Quote Originally Posted by stuartlittle
I think it's a matter of preference. If you listen to a lot of music, you will really appreciate the snappiness and musicality of an 8". You just can't get the same result with a 12" or 15". It also depends on the speakers you have. Small speakers are a better match w/ a small sub, generally.
It may sound good but, an 8" sub is incapable of producing much output below 40hz or so. While it may sound nice producing in the 200hz-50hz range, technically this is the normal output range for a woofer, not a subwoofer.

Surprisingly, transient "snap" has nothing to do with woofer size, and everything to do with magnetic power vs. the mass of the moving parts of the driver. Shape, and size of the voice coil are factors too, but the simple "power to weight" ratio is a good determination.
The most musical sub I've ever heard was an 18" monster with a 24lb magnet. Of course it was only used for sub-bass augmentation, but when full range organ music was played. the effect was quite startling.