Subwoofer for Ayre AX-7e?

of course there are other good options.  We just happen to be vocal. I have enjoyed many speakers out there in various set ups.  I like the Maggies a lot.  I like the ET's for the price if I'm the only one listening.  In the upper ranges I like the Tidal's, Rockports, Kharma's and a few others.  Most to me in the upper ranges are so large that they raise the soundstage and don't sound good to me.  

What any in the Vandy crowd will also say is to go listen for yourself to various speakers.  Then use YOUR ears and don't listen to what a sales person may or may not be telling you.  Make sure to take the remote away from the sales person as they will OFTEN raise and lower the volume DURING the song to show off dynamics etc...  

Bring your own music adn don't just listen to what they have hand chosen to show off the best of the speakers.  Listen for the worst of them.  Can you be happy with the trade offs the maker has had to make.  All speakers, regardless of cost, will have a trade off.  

Vandy's to me are a great speaker and in the various price ranges are the ones that I have chosen to put my money on.  Since it's my money, why would I get something that I didn't feel was the best in my price range?  It works great with the zero feedback, high current Ayre AX5/20 I have.  I had the 7e, but the 5/20 is a different beast all together.  

OP can buy whatever he or she wants and should.  That's fine, but when posting on a board, they will get so many options and opinions and it's up to them to figure out what way to go.  Subs are such a slippery slope for all the reason's posted already in this thread.  For so many who do upgrades or add a sub or change cables or power filters etc.... they need to figure out if it's worth the money and can they get something better that would sound better than the upgrade.  

How much will a pair of good subs cost?  If OP were to sell their speakers and then add the cost of a good set of subs, then how much would they have.  Then they can go figure out what full range speaker they could purchase that would work wiht their current system.  Often times this is the best way to go, but not always.  

I'm a huge Vandersteen fan since I have spent a fair amount of money with them over the last 5 years. I feel blessed daily for being able to own them.  If I were to consider the 5k purchase of a set of new subs, I have to ask myself, is this the best place to put 5k into the system.  This is just my thought process and I know most don't do it this way.  

So at this point I'm quite happy to check the 1Ci out and see if it does it for me. I'm quite hoping it does and that it has the low end I need to not pine after subs.

That being said, between the Ayre and Vandy lovers here, I haven't heard anyone cop to the fact that the AX-7e requires, relative to other integrateds, some considerable gymnastics to integrate subs. I just find that odd in a modern amp. Don't get me wrong, I love the Ayre. And if the Vandy floor standers solve my issues, then great, but if someone wants significant bass with a bookshelf setup, how does this amp make sense? Really just a curiosity to me at this point. I don't need to be sold on either the Ayre or the Vandy. I'm more interested in how folks engage the design issue. 

It’s really not that complicated - I did it for years: Connect the sub speaker level, positive leg only. Connect the negative leg of the sub to the chassis of the amplifier. No need for high-end cable; just use hookup wire. Easy. 

You’re missing the fact that the Ayre integrated is fully-balanced. This is why the approach needs a bit more consideration than other amps.  

@ctsooner I think you mistake me for the anti-Vandy crowd. :) Not taking issue with your liking and recommending a brand, and certainly not trying to start a flame war or even a debate. But my general sense is there is a tendency here (and on the internet, and in society in general) for people to take a perfectly legitimate personal perspective, e.g. "I've tried Brands A, B and C and I really like A for these reasons, maybe you will like it too," and begin pushing it into the realm of "THIS IS THE ABSOLUTE BEST FOR YOU IT WILL FIX ALL YOUR PROBLEMS."

This is by no means limited any particular "crowd," and my observation is it leads to polarization and ultimately less helpful information for people like the OP. When we start obsessing over brands, we stop talking about the concrete pros and cons of the products (keeping in mind that EVERY product has tradeoffs) and it becomes hard to process anything useful. Of course we assume a "YMMV" caveat on what people say here, but I do feel this tendency is rampant and detracts from the quality of discussion. So I might be (over-)reacting here and trying to adjust for that.

(I'm a reviewer on the side, so I try to hold myself to a pretty high standard in terms of providing a useful, balanced perspective - I blog @ www.taww.co. But ultimately of course this is just a forum, and people are free to say what they like. )

That all said, I do take a bit of issue with this notion that a subwoofer is not worth the trouble. I agree this is the case with the vast majority of traditional subwoofer setups. At the risk of contradicting my anti-fanboy rant, I wouldn't lump REL subs into the same bucket as others. I really have found my REL T-9 very versatile - much more so than an earlier REL model I tried and returned maybe 15 years ago - and with very little downside with a wide variety of speakers. I also use a single sub and it works just fine. Maybe my standards for bass are a little lower, but keep in mind, bass-limited speakers have advantages over full-range ones too. The larger, more resonant cabinets and/or more complex crossovers of floorstanding speakers require a lot of skill (and usually expense) to tame vs. smaller monitors. I find when one goes from the 2-way to 3-way/floorstanding offering in a manufacturer's line, many aspects of sound quality (particularly speed and coherence) actually take a step backwards, and it can take a lot of money to get those back in the larger format. That's why the 2-way monitor format continues to thrive and is often the best compromise in a wide variety of circumstances, the key operating word being "compromise" - everything is a tradeoff. In my own case, I'm only now starting to look at floorstanders more seriously now that I can stretch my budget closer to the $10k range (e.g., I'm interested in hearing the Vandy Treos/Quattros). But given OP's ~$1200 budget (I think?), finding a floorstander with the focus and crispness of a good monitor may be tough, even on the used market. In that context, I wouldn't rule out a sub, it could potentially add a lot of enjoyment to his system.

@nrenter I agree, dealing with the Ayre is not that bad, and just one of the things you have to live with given the balanced architecture. I don't think the OP is necessarily "missing" that, just hoping for a better solution. I do think Ayre could have made life easier by providing a ground post (I'm guessing they did not do this because people don't understand what a ground post is for and would just hook up the wrong things to it and muck up the sound). Also the hum when putting the amp in standby is annoying, it means I have to burn ~60w continuously leaving the amp powered, or go turn of the sub every time. I use the sub for the TV as well so that's not an option.

@jazztherapist another speaker option is something like the Silverline Prelude, a little above budget ($1500) but you may be able to find one used. I reviewed the original model maybe 10 years ago and thought it was very good, making good on its promise of sounding like a focused mini-monitor with bass punch and dynamics. It’s been revised and improved since I reviewed it, and I know other Silverline models work well with the Ayre. It’s an easy load and pretty efficient. It won’t do sub-40Hz bass but will give your music a solid foundation. If you go used, find out when it was manufactured - the newer models have a different tweeter (silk vs. titanium) and some improvements. If you’re serious about it, I can ask Silverline’s Alan Yun to lend me a pair to try with my AX7e.

If you really like the bookshelf format and can figure out how to stretch your budget later, I recently reviewed the Minuet Grand ($2k). Even if you can’t afford that, it might give you a sense of the Silverline "house" sound, and what you can expect if you step up from the Epos.
http://taww.co/post/170777975517/review-silverline-minuet-grand-loudspeakers

Going even further up, if oomph is what you crave, I have a feeling you’ll really like the Dynaudio Special 40, but that’s way out of range ($3k) and I think the speaker deserves more current than the AX7e can deliver. I will think about some more options closer to $1k. I’m almost afraid to mention Elac as it triggers some strong responses here. :) But I will say I was pretty impressed with the UniFi UB5 in a modest setup. It’s full and punchy, but quite inefficient and the impedance dips low - Elacs tend to have complicated crossovers, I have a feeling they’re a no-go for the AX7e.

(@ctsooner you are more than justified to call me out for being a Silverline fanboy now. :-D )