Best multi-purpose subwoofer

Rythmik, HSU, SVS, JTR, PowerSoundAudio (co-founder of SVS). With my preference being the first two.

I don’t think anybody makes better subs than these brands in regards to bang for buck (the >$10,000 JL Audio Gotham is hardly worth it other the $2300 Rythmik G25HP).

Well, also should mention BIC and Dayton for entry level budgets.

However, not all models from the brands mentioned take high level inputs.  
  
REL is garbage for home theater, even their >$7000 flagship is only -6dB @15Hz in-room. That’s is pitiful, even the cheapest sealed Rythmik is -6dB @12Hz anechoic.

I have a Hsu 15" subwoofer in a rather large cabinet.
Well integrated with the room and other speakers, it is better than every single sub out there that is not well integrated.

My point is, good integration is worth almost everything, and this is something few ever get to hear. I'd shop not just for a sub, but for help setting it up, otherwise i"d shop for the one with the best auto room correction if I didn't already have it, and talk to GIK acoustics for help.

Best,
E

batman1971,

     The REL Storm III sub woofer consists of a single 10 inch (250mm) long throw bass driver,not 4 drivers, that faces downward in a large cabinet ( 16.5"w x 24.5"h x 13"d; 60 pound).   It is powered by an internal 150 watt amp, not a 1,000 watt amp.  
     Dsp and room correction can be used with the Swarm bass system but is not required or necessary.
 
 Tim

@noble100 


I think we meant the Swarm.

noble100,

Thanks Tim for your perfect post and this excellent link http://www.theabsolutesound.com/articles/audiokinesis-swarm-subwoofer-system/

Uncommon around here, I actually clicked the link and read the whole article. Being cursed with excellent long term audio memory every word of that review rings true. I can't enter a large space like a concert hall without immediately being aware of the size of the space by the way it sounds. Even without any sound. The space itself generates its own acoustic signature. Something completely lacking and lost in every single system I have ever heard, regardless of its ability to play impressively low bass. 

Also uncommon around here, I just don't like to go banging my head against the wall, or throwing money down a pit. Which, just how long does it take to try every possible sub location and listen and understand what you said, the single sub solution simply does not exist? Possibly an infinite amount, to judge by the responses to your post. Or an afternoon, if like me you actually do the work and listen (and measure). 

Between reading your post and reading the absolute sound review I actually followed the link erik provided and spent a fair amount of time reviewing various sub designs. Which there definitely are some great ones for getting awesome bass outdoors or in very large rooms. Not in a home. In a home they are all just more head banging and money pitting.

Why don't more people see this?

Oh well. I've got enough experience to know what to discount and disregard and what might actually work. Thanks to you I now for the first time in years have something that might actually work. 

So you helped me, at least.

Thanks!