A good point to not go downfiring, I do check under my subs before turning on, there's always cat and dog toys underneath lol. Overall the animals are really good, my couch doesn't have one tear in it. I'm just paranoid that a big cloth grill will be the new scratching post. We dont have young kids so for me not an issue, but good insight for others. I really enjoy martin logan as I run them now. Ive seen a general consensus to not go with speaker manufacturer subs as they are 'overpriced' vs performance. Definitely looking at the foundation 12, just over $600 each looks like a doable situation