Here is a list of rankings compiled by my friend Craigsub. They are his opinion, no more, no less, based on a good amount of objective measuring and a lot of subjective listening. Though Craig is relatively knowledgeable when it comes to subwoofers, accepting or rejecting his conclusions is up to each individual.
1. JL Audio Fathom 113: 103 points.
2. Velodyne DD-18: 100 points.
3. ACI Maestro: 97 points.
4. JL Audio Fathom 112: 95 points.
5. Hsu VTF-3 HO + Turbo: 94 points
5a. Hsu VTF-3 HO w/o Turbo: 92 points
6. SVS PB12-Ultra: 90 points.
6T. Axiom EP-500: 90 points
7. SVS PB12-Plus/2: 87 points.
8. Rocket UFW-12: 85 points (provisional)
9. Rocket X-Sub: 78 points
10. Rocket Tyke: 60 points
"The Axiom EP-500 and the PB12-Ultra are virtual ties. The Axiom is a little more articulate, while the Ultra yields an extra 1/2 octave deeper."
How the scaling works is this: each 3 points represents a 15% higher level of overall performance. It is also cumulative.
For example, The Fathom 113 is 43 points higher than the TYKE. Grab a calculator, and you will see you have 14.33 consecutive 15% improvements.
Take 1.15 x 1, and do it 14 times, and you get 7.08. Next, multiply 7.075 x 1.05, and you get 7.43.
In other words, the Fathom has 743% higher performance than does the Tyke.
The Hsu VTF-3 HO W/Turbo has 38.9% higher performance than does the SVS PB12-Plus/2 (in this case, the overall musicality added to extension wins the day).
The Fathom 113 has 46.5% higher performance than does the 112.
As an aside, to keep this from being overcomplicated, each single point outside the 3 point criteria is scored at 1.05, not according to a true scale, which would be 1.0477.
