advisor, Crutchfield has 10 reviews of the SS - X and 14 reviews of the SS-XXL. Plus, there are some video reviews of it on YouTube. While this sub doesn't get mentioned much in these forums, I'd say it's at least worth a look. Best of luck in your search!

Welcome to the deep end, you may never go back.

You can definitely augment your extra low frequency presentation using just one -3dB rated subwoofer with one caveat. The subwoofer must be positioned within one of your rooms standing wave bass modes insuring proper room integration and allowing its full potential for speaker integration.

Since identically dimensioned rooms can have different mode locations it's imperative the very first step is to preform the subwoofer crawl to identify your rooms multiple mode locations. This will identify your rooms most ergonomically convenient subwoofer positions. Manufacture position diagrams are worthless and mathematically calculated positions do not include a rooms furnishings and treatments.

Using a repeatable low frequency cadence between 20-35Hz, found on line will make identifying your rooms standing wave much easier than a musical passage. Custom length interconnects from Blue Jeans or Monoprice Cable are economically sufficient for subwoofers. 

Once positioned proceed by using the subs available adjustments to integrate it with your speakers to your personal taste.

-6dB rated sub-bass woofers which are usually sold as 'subwoofers' are typically so rolled off as to not excite a rooms standing waves enough to identify the rooms modes. They can be located most anywhere at the expense of the delicate extra low frequency (not sledge hammer) content present on much of contemporary recordings. 

A quality subwoofer investment can be used with many future speaker replacements. Enjoy.