15s often don't do as well in their upper range, but they far more easily hit the lower notes. As with anything, that is not true of all 15s though, it depends on the design. For a BIG room, I would go with 15s. For a small room, it might be overkill. 12s seem to be a good balance.
I was thinking the same but this is the review of the Starkes 12" versus 15":
Conclusion
Before bringing this review to a close, I will briefly go over the strengths and weaknesses of the product under review, and, as always, I will start with the weaknesses since I am the kind of person who wants to hear the bad news first. The good news is that there isn’t much bad news about the Starke Sound SW12 and SW15 subwoofers. My only complaint is that when the SW12 is pushed very hard, it is not prevented from making some fairly distressful noises. It might have been better to use some somewhat stricter filters to inhibit that behavior, although that might have come at the expense of a bit of output and extension. Many owners probably won’t push the sub that hard, but if you crank the volume up on some content that has very deep bass, the SW12 might audibly complain about that.
Aside from the SW12’s behavior at its performance limits, I did not find any significant shortcomings with the SW subs. Their performance, on the whole, is good, especially in deep bass for sealed subs at their price point. Their deep bass headroom is needed given the shape of their frequency response which is weighted a bit more the low-end than most sealed subwoofers. The time-domain behavior is careful not to exceed a cycle of delay despite the shaped response. These characteristics make them a great choice for movies or music, and I enjoyed the subs with everything that I listened to.
The $200 price increase from the SW12 to the SW15 is a worthwhile step-up as you're getting 50% more subwoofer performance for only 25% more cost.
Outside of the performance, these subs look fine and are not enormous, so they are good choices where size and aesthetics preclude large ported options. They are not back-breakingly heavy either, and that carries a much greater advantage than most people realize. Being able to move the sub around without it turning into a major logistical challenge is useful for when you are looking for optimal placement for sound in-room or are looking to relocate the sub for any other reason. One of the major draws of the Starke Sound SW subs is the pricing. These are very affordable subs given their spec set, and Starke Sound’s aggressive pricing indicates that they mean business in this market.
One thing I would say is that if you are able to make the jump from the SW12 to the SW15, it is a well-worthwhile step up. For only $200 more, you are getting significantly more subwoofer, not just in size but also in performance. Going by the average of the burst test data, you get about 50% more subwoofer performance for only 25% more cost. The SW15 was also able to keep its cool better when pushed hard. The SW12 is a fine sub for circumstances that need a smaller size, and it does pack a real punch for the amount of space that it uses, so if you can not accommodate the larger SW15, the SW12 can still dish out a nice bass sound for your system.
The SW12 and SW15 subwoofers can be purchased from Starke Sound directly. They come with a 3-year warranty as well as a 30-day trial period. If you are not happy with the sub, Starke Sound will arrange for free return shipping, so buyers have nothing to lose by giving these subs a try. Anyone looking for an affordable, no-nonsense sealed sub is certain to be quite happy with these subwoofers, and I doubt that Starke Sound will be seeing many returns of these.
So if I were going to go this route the 15's sound like the better deal...
