My Wife wants to get me a subwoofer for Christmas.

My system
65" Samung QLED TV
Denon 4400 receiver
5.1.4, upgrade to 5.2.4
Front and Center are Ascend Sierrra-1, upgraded
Center speaker sits on shelf about 8" below TV, Front speakers on same shelf just to right and left of TV.
Rear surround, Front height, rear height are Ascend HTM-200
Subwoofer, Rythmik f12, purchased 10 years ago

Used mainly for HT.

Time to act, wife want to buy me second sub for Christmas!

Room is about 19 feet front to rear, with raised cathedral ceiling, perhaps 20 feet at center.
from of room opens to kitchen on left, and dining room on right.
Current sub is on floor to right of right front speakers and stereo cabinet.
easiest place for sub is front left.

EDIT: room dimensions
Listening area, 16 feet wide x 19 feet deep, cathedral ceiling almost 20 ft peak in center from room. There is a wing area to the right of the room that is totally open to the listening area that is about 7 feet wide and 19 deep. Ceiling slopes down to about 9 feet on the right and perhaps 12 feet on the left. Kitchen opening on the left is about 8 feet wide on the left, dining opening is smaller perhaps 5 feet on the right.

What are your thoughts and recommendations for sub and location? EDIT: my preferred sub locations may be keep the current location on the right, a few feet right of the right speakers, and new location to the left of the left speakers, since I already have a cable run to the left side.

Thank you so much in advance!

Jeff

I think most people go with identical subs when adding a second or third, so I say another F12.

What's the total area that the sub will see? With the room open to two others, sounds like a pretty big space. Also, what is your objective for adding a second? More impact at MLP? Smoother bass response? Music or HT or both (and %age of each)?

Mikesiskav is correct - most add an identical sub. However, as your space may be rather large, may want to consider a F15 (or E15) or even an F18 Rythmik. As your current is sealed, I'd probably stick with another sealed. Or you could consider ported as you have a big space and seems to be the preferred for HT.

As to placement, options (depending on your room layout):
a) mid point on front and rear walls
b) opposite corners (eg front right, rear left)
c) front wall (about 1/4 in from either side wall)
d) if you go with a bigger sub, big one in the front (perhaps where current is) and smaller one closer to MLP (maybe behind your seats).

Unless you’re going to upgrade both eventually and can live with some compromises for now, I would stick with sealed. Trying to mix sealed and ported is very difficult. With a ported subwoofer, there is a 180 deg phase shift at the port tuning frequency. You don’t get that with a sealed sub. What that effectively means is that the two subwoofers will likely be fighting each other around those lower frequencies and instead of getting more combined output you’ll get cancellation and less output. You may be able to get lucky with placement and setting delays but it’s not guaranteed and won’t be easy.

Otherwise, if you think this new sub can be a stepping stone and you can replace your F12 later with another large ported sub, I vote for a ported sub 15” driver or bigger. Bigger is not just about louder, it also allows a sub designer to achieve lower distortion in the overall sub design.

Edited to add room dimensions and a preferred location for second sub.

That's a pretty big area to fill.
If you plan to upgrade your current F12 in the future, I'd go for something bigger for the new one like the F15 or F18 (sealed) or the ported versions of these (although, as mentioned above, a bit more difficult to integrate with the current sealed).

I think you'll be ok putting the new one to the left. Assume this is same wall (front)?

racrawford, yes current sub on the right, proposed for new sub on left, both on front wall.

Two F12
or one F15
or two F15
or one F18

Oh, and if I get two 15, maybe vented?

I would either go two F15 or one F18 (and if that's not sufficient, perhaps add a 2nd later).
Ported or sealed is your choice. If primarily HT, ported is probably the way to go. If primarily music, sealed. Although with Rythmik's, their ported do very well with music as I've seen other users comment.

FWIW, I prefer sealed (mostly music, they tend to be smaller dimensionally @ same woofer size and don't drop off as quickly at low frequencies).

It's mainly for HT, so perhaps I should think ported?

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by ride525

It's mainly for HT, so perhaps I should think ported?

---

Ported will get you more output at less distortion from port tune to probably 1 -1.5 octaves above port tune (compared to sealed of the same size driver). If you get a low tuned sub 12-15hz, I really don’t see the advantage of sealed other than they come in a smaller size enclosure if that matters to you.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by djDANNY

Ported will get you more output at less distortion from port tune to probably 1 -1.5 octaves above port tune (compared to sealed of the same size driver). If you get a low tuned sub 12-15hz, I really don’t see the advantage of sealed other than they come in a smaller size enclosure if that matters to you.

---

I think that if you were in a small enclosed room, the room gain from a sealed sub would make for a more even frequency response. I purchased two L12s but now I think I would've been better off with two LV12s since my room is open to other parts of the house.

My room is huge volume with open cathedral ceilings, and somewhat open to other rooms.

Could I get ported 12 inch or 15 inch to add to my f12 sealed?

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by ride525

My room is huge volume with open cathedral ceilings, and somewhat open to other rooms.

Could I get ported 12 inch or 15 inch to add to my f12 sealed?

---

While not impossible, mixing sealed and ported is very difficult. You have to be prepared to spend lots of time doing measurements and playing with the delays AND have a lot of flexibility to play with subwoofer placement. And even then there’s no guarantee they’ll integrate nicely. This mainly has to do with what happens because of the port which results in a phase shift of 180 deg around the port tune.

It looks like it is going to be sealed then.
I have one F12,
Question is add second f12 or add a bigger f15 (or E15)?
Thanks!

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by ride525

It looks like it is going to be sealed then.
I have one F12,
Question is add second f12 or add a bigger f15 (or E15)?
Thanks!

---

Frequency response integration shouldn’t be an issue with a larger sealed, but what tends to happen is that the smaller sub “holds the bigger sub back”. This is especially the case if you use level matching to set up your subs. In this case, the bigger sub would be limited to the output capabilities of the smaller sub.