subwoofers and panels don't mix

Only a horn has the transient speed and "air" to keep up with a panel????
Any responses?

A horn subwoofer would need a huge chamber. If it were folded and made of concrete (so the walls did not introduce distortion) then it might work but we are talking dimensions of 30 feet or so. If you are thinking ported or TL design then the transient response will not be as good as a sealed box.

What about the Wilson Benesch Torus "infrasonic generator?"

I have yet to hear them, but from what I understand the push pull design and extremely low mass (half an ounce) of the 18" driver supposedly makes it extremely fast, and would seem like a perfect match for stats.

Can anyone comment on them?

You would need a massive BLH sub. Or 2 stay clear of klipsch w bin yuck. Or maybe consider a 31.5 in super woofer in ported cabinet. The Fostex 31.5 in was amazing transient reponce very low excursions massive cone area so matchs up great with planars or stats.

Somewhat further OT here:

NHT's lifestyle "woofer" system is being closed out at Audio Advisor (I get their mailers) @ $300 per. This isn't really a "subwoofer", but it puts two 10" drivers in a very slim sealed box (app 6" deep) with IIRC a 200 watt amplifier. Max extension is something like 38hz @ unspecified spl/unspecified THD.

Observation: Since the narrow cabinet puts the front of the woofer 6" from the wall, cancellation effects should be minimal.

Observation 2: Max excursion of the drivers is unspecified, but can (presumably) be limited by employing multiple units in the room.

Question: If you scatter 4 - 6 of these units in your room ($1200 to $1800) how do you suppose performance would compare with conventional subs in the price range?

I'm not in the market, but the question crossed my mind and I wonder what you guys think.

Marty

Soundlabs are reviewed as having very good realistic bass, so a sub should not be necessary.
However before I got the Soundlabs I was going to try out a Klipschorn bass unit that I managed to get hold of - my theory is that it would make the ideal sub

I agree with Johnk - stay away from bass bins - far away.

Gordon Holt used Soundlabs (very fast) for many years before switching to ATC speakers (fast with panel-like mids and more dynamics). An 0.1/15 ATC sub will probably integrate with panels as good as if not better than most anything else - only problem is they are $7K which is like twice what a good JL subwoofer costs. If budget constrains you then check out a JL F112 first and see how that sounds (it is great value for a tight/fast sub).

On another point - how would you stop the bass from a poweful sub (like a JL or ATC) from interfering with the panels - surely the giant panel surfaces will be influenced by the air vibrations in the room. What I mean is this - when I play music loud then I can feel all the surfaces vibrating as they respond to airborne LF vibrations. Obviously a woofer with a huge magnet will be tightly controlled and remain unaffected - this is unlikley to be th case for a huge surface area of a panel in a relatively weak force field.