Audiot -
Thanks much and luckily for me you've auditioned the very equipment I'm looking for.
Would you mind expanding on 'wasn't nearly as good on music' regarding the two subs? And the 'at least as well . . for video'? Yes, music is extremely important, but frankly so is video and the ability to feel the sub pressurizing the room. Would you comment on that difference between the 16" SVS and 13" JL? What are the sound differences? You'll see earlier in the thread that I'm working with 8,000 CF. I certainly don't expect the accuracy you'll achieve using room treatments, etc. but I want to get as close as I can.
Which processor are you using?
My complete chain is as follows.
My room is 3300 CF. It is treated with GIK Bass traps (4) and 4 gobos that deal with the mains' first reflections.
Amp is an MC452, preamp is aC52. Oppo BD105 is the main source. I stream Tidal as well. Speakers are Salon2s. Sub is a single JLA F113V2 with JLA CR1 handling the crossover region. I plan to add a second sub soon. (My wife is the limiting factor and keeps me to a trot rather than a gallop when i comes to adding gear). Blue Jeans cables work fine. I feel it's a waste of money to buy expensive cables, and have real questions about those manufacturers that add networks to their cables. I listen in 2.1, so no surrounds, no bespoke processor apart from what the Oppo offers. This supports a Sony XBR940C for watching videos. Very impactful as just a 2.1, as is, adding surround channels would be fun to do at some future date. I'm patient and don't mind building it out in steps.
The JL sub was cleaner, with superior perceived transient response in my room. It provided clearer audible distinctions between tones and less undifferentiated rumble (on video) but a superior sense of attack and variation between both musical notes and summed effects No amount of fiddling or measurements I could bring to the party made the SVS approach the clarity of JL on music in my room. Room treatment took it all to the next level, especially "system focus" but was done after I settled on which sub to use. When doing summed bass for video, even the single JL can be startling. Much depends on integration and room placement. Getting those right makes the meal, but the results were just more musical with the JL sub. Also, although the JL cabinet is much smaller than the SVS, the driver is almost the same size. and offers like piston area. The smaller size is a plus for me but didn't go into my decision process since I do have room for multiple subs from either manufacturer.
Note: SVS was very accommodating and did not make the return of their sub into an ordeal. They were good to deal with and very responsive. JLA has been the same and I have spoken with Barry Ober, their CS guy, several times. He's been highly informative.
Since your room is bound to be different than mine, you could order the SVS once you have finished up the rest of your build and see how it integrates for you. If, like me, you find it doesn't satisfy your needs, return it with no harm lost except the effort involved. If you're happy with it, so be it. If not, go for the JLA. I'm an outlier on the SVS issue on this forum, but I know other people who have had the same experiences I did in comparing the two. Bottom line: I was surprised how much different the two subs sounded in my space.
All that said, without comparing them you'll never know but for me in my room, the differences were stark. The JLA was also much easier to optimize in my room, although if you read me all the way through you'll get the sense I never was able to really dial the SVS in with the tools it provided. That may be true, but I followed the rules for both and was open minded without a brand preference at the start.
Sub placement was decided by modeling in REW, and then doing a sub crawl. The crawl resulted in different (and superior) placement than the various REW models suggested.
My room is dedicated so "I do what I want!" That's a big help.
My rig was always planned as a music first two channel system and while I sometimes contemplate adding surrounds, I love the way it works on music and continue to drive it further forward in that direction before I move to full surround. But that could happen!