Subwoofer for classical music listener

Well, I hope I am not one of the discouraging one's. My point is, subs can be great, but the Total Cost of Ownership is a lot higher than people realize to use them well.

Thank you, Al, for your input. It is much appreciated!
Tim

I use 2 REL subs I bought used at different times, a Q150e 150 watt front firing 10" single driver, and a Q108e MKII 100 watt single 8" down firing…both from the same era, both in perfect shape costing around 200 bucks each (Ebay). I join them at the amp by sticking the appropriate wires (Canare star quad) into AQ spades and attach them all to the binding posts. 100,000 ohm ratings on each sub make them transparent to the amp’s output using REL’s "high level" Speakon input. My main speakers are relatively efficient and since changing to a 12 watt per side SE amp there is less amp signal going to the RELs now at any level (simply because the mains need less power to get the mojo), and the frequency has been set to 40 hz or so as the main speakers are good to that point (trusty test CD showed that). I personally don’t need any digital nanny DSP stuff in my listening room as the sub placement and sub level make great integration with the mains simple and effective…plus I don’t want any extra gizmos in the signal chain. Interestingly (to me anyway), with this new setup at my normal listening levels, the subs don’t seem to be working as hard (based on feeling how hot they get) and the whole rig is amazing sounding with everything I listen to, including loud classical. So, be like me, do what I do, and everything will be fine.

(((People suggest I should change amps instead, but I'm really happy with how perfectly the NuForce amps match with my system.))
 
That's great....
  Sometimes you must go 2 steps backwards in order to get 12 forward
If you put a pair of 2WQs that are sealed and high passed
with your sealed main speakers and a real amp you will be way ahead of a one ported sub with digital amps while also chasing an in room bass hump that spoils your mid range.
 Best,
 JohnnyR

Wolf_Garcia 6-4-2017
So, be like me, do what I do, and everything will be fine.

Hi Wolfie,

Your advice is good, as usual, for many circumstances. But I suspect that understandably you haven’t read through a lot of this lengthy thread. If you had done so you would have seen that the outputs of the OP’s amplifiers cannot be used to drive a powered sub, as their + and - output terminals are offset from ground by 24 volts. Also they are monoblocks, which presents additional complications.  And while most or all REL subs have 100K input impedances on their speaker-level inputs, as you mentioned, most or all of them have 10K input impedances on their line-level inputs. Which is too low for his preamp to drive with good results, in combination with the 22K input impedance of his amps.

So while you and a number of others in the thread have suggested REL subs, they would not be a good choice in this particular situation.

Tim (Mr_m), you’re welcome!

Best regards,
-- Al