One 18inch woofer (OR) Two 10inch woofers ?

distributed bass will always have a more linear frequency response throughout the room, and as for SPL, cone area is king so in theory 2x 10"s will be better

that being said 10" vs 18" is an extremely subjective question, which woofers did you have in mind?

in general larger woofers move more air per mm so they naturally can play louder at lower frequencies, it's all about the enclosure design though. You can easily make 10s play lower than some 18s

In a perfect world you'd have 4 subwoofers corner loaded with significant DSP- this can be done affordably with the DIY resources of parts express/madisound for drivers & miniDSP for room correction
 
2 tens. Faster response, good even distribution of sound. Of course unless you get amplified subs it'll cost a bit more to power two.
 
You are correct. No bass is faster or slower.
What I mean is smaller subs sound faster because it doesn't have a lot of extension and isn't dampened in it's attack & decay where a larger 15"-18" sub can go lower and leave an "echo" or "bloom" behind while the smaller sub has "moved onto" the next note due to higher roll off. Thus it's "faster" meaning the audible extension. Also room acoustics play a huge part in perception of bass. Just clap your hand and if the echo "hangs" there so will the bass and everything else.
 
Depends upon your goal first. Then it depends on the main speakers, the subwoofer amp, the drivers, and the enclosure(s).

. . . as for SPL, cone area is king so in theory 2x 10"s will be better . . .

Doesn't an 18 have a greater cone area than two 10s?
 
Perhaps you mean they are more articulate?
Lol. Yes. But as Hobie1dog pointed out correctly it's not faster. It's an audio perception/deception based on the lingering 20hz that most people won't be used to unless you've been around that a lot and have the mids matched to it's handoff frequency smoothly. 60-80hz will SOUND faster than a 20hz.
I'd accept more articulate.
 
2 10s may be a bit shallow - but 2 12s (JBL 2214) can do very fine compared to a single 18 ...
depending on your system and your space ...
 
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More info needed, specifics of speakers, and boxes would help. What do you intend to drive the 18 with?

That said, I love the rumble an 18 makes, and it's overkill for that size room. I like overkill. As long as your other speakers have some good upper bass, I say go for it.
 
Stolen from another site.

"How to calculate cone area

Cone area = pi x (r x r)

pi = 3.14 r = radius of sub

One 8" = 50.27

One 10" = 78.54

One 12" = 113.1

One 15" = 176.71

One 18" = 254.47

Two 8" = 100.53

Two 10" = 157.08

Two 12" = 226.19

Two 15" = 353.43

Two 18" = 508.94

Three 8" = 150.8

Three 10" = 235.62

Three 12" = 339.29

Three 15" = 530.14

Three 18" = 763.41

Four 8" = 201.06

Four 10" = 314.16

Four 12" = 452.39

Four 15" = 706.86

Four 18" = 1017.87"
 
@stereofanboy yea I was totally wrong about the surface area. I would advocate for an 18" if you have the space for the large enclosure and a decent sized listening room

How to calculate cone area

Cone area = pi x (r x r)

pi = 3.14 r = radius of sub

One 8" = 50.27

One 10" = 78.54

One 12" = 113.1

One 15" = 176.71

One 18" = 254.47

I have 2 stereo integrity 18s in 6 cu ft sealed enclosures that I feed 3000w of qsc power. bass is extremely tight, accurate, fast. linear from 15hz-80hz
 
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I can tell by the posts that few of you read the white paper I linked explaining the physics of low inductance and woofer size. No matter what you have been brainwashed into believing by popular myth, physics prove otherwise.

The 2 Stereo Integrity drivers mentioned above are low inductance design and are very "tight,fast,articulate " drivers and one of the best values in the world of subs.
 
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@stereofanboy yea I was totally wrong about the surface area. I would advocate for an 18" if you have the space for the large enclosure and a decent sized listening room

How to calculate cone area

Cone area = pi x (r x r)

/QUOTE]
Except, I don't think that formula is right. pi r squared is the area of the circle that the mouth of the speaker makes. Cone area is the actual surface area of the cone itself, which has to involve the depth - for a Q&D approximation, you can get away with using the formula, but for anything more accurate, one more dimension needs to com into play.

Rich
 
It isn't about area but the volume displaced. And the 10's would have to move twice as far back and forth as the 18. So if designed properly and 18 will easily surpass two 10's. Magnet choice and design, and to many other variables to list. Lets say you have low distortion 10 " woofers, with 90 db sensitivity. How are they going to compete with an 18 with 98 db sensitivity. They can't. Show me a 10 " subs that responds much below 30 hz. Where subs with 15 and 18 inch respond below 20 HZ. If a sub can't reach 20 Hz with less than 5% distortion I wouldn't be interested.

I have installed 100's of subs, from Velodyne, M&K, Klipsch, Mcintosh, JBL and Altec. The most natural were the M&K using dual 12". They required a lot of built in power. The only way a sub sounds natural is to be used in pairs as extensions of the left and right speaker in stereo systems. The best Home theatre system I ever heard the front 3 channels and the rear two were all full range speakers with the two sides only reaching 65 HZ. The full range speakers all reached below 20 hz. There wasn't a sub woofer in the room and I didn't install the system. The speakers were line arrays using XRT 28's behind the screen, two in the rear , and M&K S150's for the sides. 5 1201 amps, and 7300s using a Denon AV pre-amp and Sony DVD player. JBL Systems I installed were 4 to 8db stronger, but the staging, and intimacy in the Mac system was just out standing. Change to the stereo mode and there was no loss in performance. Just what you would expect from a good stereo system. When I heard the system he was waiting on the recently introduced MX 150 with Lyngdorphs Room Perfect EQ system.

We used the smaller dual 15" subs from the JBL professional line or I preferred the M350 from from M&K in smaller HT systems. I always wanted to hear a good Snell system in a home and never got a chance. Demos at Wces shows never convinced me. My gripe at the time was how noisy Barco and Runco projectors were. I really hated Barcos big three tube projectors. Keeping them aligned always tried my patience.

Life is so much easier today, just throw up a projector on the ceiling with a little spit and polish, hang the screen, plop down 3 speakers and two subs up front and and tack some side speakers up run some wire to a AV processor and amp, connect a DVD player and and computer link and your ready to go. I forgot push a button and the system is calibrated. The results are usually dam good. Its like walking to school 5 miles in 10 inches of snow in the old days. HT systems were a challenge not for the faint of heart. Amps run to the ragged edge, calibrating external processor for each speaker, building special enclosures to conceil the projector. Install remote repeaters select the right rack and mounting panels, etc etc etc. Details details. Today life is much simpler. All you really have to worry about is the interior design of the room. The electronics and speaker manufacturers have taken care of everything else most of the time.

The secret to a good sounding HT system is selecting the right three identical speakers for the front channels. You can always install the rear and side speakers later. Then select two good subs, or if you have an extra buck in your pocket a third sub to connect with the center channel. After that, the AV processor Pre-amp is the most important selection. Read read read is all I can tell you. Especially the owners manuals and the set up options. I was very fond of the Lexicon units when I retired. Oh! 1080 P was to be the latest craze when I retired in 04. Now you have to worry about 8k and Clouds in the internet sky. I'll stick with my blu discs and absolutely no subs in the house. If 14 full range 12 inch woofers can't get the job done I quit. Think 5400 watts with 95 db sensitivity speakers is enough?

If I were starting Over. I'd want 3 4435 JBL or if I had the cash I'd want 3 DD 67000. And I'm not so sure if I really need sides and rears. . I found a dealer that will sell me 3 67000 for the price of two. And still, NO SUBS. If 6 15's can't get the job done, with 900 watts, well maybe I can trade my MC 207's and 6's for 3 601's that produce 900 watt to 1000 watt peaks. Thats 122 db folks with 3 db compression. Just think you can to the same thing with a Klipsch horn and 100 watts and you still don't need a sub.

Get the message. Invest in good full range speakers using your sub money in addition and for get the subs. I would rather have a superb stereo system for my HT sound than a compromised 5.1 system with subs.
 
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18" all the way. There is no comparison in my experience. For IB you want at least two, but you can get away with one in a nearfield config (right behind the listening position). The SI mentioned above is an excellent choice. I use a single JBL 2245 in nearfield IB and it is heavenly. That won't work for more than one or two viewers/listeners, but it's a great, very affordable solution for many.
 
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