Subwoofer advice sought

@big_greg I have not heard a DBA system and I was really commenting on the first response to the post stating:

Low bass improves the sense of envelopement, feeling like you are in the soundstage instead of it being just in front of you.

I think DBA is probably a good way to combat room nodes and help distribute bass evenly. Good to hear it doesn't envelope you and place you inside the sound stage which would be an unnatural presentation in my view. I would like to check it out sometime, although it would been completely impractical to integrate into my mainly listening space which isn't dedicated to listening - it's my living room. Life's a balancing act of priorities ;-)

That first response was of course me. There's people here for whom no amount of explanation or clarification will ever be enough but since you've muddied it up misinterpreting me yet again I might as well try. 

"Low bass improves the sense of envelopment, feeling like you are in the soundstage instead of it being just in front of you." In hindsight for those short on imagination it might have been better to have said recording venue instead of soundstage. 

Because it seems you've misconstrued me to having said DBA makes it feel like the instruments and singers are way off to your left and right and behind you like some quadrophenia acid trip. When all I really said was it increases your sense of envelopment. 

Which you will know when you hear one, and I would be happy to demonstrate, if we don't have to worry about killing each other being in the same room. Relax you will be perfectly safe. I'm BLS certified which will come in handy when you pass out from the shock of realizing I actually know what I'm talking about.

As an owner of a REL S5 SHO I think REL's are amazing subs for 2 channel. Just make sure you match the right REL to your Totems. If your Totems go down to 28 hz as another member posted here, then you probably need to go up the REL ladder a bit. At least to a 510SE or maybe the 812SE. The REL website has a tool that helps you match the right REL to your speakers.

Good luck and be sure to post your thoughts once you make the purchase! :)

The Totems do not go to 28hz to any meaningful degree although that's noted as an "in room" spec meaning room boundaries are needed to get anything close to that (another spec on the site lists it as 30hz). There might be a small amount of sound at that frequency but a sub is certainly the answer. I use 2 older RELs in my system but you can certainly start with one and add another later as I did, and it does make a big difference to use multiple subs for a more balanced room sound. A good sub (even only one) "charges" the room and provides a sense of reality to a system as music has ambient stuff lurking in lower frequencies that are lifelike and make everything seem more real, thus enhancing the main speakers sound.