Which subwoofer?


I have a small room (10’x14’) and am wondering if a subwoofer would help. If so, which one?

I have Martin Logan electrostatic speakers with  8” powered 200 watt woofers and 8” passive radiators.  The bass is articulate, but not very deep. I am wondering if I could get more bass volume and depth without loosing detail with an additional subwoofer?
I have tried an 8” Velodyne, but could never integrate it with the Martin Logans so I sold it. 

The Martin Logans are powered by a 200 watt McIntosh receiver. 
Any thoughts?


kenrus
I’ve been aware of the great benefits of the DBA swarm through many post here on the ‘Gon. Technically GR’s OB servo design make a ton of sense to mate up to my Quad 63 USA monitors.

has anyone seen a post of a design that specifically mates with that speaker? Should I OB everything? Or would I be better to mix OB in the front, and ported / sealed in the sides or back?
I'm using five subs- 2 sealed, 2 ported, one isobaric. They work equally well with Talon Khorus and Tekton Moab. I cannot even begin to tell you what a non-issue this "mate with" thing is.
Hello kenrus,

scm also offered very good advice, in my opinion for 2 reasons:

1. I believe the Hsu ULS-15 MKII is also a very good sub that may even outperform the SVS SB-1000-Pro but it's $800 plus $90 shipping and handling, which totals almost $900.  It's also larger, due to its 15" woofer, at about a 1.5 foot cube. Head to head it likely outperforms the SVS but I believe a pair of the SVS subs will significantly outperform a single Hsu sub in your room and only cost a touch over $50 more, due to the free SVS shipping.

2.  Scm mentions the idea of using 3 total subs in his room and I think this may have a good chance of working well in your room, too.  In effect, you already have a sub module attached to the bottom of each of your ML main speakers. Even though these sub modules aren't currently positioned in your room, and in relation to your listening position, for optimum bass performance since they're probably currently positioned for optimum mid/treble and imaging performance at your LP, one additional and optimally positioned sub in your room could, theoretically, significantly deepen the perceived bass in your room.  I'm thinking a single, slightly larger sub with a larger woofer (15" or more like a Hsu ULS-15 MKII or another, larger, sealed or ported SVS sub that has deep bass extension down to 20 Hz or lower) may work very well if it's optimally positioned and configured.  This should be considered an alternative option to the pair of sub option I discussed previously. 
     This works because, even though only 1 of your 3 subs would be pumping out bass below 24 Hz and down to 20 Hz or lower, you would perceive all of the bass in the room as extending down to the deepest sub's capacity.  This is explained in the field of psycho-acoustics if you care to google it and learn more about this subject and phenomenon.
     As others have mentioned on this thread, Dr. Earl Geddes, the original inventor of the 4-sub distributed bass array(DBA) concept, claims that 3 subs can sometimes perform as well as 4 subs in a room.
    Buying from SVS, or another company that offers free in-home trial periods and returns, has the added benefit of allowing you to try out either or both options without taking any financial risk.  

Tim 
       
@noble101
Indeed,Earl Geddes has said that subs has been enough for him, but 4 is better. It's important to note when Geddes talks about "better" bass he's referring to seat-to-seat variations across the room. So bass is more Eben across the room. He isn't talking taut, 3D-like, fast or other descriptors often used for "good" bass.

@iananderson
I know of a guy using Quad 63 and 3 Gradient subs who is looking into GR Research OB subs with great interest. I have not heard his setup, but FWIW he's a professional bass musician at Lyon's opera...his understanding of how natural bass sounds is surely better than mine!!!
I listen nearfield with a Rythmik FM8. It's on the left side and sounds like it's on the left side. I need another to iron out that problem. Otherwise it's very natural sounding.