I don't feel comfortable giving any performance estimations because I've never heard any of the subs you have listed. What I can tell you is that I've been shopping for a subwoofer(s) as well and I also have the same room/area size, budget max and inability to go DIY at this time. So, I'll tell you what I've learned so far since we're pretty close to apples to apples in this respect.
I think the first thing you should do is check with the wife again to see how she feels about two subs. Heaven forbid you get two and have to send one back because she can't handle a second huge box in the room
. All of these subs are pretty healthy sized, so it might be worth it to get a tape measure & make some cardboard 'footprints' of how big these subs are in terms of width and depth. Another thing you should do is measure your hallway/openings and your kitchen & foyer to get a full cuft measurement.
Once you figure out if the duals will cause issues or not, you can proceed from there. With your budget, the only one you can get duals of from your list is the VTF-15H. Since you primarily listen to music, you might want to reconsider the Rythmik subs, since people seem to really like how they sound w/music. I've been meaning to ask about it in the FV15HP thread, but I wonder how much you would lose in terms of output with a FV15. I bring this up only because the HP would run you about $1334 shipped (using the price from Duals would obviously break your budget with the HP version while you'd just break $2200 with the non-HP version.
I really buy into the multiple subs idea and the benefits it brings, so I've been leaning towards getting 2 VTF-15s for a while, but I've also been considering 2 FV15's since that review. My space has some placement constraints that may prevent me from getting two of that size, but I'd lean that way if at all possible.
If I had to get one sub, it's a little more tricky. Not sure what color you'd be looking for, but SVS has a close out on Rosenut PB13's for $1699, which is a good deal IMO. The price gap between the Ultra and the Pluses is small enough (to me anyways) that I'd probably pony up the extra $$ to get an Ultra. The Ultras look better IMO, plus that way I'm not wondering "what if" performance wise.
The only thing I'd be weary about is if the extra space outside of the 3700 cuft becomes too much for it to handle. Might want to ask some owners for their input on that.
So, in summary:
- Figure out if you have to go one sub or two.
- If you could go dual subs, I'd look at the VTF-15 and the FV15's
- If you can only get one of the ones you listed, I'd probably get a PB13, but outside of that I'd consider a FV15HP and a Submersive.
- It would be worth it to call both HSU and SVS to see what they recommend. I have contacted both of them in the past for what they suggested for me and have gotten a response within a day.
