What subwoofers are suited 4 audiophiles

Aktchi, I think you are correct.

Duke

I am looking for an accurate sounding subwoofer that will blend gently into my system and not be so noticed

Bear in mind that your ears are far more sensitive at 80Hz than at 20 Hz. 100 Decibels at 10 Hz is barely audible....a mere 30 decibels is audible at 80 Hz!!!

Ideally this requires a subwoofer with EXTREMELY low distortion figures or else you will hear added harmonics or noise in the 80Hz to 120Hz range! (although some will be very satisfied with their purchase when hearing all this overwhelming bass distortion, which confirms the presence of a new subwoofer)

Here is a guideline; distortion will not be audible if the second-order distortion is below 3%, the third-order around 1% and the higher harmonics are around 0.2%. These specs are gruelling and rarely, if ever, achieved in subwoofers! Your should be looking for THD+N of less than 1% at rated output!

With help from Telarc Corporation, Dolby labs tested 12 commercial subwoofers and published their results (no names were given). They concluded that none of the subwoofers tested was able to meet the distortion and noise criteria required over the frequency range from 12 to 100 Hz. (Psychoacoustic data was used to define audible distortion and noise levels) Here is the reference for the paper; JAES Volume 36 Number 6 pp. 443-456; June 1988 "Subwoofer Performance for Accurate Reproduction of Music".

If you seriouly expect similar audiophile quality as your main speakers than I would plan to spend at least as much as your main speakers on a subwoofer, spending a lot more won't hurt either!

The Revel Ultima Sub30 is far and away the cleanest and most controlled sub I have ever listened to (or owned). It has the features (adjustable crossover, 3-band eq, phase control, etc), speed and finesse to blend with the finest speakers out there. I'm currently running mine with a pair of JMlabs Micro Be's and results are pure magic. The integration is absolutely seamless without touching the wonderful tonal balance of the Micro's. The scale and power the Sub30 adds to the lower octaves is staggering. I strongly recommend an audition. Happy Listening!

Thank you for your inputs.
Was wondering, can I get away with a small cabinet sized subwoofer and still get that accurate smooth blending low frequency boost that I am looking for that disappears in the main speakers output?
I am hoping to get bass that sounds natural and life-like. At this point I am getting an incredible life-like sound with my merlins/apogee ribbons combo. I know it sounds crazy, I had the ribbons off for the longest time thinking it was wrong to use two tweeters, that was around the time of the upgrade of the tonearm with graham which was a TREMENDOUS upgrade, so I used the merlins only. Just the other day I decided to try the ribbons again and since they act as dipole I am getting that lifelike presence from my system that was even better than without the ribbons. It may be too early to say with certainty so I am not saying definitively that this is it, I am totally content with the merlins. They do a better job than speakers costing more, set up in show rooms. The merlins do get the listener engaged! And now I am hoping to add a subwoofer to blend in nicely. thanks

Was wondering, can I get away with a small cabinet sized subwoofer and still get that accurate smooth blending low frequency boost that I am looking for that disappears in the main speakers output?

IMHO, No! If you want accuracy at realistic SPL levels then plan on something with at least a 12" woofer, large Xmax, a beefy sealed cabinet and high power amplification (500 watts)....remember the sub has to keep up with your Merlins and it has to do this over the most challenging frequency range for a loudspeaker. ( A tweeter is easy, mid range is tough, bass is harder again, but extreme LF is the hardest of all)