From a technical perspective (beside the fact that they are also among the most musical)- REL Q150E,201E,Strata or Storm.
NO OTHER sub will let you hook up via high level and low (LFE) inputs simultaneously AND let you USE them bot SIMULTANEOUSLY. The key here is that if you have good main speakers that go down into the sub 40Hz range, you want a sub that has the ability to assist them, whether it is music or HT that you are using.
When hooking up via the high level inputs in stereo playback, the sub gets the same output from your amp that your mains do, except that you have set a cutoff that allows the sub to take over where your mains roll off.
When using the low level or LFE input during movies or multichannel music, your sub is getting its input from the ".1" channel info. This info is set up via your rcvr, and the cutoff is dictated the rcvr and the info is sent based on .1 content and the remaining info from the other speakers depending on whether they are set to small or large.
Will all other subs, you have to choose between using your low level or high level inputs. For HT or multichannel use, if you choose the high level inputs on these subs, you will lose your .1 channel info and the remaining bass your other (center, surround) speakers can't handle. If you choose the low level input, you can retain this LFE info and the assist for the surrounds & center.
However, here is where the problem lies. Lets say you have the cutoff set to blend with your mains - which you have set to large. And lets say they roll off at 35Hz, so you set the cutoff to 30Hz for a nice blend with your mains. Your center and surrounds cannot handle much below say 80Hz, so you set them to small and their low freq. info gets routed to the sub along with the LFE info it's already processing. Two things go awry in this situation - 1. You have info from the rears/center below 80Hz getting sent to a sub that has its cutoff set to 30Hz. You'll miss the bass in the 30-80Hz region. 2. I believe with most subs the same thing will also happen with the LFE stuff. This assumes the cutoff works for both low and high level inputs. Your other option, which is also not good, is to set the sub cutoff higher (say 80Hz) in which case you have reclaimed that lost bass info, but now you have to choose between bass boom from the overlap of your mains and the sub OR setting your wonderful mains to SMALL and losing their low end performance. This may be the least of all evils, but I want MY MAINS to do their full performance and the sub to assist.
The REL subs allow you to use both inputs simultaneously with this KEY point - when you use the high level inputs to assist your mains and set your cutoff to 30 HZ, you can also be using the low level input WITHOUT CUTOFF, processing ALL the .1 and center/rear assist AT THE SAME TIME.
I hope I haven't droned on and confused. If so, perhaps someone else can clarify.
FYI, other subs that do well in music and HT (but will have the problems mentioned above) are:
M&K V75, V125 and up
MJ Acoustics Pro 100 and up
Chris
NO OTHER sub will let you hook up via high level and low (LFE) inputs simultaneously AND let you USE them bot SIMULTANEOUSLY. The key here is that if you have good main speakers that go down into the sub 40Hz range, you want a sub that has the ability to assist them, whether it is music or HT that you are using.
When hooking up via the high level inputs in stereo playback, the sub gets the same output from your amp that your mains do, except that you have set a cutoff that allows the sub to take over where your mains roll off.
When using the low level or LFE input during movies or multichannel music, your sub is getting its input from the ".1" channel info. This info is set up via your rcvr, and the cutoff is dictated the rcvr and the info is sent based on .1 content and the remaining info from the other speakers depending on whether they are set to small or large.
Will all other subs, you have to choose between using your low level or high level inputs. For HT or multichannel use, if you choose the high level inputs on these subs, you will lose your .1 channel info and the remaining bass your other (center, surround) speakers can't handle. If you choose the low level input, you can retain this LFE info and the assist for the surrounds & center.
However, here is where the problem lies. Lets say you have the cutoff set to blend with your mains - which you have set to large. And lets say they roll off at 35Hz, so you set the cutoff to 30Hz for a nice blend with your mains. Your center and surrounds cannot handle much below say 80Hz, so you set them to small and their low freq. info gets routed to the sub along with the LFE info it's already processing. Two things go awry in this situation - 1. You have info from the rears/center below 80Hz getting sent to a sub that has its cutoff set to 30Hz. You'll miss the bass in the 30-80Hz region. 2. I believe with most subs the same thing will also happen with the LFE stuff. This assumes the cutoff works for both low and high level inputs. Your other option, which is also not good, is to set the sub cutoff higher (say 80Hz) in which case you have reclaimed that lost bass info, but now you have to choose between bass boom from the overlap of your mains and the sub OR setting your wonderful mains to SMALL and losing their low end performance. This may be the least of all evils, but I want MY MAINS to do their full performance and the sub to assist.
The REL subs allow you to use both inputs simultaneously with this KEY point - when you use the high level inputs to assist your mains and set your cutoff to 30 HZ, you can also be using the low level input WITHOUT CUTOFF, processing ALL the .1 and center/rear assist AT THE SAME TIME.
I hope I haven't droned on and confused. If so, perhaps someone else can clarify.
FYI, other subs that do well in music and HT (but will have the problems mentioned above) are:
M&K V75, V125 and up
MJ Acoustics Pro 100 and up
Chris