Small or large sub for music

Room modes cease below the frequency where the bass wave is twice the length of the longest room dimension. For 18 feet this is 31hz. Smaller rooms, it is higher.

Subwoofer size has nothing to do with how boomy, fast, or slow it sounds. That is a function of qtc and group delay.

The largest effect on how a sub sounds is placement and the room. Room treatments help with ringing, dsp with frequency response at the listening position.

I ran velodyne subs for 25 years. F1000, ULD-12s in stereo, HGS-10, HGS-12. I have moved on to Rythmik. A L12 in my office and F15hp in my main system. The L12 is the equivilant of an HGS, the F series takes the HGS and wipes the floor. It is like a layer of crud cleaned off, nearly dry sounding, articulate, deep, and much higher output capability. It is a great step forward and well worth the upgrade. A pair is recommended to minimize room modes, the f12 probably being more than sufficient.

Two quibbles:

1 - Room modes ARE ringing
2 - Once bass traps are in place, DSP helps with ringing and nulls. .

Not going to argue this, plenty of professional acoustics literature out there. The bass traps help de-energize the rninging, and make DSP’s possible. You can even clean up nulls this way.

The combination of sub placement, room acoustics and DSP all contribute. Well done, they are lightning fast and completely organic sounding, and bigger = better.

However, poorly done, limited placement, no bass traps, no EQ, a small sub may often sound better.

Best,

Erik

I also have a pair of LS 50s that I have set up in a small unused bedroom. I'm using a JL Audio Dominion 108D sub that is down -1.5dB at 31 Hz. I added a second identical sub but found that it overpowered my small listening room and ended up returning it. I'm very pleased with the balance and speed of this single smaller sub.

I have a Zu Audio Undertone sub
it is a sealed sub, large, about 70 lbs, runs cool due to Class D, goes down to 14hz. They use the Hypex switching modules and a large 12 inch cone from Eminence (Kentucky). 

I run it with a pair of Zu bookshelves or with Dynaudio floorstanders. 
The main reason I like it is bc it is so effortless and powerful, so that the LFE integration is totally seemless. 

Hello dbphd,

Your username is familiar to me from other threads so please disregard if I’ve given this advice to you previously.

I’ve learned through research and personal experience that great bass response for both ht and music can be attained in any room by using a distributed bass array system of 4 subs that are placed not haphazardly or conveniently but positioned in a more strategic and progressive process which I can elaborate on if you’re interested.
I utilize a complete all in one DBA system called the Audio Kinesis Debra system that I bought a few years ago for about #3,000. I think both the AK Swarm and Debra systems are still at about $3K with a choice of finishes. However, any 4 subs can be used to create a distributed bass array system with similar results. The only caveat being a need for the room space to accommodate either your 4, or the somewhat smaller Audio kinesis, subs in your room.
The key is having 4 subs which almost magically reduces room bass standing waves that results in less room bass nodes in virtually any room if they are located properly. It’s actually based on scientific research done by several PHD acoustical engineers, Dr. Floyd Geddes and Dr. Floyd O’toole and others,
I started a couple of threads on these bass systems. Here’s the latest one that you may want to read for further info:
https://forum.audiogon.com/discussions/anyone-else-using-an-audio-kinesis-swarm-or-debra-distributed...
The beauty of deploying a DBA system is you obtain excellent bass response throughout the entire room without the need for any room treatments, equalization or room correction hardware or software.
The Audio Kinesis Swarm system(almost identical to the Debra system) was also reviewed by The Absolute Sound a few years ago. Here’s a link to that review:

www.theabsolutesound.com/articles/audiokinesis-swarm-subwoofer-system/

I can verify that their review is completely accurate to the results I’ve achieved in my system and room.
I have absolutely no connections with Audio Kinesis. I’m just a very satisfied customer
Tim