Which sub-help please

I'll second the recommendation of the Velodyne SMS-1 stand alone DRC unit (or similar, like the SVS/Audyssey) with any decent sub of your choice. DRC doesn't guarantee a seamless match, but I can assure you it improves your odds by about an order of magnitude.

Marty

PS - The 18" Velo is a monster with enormous clean sub bass output capability. IIRC, the REL 150 was an 8" model (am I mistaken?) which probably has zero sub bass output capability, but - like many RELs - is excellent down to about 50hz or so. You might look at SVS or Rythmik (my choice) which fall somewhere in-between, Rythmik leaning slightly to REL and SVS slightly to Velo. Either one is probably a good choice and definitely a good value.

BTW all products recommended here are available on a money back in-home trial basis. So, trial away.....

Dred,

Sorry - I misread your original post. The Velo SPL8R is an 8" sub. I know it well, since I own two of them. They offer fine performance for the tiny cabinet size, but....

Trust me on this, I've done extensive direct comparison. If you can accomodate the larger cabinet - the Rythmik is a clearly superior performer - provided you use external DRC like the Velo SMS-1. OTOH a 12" Rythmik and an SMS-1 will cost almost $1200, so it's not really a fair comparison to the SPL8R. Still, IMHO, it's worth the price tag if you can swing it.

Marty

JohnnyR,

As far as I'm concerned, the real question re: bass management is not what Dred's preamp is, but rather at what frequency he wants to cross the signal to his subs. The simple truth is that subs will (almost certainly) be better able to adddress destructive room effects in the octave or so cenetered around 80hz. This is easily (and dramatically) demonstrable with RTA - and we're not talking subtle here.

For best results (in the vast majority of rooms), these frequencies should be handled by the subwoofer(s), even if it means compromising the "purity" of a tube pre-amp. As Bob notes, this will usually require bass management, though your point about the generally poor quality of built-in bass management is taken.

Marty