Layout and Subwoofer Recommendation

[Space2013]

I am redoing my basement home theater.

Current Audio Equipment:

• Denon 1612 AVR
• 5.0 Athena AS-B2/C1 bookshelf speakers

Audio Equipment Plan:
Step 1: Add dual subwoofers (budget approx $2,000). I am ready to purchase these ASAP.
Step 2: Upgrade speakers (considering Monolith THX, NHT C4/C3, Canton Chrono SL, and others which I have posted in the loudspeaker forum).
Step 4: Upgrade AVR to handle 4K/HDR routing.

Room:
The basement is roughly 13.5 x 28 feet with about 7 foot ceilings. The room is not a perfect rectangle as there a bathroom along the back-wall that takes up some space into the room. The TV sits along the short wall and the couch is approximately 11 feet from the short wall almost in the center of the room. I anticipate significant nulls with the way the room is setup so I was planning to use dual subwoofers to help even out the response.

Questions:

1. I am considering dual HSU VTF-3 MK5s or Rythmik FVX15s. The system will probably be used more for movies, but I am more critical of bass in music, so I'd rather give up some low-end (20 Hz) output for accurate bass. Is there anything else I should consider in the approximately $2,000 price range?
2. I am confused how to ultimately arrange the subwoofers. I was planning to put one in the front corner and one behind the couch (pending some classic subwoofer crawling). Most diagrams I see treat the entire room as the home theater, but in this case only half the room is the home theater. I don't know if I should place the second subwoofer on the far end of the 28 foot room or closer into the home theater behind the couch.

 

[ryanosaur]

To question 1: no. either of those should be fine.
Pretty much any of the ID Subs you see us recommend here on the regular are good quality in terms of performance. The story of HT vs Music Subs is pretty much Myth these days if you buy from a quality company. Hsu, SVS, Outlaw, Monolith... Rythmik and PSA are also often brought up. PSA has not allowed any third party testing of their product, some older Rythmik models have been tested but the servo technology marketing angle is known to have frustrated some... (no agenda, just sharing).
2: I am a firm believer in looking for placements according to acoustic performance, thus the Sub Crawl!

Crawling for Bass - Subwoofer Placement Tips

Do the Subwoofer Crawl. It's the easiest way to find the proper placement location for your subwoofer to get the best performance and sound.

www.audioholics.com

Look for 2-3 possible locations and you will likely be good.
I am also a fan of getting subs off the front wall, but that's more my preference than anything, though there are some good arguments for doing so. (The Geddes approach to placing multiple subs in a room considers good towers as LF sources, therefor keeping the subs away from them and strategically placed should help activate more room modes and create a more even bass performance in and through the room.)

 

[mazersteven]

Pretty much any of the ID Subs you see us recommend here on the regular are good quality in terms of performance.

I'm glad someone said it. I'm sitting here SMH

 

[shadyJ]

If you are considering the FVX15, why not also consider the VTF15h mk2? The VTF15h mk2 will have the midbass performance of the VTF-3 mk5 with cleaner and stronger deep bass. It will outperform the FVX15 pretty easily.

 

[Space2013]

To question 1: no. either of those should be fine.
Pretty much any of the ID Subs you see us recommend here on the regular are good quality in terms of performance. The story of HT vs Music Subs is pretty much Myth these days if you buy from a quality company. Hsu, SVS, Outlaw, Monolith... Rythmik and PSA are also often brought up. PSA has not allowed any third party testing of their product, some older Rythmik models have been tested but the servo technology marketing angle is known to have frustrated some... (no agenda, just sharing).
2: I am a firm believer in looking for placements according to acoustic performance, thus the Sub Crawl!

Crawling for Bass - Subwoofer Placement Tips

Do the Subwoofer Crawl. It's the easiest way to find the proper placement location for your subwoofer to get the best performance and sound.

www.audioholics.com

Look for 2-3 possible locations and you will likely be good.
I am also a fan of getting subs off the front wall, but that's more my preference than anything, though there are some good arguments for doing so. (The Geddes approach to placing multiple subs in a room considers good towers as LF sources, therefor keeping the subs away from them and strategically placed should help activate more room modes and create a more even bass performance in and through the room.)

Thanks! I never see as much debate about subwoofers as I do main speakers, so I figured they were all considered fairly good, but thought I’d ask.

 

[Space2013]

If you are considering the FVX15, why not also consider the VTF15h mk2? The VTF15h mk2 will have the midbass performance of the VTF-3 mk5 with cleaner and stronger deep bass. It will outperform the FVX15 pretty easily.

I admittedly forgot about the VTF15 MK2. I’ll take a look at that! It seems hard to beat the HSU subwoofers for the price. I just wasn’t sure if there was any downside I was missing (I’m always the skeptic).

 

[Space2013]

One question, what SVS subwoofers would be comparable to the HSU VTF-3 MK5? All except one SVS subwoofer uses smaller drivers. Power-wise the PB-2000 Pro seems to be the closest to the HSU VTF-3 MK5, but given the smaller driver would the PB-3000 be a better comparison?