My original plan was to get bookshelf/tower speakers that were capable of bass, and then reduce the bass with the equalizer settings and/or a high-pass filter. I was hoping if I reduced everything under something like 75 it would remove the bass heard through the walls/floor.
I experimented with a high-pass filter on a song in Audacity, and you could still hear the beat in the room below me until the filter was around 170 Hz. The crossover for my 5.1 system is fixed at 150 Hz, so really I can't do much better than using my current 5.1 system and turning the sub low/off.
However, since the sub functions as the amp, I'm not sure how I could hook up the bass shakers. If I get a Dayton SA100 sub amplifier, I think it would let me pass the front l/r speaker wires through it. So the front speakers would still function the same, but the bass would also get sent to the shakers. I'd have to configure the front l/r speakers as "Large" so they get bass. Am I understanding that correctly?
P.S. Those bookshelf speakers do look tempting, especially since with my 5.1 I'd have this giant sub that I'm not using. If I were to get bookshelves, I assume I could set my receiver to have a 150 Hz crossover and hook the shakers to the sub output to get the same effect?
Also, some room information I probably should have mentioned: This will be in a 12' x 16' living room with the TV and couch ~10' apart. Should that have any influence on my choice of tower/bookshelf/satellite speakers?