Best Musical Sub... Originally posted in 2014???

right on  mr millercarbon ¡!

And, just when he tries to convince everyone he has all the answers- he posts this. 
B

Sounds like a recipe for acoustic chaos Millercarbon.  How are they connected?  If it’s more than one connection then it’s too many.  High level is the best.  

I am not happy with the bass in my system. Not happy at all. Elated, would be more like it. Beside myself. Beyond my wildest dreams. Better than anything else I ever heard anywhere ever. But keep in mind, that is only compared to all the other old-school dogmatic one sub and EQ waste of time type setups. Compared to other distributed bass array sub setups mine is probably merely only a little above average.

The question of which sub to use is as far as I’m concerned a side issue. The main thing by far is not which but how many. The more, the better. Four of just about anything beats one of anything. Like that. 

One of my 5 subs is a Talon Roc. This isobaric design sub is supposed to be all a sub should be- big, powerful, fast. With two 12" drivers in a ported isobaric enclosure, super fast.

Like it matters. Okay it does. But only a little. What matters far more is there are now five in the room.
https://systems.audiogon.com/systems/8367 
Two are ported, two are sealed, each pair powered by the Dayton amp, and the Talon Roc is self-powered. Before building the DBA the Roc was moved all over the place struggling in vain to get it to work right. For the record, it is impossible to get one sub to work right. Does not matter what it is. Impossible. Physics. You could look it up.
The minute I put four in the room, boom, instant amazing superb bass. Moved them around a bit, hardly seemed to matter. Played with phase, hardly seemed to matter. Superb tuneful articulate fast and clean bass is trivially easy. Plop em down, tweak the levels, sit back and try and wipe the grin off your face. Good luck with that!

I love the thought of relief for the main speakers and primary amp. I personally have yet to find a way to achieve that without any coloration or electronic haze.

Right. So the thing is, you do not even want to try! This is just one more of the many dogmas sub people keep repeating. Its not only not a good idea, for the extra circuit noise reason mentioned, its actually counter-productive.
The key concept and reason why DBA works so well is multiple bass sources brings multiple small modes which results in smoother, faster and more articulate bass. Also deeper. And more powerful. The hits just keep coming!
So given this is the whole reason for doing it, the last thing you would ever want to do is remove two sources of bass. Which is what happens with a crossover. It only makes sense in the old behind the times paradigm of 20 years ago.

Like I said the hits just keep coming. Smaller more affordable subs. Way less fussy with placement. Little or no EQ. (The Dayton amp makes this easy, btw.) Absolutely no problem with matching. Not with the stereo pair. Not with each other. Look again- five subs of three different types. You would never know there are ANY subs in my system! The subs all disappear, yet the bass they produce is palpably there and in 3D, completely integrated into the sound stage right along with everything else. 

You could literally take one of every sub on your list, hook them all up, and have awesome, awesome bass.

And oh btw the music/home theater canard is a, uh, canard. Its false. Only if you want your movies to sound like crap, then it makes sense. If like me you want your movies to sound every bit as good as your music (well, within certain limitations, those digital movie files never will sound as good as vinyl) then this is what you want. Come and hear it, and that will be the end of that.

Just do like the last two, pull on some scrubs (provided) over your street clothes, wash your hands, and wear a mask (also provided). Stay safe!

I swear by Vandersteen.
In fact, I will be upgrading to the new Sub 3's soon.
After owning both the 2w and 2wq (not V2), I can honestly state they are one of the best subs out there when combined with the external crossover. They are also built like tanks, so you would probably get 30 years of use out of them.-Like the 2w's I sold recently.
I also use Hsu VTF-1's for my office. For the money, a very nice, versatile sub, but no comparison to the Vandy's.
I have not heard the AK Swarm, but have heard great things about it. In fact Richard Vandersteen agrees that having multiple subs improves sound reproduction.
Bob

In my system, a pair of REL’s Carbon Limited connected via it’s high level input....there is no other brand I care to own when it comes 2-ch audio. Once they are optimized, they just disappear from the room. The high level input allows seamless integration with your main speakers. There isn’t another sub I’ve heard that excels at rendering bass attack that’s neither muddy nor muffled and conveys real musical detail like REL.

A pair of REL lets you accomplish what others been trying to achieve with 4 or 6 subs in the room.

My Krell feeds my REL S2 directly with high level connection.  This is the best way a sub can be fed in my opinion.  It lays down the most musical foundation I have personally owned.  Great value and a pleasure to listen to!