Short list of musical subwoofers

@mijostyn

Describing a sub as "musical" is odd. Turn everything else off except the subwoofer and play a record. Does that sound musical? Aside from the sub moaning and thudding away you will also get to hear the rest of your environment buzz and rattle. The music masks it. Subs add visceral impact to the music and when used correctly unload the bass from the main speaker increasing headroom and lowering distortion. I suppose you could say they make the main speakers more musical. None of the subs mentioned incorporate a high pass filter for the main speakers so one might assume that none of them are musical.

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First, at least I know SVS SB 1000/2000 has a built-in HPF fixed at 80Hz. If you connect RCA line out from preamp/DAC to SW line-in and then connect the SW line-out to power amp, the power amp will filter out anything below 80 Hz (at some slope) and only send the higher freq. to the speakers.  Second, being a "musical" SW is also to do with the connection based on my understanding.  A SW aimed to provide more musical application should have a high-level connection, like Rel T/ series all have high level input via a Neutrik connector, which allows the amp puts out the same analog signal to SW as to the speaker system to achieve better integration.  On the other hand, the Rel HT series (for Home Theater application) do not have a high-level connection.  Mr. Paul Mcgowan provides better explanation for it as below.

Oldhighway...Yea we get you don't like Rel...I think we got the message maybe 8 or 10 post ago...

Missioncoonery, yea kind of like we get the message that you don't like Tekton either, like 600 or 700 posts ago. 

@lanx0003 , That is a great first step. Good for SVS.  I disagree about high level connections. The best way to integrate subwoofers is to use digital bass management which is a combination of "room control", crossover selection and Time/phase correction. If done at 192/24 with a 64 bit processor the corrections and crossover are invisible and the improvement in the system's overall performance is something I wish everyone could hear. All this could be done in the context of an active subwoofer but it doesn't seem the industry thinks consumers will pay for it. Personally I do not like active subwoofers. Passive subs allow much more flexibility and if you build the subs yourself from kits or your own design the savings can be huge. There are many excellent subwoofer drivers available. There is absolutely nothing special about any of the commercial subs. The key to low distortion is large and multiple drivers keeping excursion distances down. 

@tomic601, there is not just one best but several best solutions depending on the room and main speaker type. No system is perfect including mine but perfect is a good target to shoot for. Commercial subs are a matter of what colorations you can tolerate most. There is no such thing as a "musical sub."  You can use subs to make a system more musical. The trick is in doing as little damage as possible. Many people refuse to use subs because the applications they have heard do more damage then good or perhaps they had a bad experience. This is more common than not.  There are contradictions in use that have to be balanced. A good example is the crossover point and slope. The higher the crossover the more you clean up the main speakers but subwoofer drivers produce very colored midrange and you have to keep them low enough to avoid hearing them in the midrange. You can use steeper slopes but doing so can make the sub more noticeable as the transition becomes sharper. Digital bass management allows you to experiment with crossovers to find the right solution for your system. I can change crossover points and slopes on the fly from the listening position and AB solutions. 

If anyone thinks a subwoofer is musical, turn the other speakers off and have a listen. If that is musical perhaps you are smoking too much weed?

Actually 800 post ago but I do see you mix it up a lot on this forum so your error is forgiven