Musical subwoofer under $2000

REL Classic 98

Nothing compares to REL for musicality and this new model is a close match to my old REL Storm III now 20+ yrs old but still sounding great. The Classic 98 is very close in sound esp with my little Harbeths. 

I have owned Every major brand and the SVS4000-SB meaning sealed 

the driver itself is around 50lbs and weighs102 lbs it has a great app to fully tune your room and adjust the volume from your seat.

for-around $1800 a great sub  and will play flat inRoom true 18HZ or lower 

free shipping ,45 day Audition ,and even free return if-not happy a compact 13.5 inch driver.

5 year transferrable warranty ported,or subs with passive radiator more boom ,output but not as articulate . The JL AudioFathom are better but $4-5k and also isSealed , as is Magico, Wilson . 

I listen to a wide range of music - rock, pop, country, electronic, opera, classical orchestral and lots of piano and jazz. I had a friend around about a month ago and he has Triton speakers with built in subs and commented on how my low bass wasn’t there, not badly, but just there was more low bass I was missing. I also feel the low end will give me more presence and atmosphere. I’m not displeased with my system and the midrange and top end are both great. I play mostly CDs and the PSAudio transport and Bel Canto DAC combined with the Pathos amp is revealing but not analytically detailed, but still detailed and tends to being slightly warm, which is great as the speakers are very neutral and I do have lots of hard surfaces. Again thanks kennyc; audiorusty; and sounds-real-audio for your valuable input and I’m hoping kennyc is getting value too as what he describes he is after is the same. 

Rel “S” on sale $400 off At Cable Company here

@sparksgja

Usually "musical" means enjoying the music as a whole but can also be at the expense of detail and accuracy. What you are looking for is an "articulate" subwoofer where the bottom notes sound like real instruments and not a boomy mess. Finding an "affordable" one seems difficult - I’m in the same boat.

Maybe Vandersteen 2Wq or Sub3 may fit your needs.  There's also the AudioKinesis Swarm, but I'm not sure how articulate they are.  Other articulate subwoofers are priced higher : REL, NSMT. Funk, Perlisten, JL Audio...

Good luck

Sparks 

looking at your system in your room, I have no idea how you can add more sound waves beating on the hard wood floor and the window...I suggest you should be looking  for intoxicating midrange. bass is bull sh#*

Before you buy any sub read this first. https://soundoctor.com/whitepapers/subs.htm

In my opinion if you are not listening to loud bass driven rock of some type, the addition of a subwoofer to a full range speaker will not make a big enough impact to justify the expense. Also keep in mind that the ear is less sensitive to low bass so if you want to  experience 40 Hz at the same perceived loudness as 1k Hz. You need to be able to reproduce the 40 Hz. signal approximately 15 to 30 db louder the the 1k Hz signal depending on the 1k Hz overall volume level. That takes a lot of amplifier power.

Having said all of that I own four subs and I would never do it any other way. I own REL, Rythmik and SVS. The only thing REL does better than the other two is to take more money out of your wallet, otherwise very little difference between them except the REL can be a little more difficult to integrate well. I feel the Rythmik has a little better sound than the others but they seem to have slightly less power, so I would err on getting a larger size rather than the smaller. SVS in my experience has the better customer service.

I agree with hilde45

Get 2 Rythmik subs, Very musical and very flexible. Plus they have a fast servo amp system. IMO. I have two and they are very good indeed.

Thanks everyone again. I think I’m getting the message that 2 are better than one and that I should budget for that in the future. REL being old school interesting as more modern offer DSP, Bluetooth etc. I have been looking at Arendal 1723 S. Thought about REL T9xi too. Lots to consider, and really grateful for every suggestion.

The KEF KC62 ($1500) is the only sub I have ever used so I do not know much about other subs. However, the KC62 is fast enough to keep up with my old KEF LS50 Meta and now the Magnepan LRS+.

My understanding is that most subs are not good with the Mgnepans (too slow). This is not a HT sub.

+1 @gkelly. Spending a little more to get what you want is usually a good thing. I will say though that having just bought two subs I would move down the chain and split the budget to get a pair, or buy the s510 and plan on budgeting for another to complete the pair. Two is better than one.

Thanks again for all the food for thought about what to consider. I’m going to research all your suggestions.

That is a pretty nice system you have there I, for the life of me cannot understand why you wouldn’t save a few more pennies and get the REL S510. Why go around, hoping that you will be happy instead of knowing you will be happy. Good luck in your journey. Hopefully you have found the velvet path

I just purchased a pair of REL T/5x subs, they are fantastic. I have a small listening space so the T7 or T9 would likely be a better match for you. The T7 is within your price range the T9 is about $1000 over (for a pair). The Neutrik Speakon connector makes it simple to connect and integrate. The integration is old school though as there is no app or DSP. I like the old school though and I found it easy enough to get them set up, a bit of tweak, take a seat and listen, get up and tweak and repeat. They are very musical subs, with a sealed enclosure so no boominess.

Rythmik

@soix +1

Plus with the SVS you have the phone app and can really dial things in for your room, and your liking. 

Easy. Get two 12" Dayton Sub kits from Parts Express with Class D plate amps and a MiniDSP crossover. The kits are easy to build. You can paint them or cover them in equipment carpet. 

I use a stereo pair of Gallo Acoustic TR3-D subs, have for years.
Right in your price range, too.

For my setup to be of correct frequency : driver surface area balance, I should have 3 subs per channel (long tall story, literally), but one sub per channel is enough for me.

I haven’t heard a more worthy sub for music in its price range.*

I can anecdotally attest that lifted 45cm clear of the floor, speed and clarity even without DSP has visitors taken aback with bass from my setup. Most of them own or have listened to setups many times the value of mine (admittedly, mine’s not inexpensive).

My only disclosure is that my room is large, but solid concrete, all sides including ceiling; room gain is on the sub’s “side” in my use case. I can’t vouch for drywall applications, but perhaps others can.

*denotes 100% factual comment conveying pure opinion 😆

Thanks for the feedback on looking at the SVS sb-2000 pro and going for two. As for musical I just meant I wasn’t looking for home theatre sound but just a sub for use with music, so not boomy or obvious apart from adding low end that isn’t fully there with the SF. I’ll definitely look at the SVS.

soix+1

You want punch in the gut tight bass? 
or blend just a little something down low? 

First and foremost, I’d recommend getting two subs instead of one. In your price range you can get a pair of SVS SB2000 Pro subs that’d likely sound great in your system. Best of luck.

https://www.svsound.com/products/sb-2000-pro

To better understand what you mean by a "musical" low frequency producer.

Imagine you had two units at your home for audition individually during the same session. They are both properly positioned in your spacious room and adjusted to a point were you can not discern were the speakers end and the unit takes over the low frequency output.

Played individually turning each one off, its apparent one displays a noticeably greater sense of extra low frequency fullness (not loudness) of your main speakers presentation than the other. Which units presentation would you consider to be more musical?