I wonder if Tmazz's strategy is correct on the size of the sub woofer for maximum integration? Or is it just the quality of that sub? hmm
This could be a possible leveling plateau here. I never once considered using a smaller woofer sub. I see the logic in it. Bigger subs tend to draw attention to them selves. (Well with the speakers i use anyways). While a smaller sub allows the mains to still play boss. I don't see any speaker type not benefiting from this. Maybe panels might not react the same or matter.
Bigger is better because bigger means higher acoustic impedance which means playing lower, louder and less distortion with less power. There are lots of tricks engineers can apply to make small drivers play low, loud and clean, but never as clean as a large driver. And never as satisfying at low volumes, because a small cone can never have as high acoustic impedance as large cone.
The sense of speed in bass is a misnomer. All bass is slow. The illusion of fast bass comes from the midrange detail that is added to the bass frequencies. When midrange and bass bands are not in sync it sounds like slow bass. The misaligned phase of different frequencies is also called group delay. Good phase integration causes the illusion of fast bass.
Reflex ports have very high phase distortion, very high group delay.
The reflex ports on the main speakers have to be sealed to eliminate their phase distortion, to allow good phase integration with a separate subwoofer. Only the lowest playing speaker should be ported, if necessary. A sealed speaker has much less phase distortion that a port.
