musical sub

Rythmik Audio with their sealed design and servo technology are hard to beat for their price point. Fast, articulate, musical with absolutely no flab or boominess. I chose them for the very reason you are looking for a sub... music first HT, second. Due to the size of my room I bought two F-15's from Rythmik Audio. That's a ton of bass for the money. Highly recommend them.

FYI, Rythmik drivers are quite popular in the DIY market.

Since your Anthem already includes ARC, one extra bit of flexibility you might look for in a sub would be adjustable Q. The Rythmiks have this feature (I use two 12" Rythmiks and agree with Dawgyte's recommendation), as do certain SVS models.

Marty

Personally, I like B&W. I think they're good speakers. Thin sounding? Perhaps, but almost anything that doesn't have big woofers can sound thin, particularly in a big space. My Aliantes sounded thin in my room- until I got the JL sub. It integrates so seamlessly that now the Aliantes sound like thunder. It's as if the bass is emanating from the mains, not the sub. It's not just JL products that can do that for you- most anything that's fast and offers a lot of flexibility- can and will do the same for you. The thin sound will vanish if you choose wisely. You may find with a sub that you no longer need speakers as big as your B&W's- a bookshelf monitor may be just as good or better.

Still learning just remember that as you quoted sometimes they seem too bright and other times quite nice and enjoyable that this can also be related to the recording;I am not familiar with your speaker but sometimes recordings can be bright.

Afc

Interesting post, you got me to realize a couple things. I have not properly considered the room dimensions. It is 13 feet wide by 36 feet long and is a family room evolving into a kitchen at the other end. There is lots of floor stone and flat ceilings and furniture. That probably does need the high quality sub to help out with. I also need to rethink the room correction Arc measurements in the Anthem D2.

Then, I always thought that monitors would outperform bookshelf speakers (ie. my 804's vs 805's). But you seem to say that may not be the case. Why would that be? I know if my 804's are compared to top end bookshelves of the highest quality from priemere makers that is obviously the case. But maybe you have more ideas on this chemestry?

Again, thanks

ps, yes, some recordings are bright and that is the problem with good equipment. It shows what a good and a poor recording do to music.