other then bose what amp could drive

What are the specs please?

any conventional receiver or integrated...most are greater than 30wpc and should deliver just fine.

not so sure about that - don't Bose products use proprietary connections between the unit and the speakers?

It's Bose...does it really matter?

It's a closed, turnkey system. Not only does Bose supply the amp, it has built-in equalization optimized for this woofer and the Bose satellites. You could drive it with any number of amps, but unless you know Bose's equalization curve (which is proprietary), you'll be guessing as to how to shape the signal to the Bose speakers.

There are so many better speakers for the same or less money. You could save a lot of hassle and get a big improvement in sound with something from PSB, Paradigm, or Energy. Their subwoofers go lower and have built-in amplifiers, and you don't need some factory-secret EQ curve to mate their speakers with an amp.

Johnnyb53...With automatic room equalization readily available (Behringer DEQ2496 for example) there is no such thing as a "secret" equalization curve.

As I have described in another posting I have Bose 901 speakers in my HUGE swimming pool room, where, contrary to all audiophile opinion, they sound good. I use a Behringer DEQ2496 instead of the Bose-supplied equalizer, and this makes a significant improvement. The required equalization for the 901s is extreme, and the digital DSP in the Behringer can handle it better than the analog circuit of the Bose equalizer.