Sub Suggetions for a fairly large/open family room

With your large open space and budget of (800-1200), I would look very closely at the HSU VTF-15H:

http://www.hsuresearch.com/products/vtf-15h.html

You can also call HSU and even send them a drawing of your floor plan and they will tell you whether the VTF-15H is sufficient.

Chase Home Theater has a clearance where you can get two 18" subs powered by an external 2000 watt amp for I think $1050 + shipping.

The Rythmik FV15/HP:

http://www.rythmikaudio.com/FV15.html

http://www.rythmikaudio.com/FV15HP.html

All mentioned.. are good subs. You definitely need a good upgrade.

Yikes, that's over 9500 CF! You're gonna need a bigger boat. I mean subwoofer. (there are some Jaws fans out their I hope...)

Why not pull out all the stops and get a Rythmik F25? Bet you don't outgrow that thing.

Your gonna need a couple of really bigs subs if you want to feel the bass. Thats a large room.

The ultra is way above your stated budget but it is a great sub. If your budget is firm the 18's from chase will be your best bet to fill that space.

The dimensions are under the Performance & Specs link. I've never heard it myself -- it was merely a suggestion based upon the size of your room. It will be tough to pressurize that much space unless you use 2 really big subs, or one monster. The F25 is obviously the latter...

The PB-13 Ultra is $2,000 shipped. If you are going to spend that kind of money you might as well get a JTR Captivator. A Captivator will have more output than either a PB-13 Ultra or the Trinity.

^^ +1
That's an enormous space to fill. A JTR Cap at the closest midwall position possible is your best bet if you're doing a single sub.
Dual Rythmik FV15hp's would give more more even distribution of bass but would be more $$.
The SVS Ultra is an excellent sub but you'd also need 2 to give you the output the Cap does. Excellent sound quality like the FV15Hp but better finish options and more $$.
The F25 has a little less output than the FV15hp in the deeper octaves and is more $$ so I think the vented Rythmik(s) are better for your space for home theater.
The sealed Chase subs rely on room gain to be flat to low frequencies. 4 of them and some eq would be about the price of the options above and would perform quite well but the OP doesn't seem like he wants quad subs.
It looks like you'd be better off upping your budget closer to $2k or putting your equipment in a smaller room if you want this upgrade to satisfy you for the long haul. You could get a vented Hsu, Rythmik or SVS now and add another later if $$ is tight and you can place duals in the room. Good luckwith your sub search

Sorry I'm too lazy to search but there's a thread on this forum for people willing to demo their subs/set up by State and City. Start there.

If you're open to spending more than you had initially planned, and are ok with that, then DEFINITELY DEFINITELY spend more money!

I've spent the better part of the last few years dealing with a HUGE room like yours, it's about 10,000 cubic feet, and have just come to the realization over time and alot of sub purchases, that for a room that big, if you really want to feel the bass, you'll need a couple of really good powerful subs. I've had as many as 4 MFW-15's in my room, and that did a good enough job. I would have liked more, but they were adequate enough for me.

I've had quite a few other subs over those years, but those MFW's provided much more output than the other subs I've had. I've had a bunch of different SVS subs in there, and the MFW's clearly gave me what I need.

So I would definitely go with duals of something if I were you. CHT would keep you within your budget as they have a pair of 18" sealed duals for around $1250 shipped that you could get. Ported could work even better for you due to the room being so big. If you can wait a few more weeks, than that could be worth it because CHT will soon be offering new vented subs. They will run around 2 grand or so shipped. 18 inch drivers for those as well. That's going to be my next purchase. Hopefully they will take me to the next level and surpass (by a large margin I'm hoping ) what my MFW's have given me. They definitely should.

Are you prepared to buy one used Ultra now and another when the opportunity arises?

That's a good thought. It's quite common for ultra's to pop up on agon on a somewhat regular basis.

I am in a similar boat. Approximately 10,000 cf, 65% HT, 25% Gaming & 10% Music. Listening level -15db. Budget $2,400.

If I go ported, i will be choosing to battle with the SO (due to size) but it may be a battle worth winning.

Thinking about the following:

2 empires
2 svs sb13 plus
2 rythmik fv15hp
2 rythmik f15hp
2 Ed a5-350
1 jtr cap

I've heard dual SVS Ultra's and a single Captivator in the same room and I thought the Captivator had a lot more output. Granted the Ultra's were not co-located but still, if I had the option to have 2 Ultras or 1 Captivator I would choose the Captivator hands down. I wasn't crazy about the lack of punchy mid-bass from the Ultra and the Captivator seems to handle all frequencies of bass with massive authority (down to 20 hz anyway).

The negative is you could be looking at a long wait time, so make sure Jeff has one that he can get to you quickly.

As always, full disclosure - I own a Captivator.

If you haven't read this yet, you might enjoy this post for some comparisons of subwoofers: SHOOTOUT! Epik Empire vs HSU VTF-15H vs CHT CS18.1 vs Rythmik FV15 vs A7s-450 Review

It's undoubtedly subjective, but could still be helpful. It was fun to read. Made me want a big 15"-18" sub

Several years ago Craig Chase of Chase Home Theater tested a number of subs including the Ultra 13 and the Trinity.

The attached chart shows the rankings in which Craig assigned points based on measurments and listening:

http://www.chasehometheater.com/foru...hread.php?t=11

The Ultra scored 109 and the Trinity scored 102.

Not really. Once you understand that when Craig said, "Listening Results: The Trinity surprised a few listeners by being much musical than a dual active 14 and quad passive 14 inch drivered sub "should".

That is a backhand compliment that means that the listening panel had low expectations for such a complex design. The Trinity has 2 active and 4 passive drivers. The listening panel had low expectations with music for such a complex design, and the Trinity exceeded their low expectations. Trinity has a total of 6 active and passive drivers, the Ultra has 1 active driver, period.

The Trinity also lost points for its performance above 60 Hz. A lot of people are looking for subs with excellent mid-bass performance, and the Trinity simply is not impressive in the mid-bass > 60Hz.

This is important because 80Hz is virtually the default crossover frequency in HT. Sure lots of people use a crossover at 50 Hz, but the Trinity lost points for its performance above 60 Hz.