The more, the better. Regardless of room size. My impression is most of the problems people associate with getting good bass in a smaller room is due more to their old-school thinking than anything else. I mean if you think the answer is one big sub then you put that in your little room and sure enough you get one big problem with one big mode. But if instead you put 4 subs in there, well then you get 4 smaller modes and therefore much smoother, which equates to faster more articulate, bass.
There even was a guy on another thread asking how should he try running his 4 full range speakers. I suggested using two of them in corners as make-shift subs. It worked! Which is not to say the quality of the sub doesn't matter, just that having more helps a lot even if they aren't the best subs.
So I would go for 4 but not let that stop me from trying 3.
My experience has me convinced that another outmoded or unfounded view is this idea of integration. Not saying the subs don't need to be adjusted for smooth frequency response. Not saying that at all. But when people talk about integrating I never get the impression that frequency is all they're talking about. There always seems to be the underlying assumption there is timing to consider, as if the subs need to be equidistant the way the stereo pair do. Or that they need to be voiced the same, or have the same response characteristics (my electrostatic speakers are hella fast, so only hella fast subs yada yada) all of which I think is unfounded, unsupported, indeed in many cases totally disproven by actual research. Let alone practical experience.
So yeah, no problem getting whatever you want- Morel, more Hsu, more whatever- to work well with whatever you have. Which is better comes down to your personal preference as to what will fit, where it will go, and what it will cost. On that score the main thing to keep in mind is the more you have the less sensitive they become in terms of placement. With one or two you struggle to get smooth response. With 4 it becomes easy, just spread them around asymmetrically. Sure some locations are better than others its just nowhere near as critical as with only one.
As far as which one to do, the advantage of the Dayton setup is the amp has a really nice combination of crossover, level, boost and single band EQ. But at the disadvantage of space for the amp, and limiting your two (or more) subs to the same setup. With individually powered subs you might lose a little EQ control but you gain a lot by being able to set level and everything else individually. That can come in real handy especially in a small room. You may for example find one little spot of low end bass hard to fill when setting levels for two or more subs that you could easily cover with just one sub set to get just that one little band.
There even was a guy on another thread asking how should he try running his 4 full range speakers. I suggested using two of them in corners as make-shift subs. It worked! Which is not to say the quality of the sub doesn't matter, just that having more helps a lot even if they aren't the best subs.
So I would go for 4 but not let that stop me from trying 3.
My experience has me convinced that another outmoded or unfounded view is this idea of integration. Not saying the subs don't need to be adjusted for smooth frequency response. Not saying that at all. But when people talk about integrating I never get the impression that frequency is all they're talking about. There always seems to be the underlying assumption there is timing to consider, as if the subs need to be equidistant the way the stereo pair do. Or that they need to be voiced the same, or have the same response characteristics (my electrostatic speakers are hella fast, so only hella fast subs yada yada) all of which I think is unfounded, unsupported, indeed in many cases totally disproven by actual research. Let alone practical experience.
So yeah, no problem getting whatever you want- Morel, more Hsu, more whatever- to work well with whatever you have. Which is better comes down to your personal preference as to what will fit, where it will go, and what it will cost. On that score the main thing to keep in mind is the more you have the less sensitive they become in terms of placement. With one or two you struggle to get smooth response. With 4 it becomes easy, just spread them around asymmetrically. Sure some locations are better than others its just nowhere near as critical as with only one.
As far as which one to do, the advantage of the Dayton setup is the amp has a really nice combination of crossover, level, boost and single band EQ. But at the disadvantage of space for the amp, and limiting your two (or more) subs to the same setup. With individually powered subs you might lose a little EQ control but you gain a lot by being able to set level and everything else individually. That can come in real handy especially in a small room. You may for example find one little spot of low end bass hard to fill when setting levels for two or more subs that you could easily cover with just one sub set to get just that one little band.