First-time poster here, so if I'm doing anything incorrectly please let me know.
I recently upgraded from my no-name soundbar to a "real" sound system - a pair of Focal Aria 906 bookshelf speakers powered by a Yamaha A-S501 amp. Shortly after hooking everything up, I A/B'd my new setup with my old soundbar-subwoofer combination. On the first CD I listened to, I was dismayed to find that I liked the soundbar better, although in retrospect I think that was largely because that's what my ears were used to. After breaking in my speakers and messing around with placement, I did some more listening and quickly realized that my new setup was vastly superior to my old one, except perhaps with regards to bass.
After some more A/B comparisons, I came to the conclusion that while I was getting more bass out of the soundbar-subwoofer bundle than I was out of my bookshelf speakers, that additional bass wasn't worth much since it was just sort of "there." It was louder but poorly-defined, whereas the bass produced by the Focals was crisp, clean, and very musical - I just wish there was a tiny bit more of it.
I've decided to upgrade my system with a subwoofer and would like to solicit some opinions. This would be almost exclusively for music (mainly classical and some jazz/folk/acoustic) and not home theater, so I've been looking mainly at sealed cabinets. My listening area is about 16' x 20' and opens up into a 13' x 8' kitchen and an 8' x 7' dining room. One of the biggest challenges is placement; if the woofer is wired, there is precisely one location I can put it and something footprint of around 14" x 14" (ideally less) is a must. If I go wireless (which I'd like to avoid), I have two additional locations I can use and size is not an issue.
The models I have in mind are:
10" Driver
- Martin Logan Dynamo 700w (11.7" W x 12.3" D) - $300 Refurbished
- Elac Debut 2.0 3010 (13.5" W x 13.5" D) - $450 New
12" Driver
- SVS SB-1000 (13" W x 14.6" D) - $500 New
- Rythmik L12 (14" W x 15.5" D) - $560 New
I'm fully aware that I'm not comparing apples to oranges here and that the 12" woofers will go a few Hz lower and be louder, but I'm not looking for earth-shattering bass; I just want the best, most musical subwoofer that will fit in the limited space I have available.
Performance-wise, I'm most drawn to the Rythmik L12, but in a wired configuration it wouldn't fit well (it would stick out into a doorway). As I mentioned above, wireless would open up some additional placement options, but it seems like most wireless kits are prone to interference and since I live in an apartment building, there are plenty of wireless routers, cordless phones, and microwaves that could cause problems.
Size-wise, the Martin Logan is the most attractive option, and I could make the footprint even smaller by switching to a downward firing configuration. It's hard to argue with the price and while I don't plan on using the built-in wireless feature, it certainly adds flexibility if I ever needed to use it. The Elac is also intriguing, but it isn't that much smaller than the SVS or the Rythmik and I suspect the latter two are better speakers.
To be honest, I'm leaning towards the ML; it seems like the best fit for my current situation and I figure I can always upgrade when I get a bigger apartment or a house. But if it isn't going to sound good, I'd prefer to get something else.
I'd love to hear your opinions on the models I've listed above, as well as any others that fit my parameters that I may have missed. Thanks in advance for the help!