Quote:

The air from a bottom firing sub has to make a 90 degree change in axis before it reaches your ear. Plus, the air most likely disperses in a radius after hitting the floor or floor plate, which means it is hitting rear and side walls directly rather than hitting a far wall and bouncing back as a front-throw speaker would do.



One cannot think so linear with this.
I mentioned to someone before to think less linear and they got upset.
Think of sound in multiple dimensions (the drop of water in a calm pond moves water not just along the surface, but also below).
Have you ever closed a door in one part of the house and heard another door in your house rattle not a split second after? Or a window? Open a window and have a door down the hall slam shut?
How can a door that is 30-50 feet away be affected by a window so quickly?
Same as sound, it is pressure and not the physical action of a 3' by 3' blast of wind coming in the window, crusing down the hall, ricocheting off of each wall until it hits the door slamming it shut.

Sound is about "pressure" in the air. One cannot view it solely as a linear function of a single mass moving in a specific direction 'fired' by a woofer, hitting a wall, ricocheting exactly 90 degrees, etc. There is way more to it than that (although with increasingly higher frequencies this does become more the case).
Yes air molecules will interact with walls relative to distances to the pressure change source (the source of the pressure energy being exerted which decreases with distance) being part of the mix.
The very instant a woofer starts a 15Hz tone, whether down firing or not, the pressure change is already affecting items 50 feet away in your house. I highly doubt you would hear any difference with a down firing vs. forward, subwoofer. I once took my EP350 and turned it to face the floor and placed it on 2 stacks of hockey pucks at each corner for kicks.
I think i still have a picture of that somewhere in my files.

"Those who preach the myths of audio are ignorant of truth."