In a small room there will be a node or nodes somewhere, not necessarily near the listening chair or even in the same room, where the bass will sound nice and tight. It's almost never where you want it to be.

I've had a little success in my own low ceiling, far from ideal room. It's a little like tuning an instrument. After much fiddling around and with help from a friend with good ears, I ended up with dual subs, port down on the carpet with the driver facing a wall. Adjusting the distance from the walls makes huge changes in the location of the good nodes. I can get that nice rich satisfying thumping at my chair from 2 watts but it's still no Yes concert.