Fastest subwoofer?

I second the Vandersteen 2Wq. If you have the funds, consider a pair of them, and consider an upgrade to the MHP-5 active crossovers. Fantastic subs that are tuneful, fast, and very easy to blend with your mains.

My bad. I have Minuettos and my experience refers to that model. I simply misread your original post.

OTOH, I wouldn't be surprised if all of the older SF bookshelf speakers were voiced in a similar manner (midbass hump) and might be a tough match for a subwoofer. Can't say for sure, though, as it's been too many years since I've listened to the other models of similar vintage to be sure.

Best of luck.

Marty

PS My Minuettos are still doing yeoman's work in my home office, 20ish years after I first brought them home. No subwoofer added.

It might be that no subwoofer will complement your very fast speakers well. What speakers and amps do you have?

01-09-12: Hornguys

Not sure I understand.

If a subwoofer were fast, wouldn't it be a tweeter? :)

No, because in addition to high frequency extension, a tweeter needs wide dispersion. The shorter the wavelength, the smaller the diaphragm must be to avoid "beaming." The woof/midrange unit in the GoldenEar Triton series has a frequency response out to 20KHz. This speed has often been cited as a reason that these midrange cone drivers blend so well with the folded ribbon tweeter. By the same token, Magnepan's end table-style woofer responds up to at least 7 KHz. It blends seamlessly with Magnepan's new desktop mini-panels. Both of these are drivers cross into tweeter territory but are still not tweeters. Still, the speed they have means they accelerate as quickly as the mids and tweets they are trying to blend with.

As to the subject at hand, REL and Sonus Faber are both distributed in the US by Sumiko, and there have been some packages put together by the two companies, such as the SF Toy/REL home theater setup. You could almost certainly get a good blend with a small REL sub. However, for a complete range of dynamics, power, blend, and speed, I think JL set the new standard.

Marten Logan Decent I's are the fastest subs I've heard, but certainly not the best. Your the first one I've heard that think the Minimas are fast.