SVS or Velodyne

The only REL that would "boom" would be one not set up correctly. How can someone judge a REL when the only one he has heard is their entry level model, which happens to still be better than many subs regardless of price. Since it takes a $2500 vps to out gun a $1000 Stratus, REL must be good.

retail price on vmps' top-line sub is $700. compare the specs of the vmps larger subwoofer on spl, frequency response, & distortion to that of *any* sub, including rel's top-line $3k model. re: the stratus, i would prefer *no* sub, to the stratus, regardless of price. the reason i had a chance to hear it in my house at all, is that my brother-in-law brought it over after failing to get it to integrate w/his proac 1.5's, in his ~13x17 room. they were on the way back to the store. too much loss of transparency & imaging...

i *have* heard the more expensive rel's & the top-line velodynes, but not in my house, only in stores. i have yet to hear a set-up w/seamless integration, or where the bass frequencies didn't draw attention to themselves. perhaps all the stores are incompetent, but for ~$2.5k-$3k *each*, for these subs, i'd expect a bit better.

ymmv, doug s.

Read the reviews at Positive Feedback, Soundstage and Bound for Sound. Do searches at AA and AR. This is a phenominal sub. The Titan II is excellent competition for the REL Stadium III.

I just bought a pair of B&W cdm1 NT speaker.I need help for choosing right subwoofer or matching with b&wcdm1 nt speaker.some one help?

Velodyne makes lots of different models/series. They perform very differently, one to the next.  It's been a while, but IME the large cabinet models are pretty good, the little guys less so.

Sealed SVS subs (along with Rythmik) tend to offer great measured performance for the $.  I replaced a pair of small Velos with a pair of 12" Rythmiks five or six years ago, and I'd do it again In a heartbeat.

REL would require some research, as I think they've substantially re-worked their older designs,. Those models were usually audiophile favorites, but performed poorly on deep bass tests. (For whatever that's worth to you - measurements mean different things to different folks).  The newer models may well test better, anyway.

htshack.com has a pretty comprehensive database of subwoofer test results if you're interested.