What subwoofers are suited 4 audiophiles

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)

They all sound completely useless compared to a larger speaker.

I laughed at one of the latter responses, that they are worthless if you have a good (large) set of speakers.

I am auditioning subs, and the latest one is an NHT SW3 with its amp. The guy might give it to me for cheap.

But with my Vandy 3's, the Sub was invisible, and did nothing to add to the sound, except when I turned the volume to max and increased the low pass to over 80. At that point you could hear it, and all it really did was muddy up the sound of the Vandys.

I knew my Vandys were good speakers, but little did I know that they made this sub useless.

Hard to beat REL in price/quality ratio.

I like the Velodyne DD-series, but read Absolute Sound March issue: the new JL Audio Fathom fl 13 is a tour de force and a fair bargain at $3200. And fare thee well REL fans, no speakon connections to boot...