@amayseng
People who complain that a subwoofer doesn’t sound as good as a full range speaker because it doesn’t “come from the same source” come to this conclusion because they have an improperly calibrated system. My subwoofer is perfectly time aligned and level matched the the rest of my speakers. My front two speakers extend down to 32hz, while my sub extends goes to 23hz. Most musical content does not go much below 35-40hz. While listening to music, I can actively switch the speakers in the setup menu of my avr from full range to small (which engages the sub and xover) and hear absolutely no difference in bass output or quality, I can also change the xover point from 40hz to 50hz or 60hz and it sounds nearly identical.
If a subwoofer sounds worse than running your speakers full range you’ve either got the subwoofer level too high/low, the distance settings in your avr wrong, or lastly, the sub placed in a bad position.
Theoretically, below about 80hz , bass is omnidirectional, so placement isn’t that big of a deal. For seamless blending however, especially for music, it’s better to keep the sub along the same wall that the speakers are located in my experience. A 60hz wavelength is about 18’, when two sources are placed within a half wavelength of each other, they should behave as a single radiating source, placing a subwoofer 22’ from your speakers will cause this effect to break down, even with proper time alignment.
As for what would offer greater dynamic headroom, a Klipsch RP-280f with dual 8” woofers will easily outperform the CVs single 10”, but a pair of RP-160ms with a single 6” woofer paired with two 12-15” subs crossed over at 50-60hz would outperform both, and cost about the same.
With your budget, you can get a pair of RP-160ms for about $350 open box on eBay, and two Dayton sub 1500s will run $400 total. If the subs are truly impractical in your room as previously mentioned, id just go for the RP-280fs, those can be had for about $850 open box on eBay.
