The best Subwoofer

I just got my 2nd Aerial Accountics SW-12 to go with my B&W Nautilus 802's. They "blend" in very well thanks to all the adjustments you can make on the SW-12. The nice part is they have a 400W build-in amp.
I was very impressed when I got my first one as I finally heard what was missing on my 802's especially when playing organ music. However, it's quite a difference when you have a 2nd one connected.
The only draw-back is they are a bit pricey but worth the money.

best subs i've heard are the sub towers of the infinity irs-v's. i'm sure subs of the $135k genesis top model full-range speaker are similar, as they're a similar design, done by the same guy. next best are the vmps larger subwoofers, and they're an absolute steal at the price. no other that i know of can go as low, play as loud, w/as little distortion as these. and, being passive, they offer the ultimate in flexibility for matching any speakers, allowing ewe to choose yer own amplification & choice of x-over. i tink the fact that they're forward-firing, not down-firing, also helps make them easier match w/monitors. caterham1700, i'd wager that a pair of these w/a marchand xm-9 x-over and a quality s/s amp would allow ewe to seamlessly blend w/*many* different monitors. even full-range ones.

ymmv, doug s.

ps - i've never heard the kinergetics sw800's, but from what i've heard about 'em, these wood be worth checking out. (but only infrequently awailable on the used market). jim, a frequent contributor here, successfully mates 'em w/martin-logan cls', & these are notoriously difficult to mate subs with. and, jim's into alfas, so he *must* know what he's talking about! ;~)

Check out Paradigm Servo 15. I have had one for 8 months and am quite happy with it. It blends with my Reference Active 40s, center and surrounds by the same company.

I won't say the Paradigm Servo 15 I use is the best thing out there but I will second Beam's post and add that it is damn good for the dough. Maybe the best sounding serious sub for the money. I don't take any of the "little wonder" subs very seriously. Once you get past the gee-whiz factor they just don't sound as good. Better yet two can be purchased for the price of things like the Muse 18B or Aerial Sub and in my experience two good subs sound better than one great sub when placed carefully.

You can't really expect much from the high-pass section of any sub crossover so if you are really critical about transparency you should run your main speakers full range. You lose any overall increase in system dynamics but you don't mess up everything else just for a few extra dbs of headroom. Using the adjustable low-pass on the crossover, bring the sub(s) in where the mains fade out. Variable phase is a very usefull feature also allowing you to better match the sub to the mains. I've been using Servo 15s with a pair of Paradigm's X30 crossover boxes with Merlin VSMs in a very high end system to great effect for a number of years.

Hey Doug, you beat me to the punch. I would suggest that the SW800's are probably just about as good as other forward firing, multi-driver subs for most speaker applications -- can't say for sure since I haven't heard them outside of the CLS application. I think this general design (used by VMPS, Genesis, Infinity and others) makes for faster, more articulate sound than single-driver, downward firing subs. Also, as Doug pointed out, passive subs allow for far more flexibility in amp and crossover selection and quality. Front firing subs benefit from positioning along side of, rather than behind, speakers (critical with dipoles and bipoles). What really makes these subs excell with CLS's is the crossover and Compusound software that was designed specifically for the speaker, and the fact that they are line sources. So, yeah, these are the best subs on the planet for CLS's. Although software modifications were once available for other speakers, this really is a dedicated sub system for the CLS. Given their scarcity and sometimes unreasonable asking prices, I would recommend other similar designs in non-CLS applications. I also strongly recommend getting behind the wheel of an Alfa and staying on the throttle for different but equally satisfying music ;-)