Subwoofer advice please


I'm hoping to find a little bit of clarity with your help.

I've got the itch to buy a pair of modestly priced subs, (SVS SB13 Ultra or REL S/3 SHO).

Here is my dilemma; I use a PrimaLuna Dialogue Premium HP driving a pair of rebuilt and completely upgraded Quad 2805 speakers.

The PrimaLuna has one subwoofer out. Okay, great I think.

My dilemma is when I research proper subwoofer integration almost all posts and articles state that an external crossover is needed to really dial in the sound.

Obviously I can't do that with the PrimaLuna.

It would be less expensive to sell the Quads and upgrade, (a topic I'd love to talk about) than to buy a new front end and hope that the subs worked out for me.

Any help or advice is greatly appreciated and if you're ever in SE Washington state I would repay your kind advice with world class bbq and cool, refreshing beverages.

Thank you in advance,

Bob
jzzmusician
I'm not sure why you think you can't add an external crossover and EQ. What you won't be able to do is add a high pass filter, which means you won't be able to cut the power your Quads use.

That's a nice to have, but not an absoulte. Much more important are being able to set the delay, crossover slope and EQ on the sub.
I run a pair of REL SHO S5's and I was blown away at how easy they were to setup, so easy I read the manual over and over again thinking I had missed something.  

Placing and tuning them took about 30min but I had professional help from Jim Smith who voiced my room.  Had he not been there I think I would have eventually got it pretty close, he just dramatically cut down the tweak time. 

The REL's are the most seamless and invisible SUB's I've ever owned, pretty amazing...
jzzmusician-

go with the REL S/3 SHO.
Keep us posted on your buying decision.
Happy Listening!
You can connect a REL between the integrated and your speakers using their preferred and proprietary high level (speaker) cable. After an in home comparison the REL is literally the last subwoofer I'd ever choose. But hey, they have their following, mostly their only subwoofer experience. 

You can connect most any subwoofer from the single (summed) subwoofer low line level (RCA) output of your integrated to the subs corresponding RCA input. Or...

 http://syzygyacoustics.com