i dont think either of those subwoofers are an ideal choice.. first concern is how low the speaker enclosure is tuned for.
reading teh specs says the polk is good down to 35hz and the dayton is 40hz
i have a box fan in my window running on high and i have my radio at 25% and i can clearly hear output way down to 23hz
the second point of concern is cone size.. i have a 12x13 room so i can relate to the size.
i had a six inch subwoofer that had two problems..
1. it was over-bearing trying to get the lower lows from the tune of the box.. and this means that you can hear a lot of upper bass from the subwoofer that will drown out the vocals while you are trying to get the sub to pump out the lows at a blending level.
2. the box was tuned for something like 32hz and many times the sub would play lower than what the box was tuned for and all i could hear was the speaker flapping back and forth violently because the speaker enclosure no longer retains any pressure for the subwoofer cone to push in and out against.
i understand that those prices look nice .. and i would ultimately suggest that you listen to them both before purchasing to see if the specs are lying about the lowest useable frequency.
the box might be tuned lower than 35hz in the case of the polk.. meaning that there is a 3dB or 6dB rolloff at that frequency but the box doesnt lose pressure until a lower note.
but playing it safe is rather quite simple.. 90% of the prebuilt subwoofers dont play low enough because the port isnt tuned for going that low.
your best attempt would be to find a powered subwoofer that is in a SEALED box rather than a ported box .. because sealed boxes will play all the way down to 1hz without losing pressure and making an embarassment of itself.
another thing about speaker cone size...
something that i find great about bigger cones is that they output bass without much effort, and the bass that does get output is the lower bass that i am looking for.
you can turn up my sub just a little bit and get some help in the 20-30hz range .. and if you turn it up more and feed the speaker cone more power, THEN the upper frequencies start becoming louder and louder.
you dont want a sub that is overpowering the vocals and the only way to do that is to move a lot of air with one quick attempt rather than a small cone pushing in and out at extreme (often double or triple) amounts to make up for the lack of cone size.
when a six inch subwoofer pushes in and out two or three times more than a 12 inch woofer, you can guarantee that the upper bass frequencies are gonna be loud and obnoxious unless you have your crossover set at 30hz
and some of these subs dont even play that low !!
besides.. what are you gonna do from 30hz - 80hz ?
you want to blend your 2-way and 3-way speakers at about 60hz for a non directional and fluid transition without over working either of the speakers (however i dont believe in 2-way systems for anything lower than about 120hz at high output levels because of distortion anyways)
i have three 12's to make my lows happen.. so if you want to get into the area that i am at, you are gonna either have to go with a sealed box or hunt down (or build your own) a box that is specifically tuned to 15-20hz
and most of the subwoofers that are ported and tuned for 15hz are in the 'expensive' and 'flagship' model price point.
the amp might be good.. the subwoofer might be good.. but the ported tunes are absolute junk and are totally ripping people off left and right.
there are a lot of ported subwoofers that actually have a hard time keeping up with acoustic instruments low notes.. so dont even think about playing digital bass of todays music on that hardware because it will bottom out and/or have zero output.
i must say that depending on the crossover available to you, what size cone you get will have to be a game.
you might be able to turn up 20hz for an 8inch woofer or a 10inch woofer because both need the power to make those notes audible.. however if i told you to get a 12 inch woofer and you have no equalizer to adjust the bottom end, you might be stuck with a sub that loves to play low and has an over-powering effect.
the 'game' is .. if you turn the volume up to get the output you want, then you have high frequencies that will drown out the vocals... if you turn the volume down to match, then the subsonic bass isnt going to exist and acoustic bass is going to be very low and harder to hear.
i really cant help but conclude that the government is using subwoofers to see just who actually cares enough to take the appropriate step in fulfilling their needs for bass, rather than those who simply go out and purchase a subwoofer because all subwoofers are supposed to put out bass.
i dont mind being the one to tell you, but the majority of subwoofers being sold on the market are actually the missing component in your 2-way setup which coincides to going from a 2-way system to a 3-way system... and we all know that 3-way systems are made up of three things
1. tweeter
2. midrange
3. woofer
no where does it say sub-woofer.. so you are really in a shopping field of babys and candy.. and to fix the mistake you would need to purchase TWO subwoofers .. one to fulfill the position of 'woofer' (these are readily available) and then another amp/speaker combo to fulfill the SUB-woofer position.
there certainly is a difference between a system that goes down to 35hz compared to one that goes down to 20hz and i can hear it in music that dates back all the way to the early 1990's
then there are movie special effects to think about.. i dont have any flapping obnoxious subwoofer problems whenever i watch a movie, i am certain that there are others that do simply because the ported box loses pressure and the subwoofer cone starts flapping around loosely as if it was unscrewed and placed on the table to perform.
speakers are designed to use air as back pressure to keep the cone 'organized' and in control.
just like they say it isnt good to start a boat motor and run it while it isnt in the water because there is no pressure on the propellar... it will spin much much faster and maybe damage the engine from the increase in rpms.. one situation would be the piston rising back up to the top with such a catastrophic momentum that it smacks to bottom of the head.. or if the valve doesnt get out of the way fast enough, you smack the valve and bend the valve rod which might put a scratch on the camshaft.
it relates to speakers because speakers are made to move air and also use air to keep them from moving violently and out of control.
what i am fully aware of is that there are many people who become happy far more easier than i do.. and it isnt until the flaws and errors are pointed out and demonstrated before most make a decision to leave it the way it is or make an honest upgrade for the sake of honest quality.
