[tesseract]

I have a lovely pair of Cirrus at home and I absolutely LOVE them, I have heard some new systems that incorporated stereo subwoofers crossed at 40-50 hz to work with ported speakers with good lower octaves like the Cirrus but just missing that lowest Octave or two for the world class bass.  I have recently set up a new listening room that is sufficiently sized to not be overloaded by a good subwoofer 20x30 with 7 foot ceilings.  any recommendations for a good sub to cover 20-60Hz at most with musicality, texture, and resolution to match the Cirrus Black?

I have been looking at some of REL's offerings but to really perform well in that super low range my outlay would be as much as my speakers.  Ryan do you have anything planned?  Anyone have any recommendations?  My HSU just does not blend well.  Should I DIY?  What are some good drivers?

I'd like to hear what Vapor could do with a sub. You really can't go wrong with a sealed sub from SVS or any of the Rythmiks. Personally, I'd push the budget a little further and get the Swarm (which I heard recently at RMAF). I would love to hear the Swarm with my Sundogs.

If you get a ported sub, get one tuned low, the lower, the better. Keep the port out of the way as much as possible.

[Pete Schumacher]

I have a lovely pair of Cirrus at home and I absolutely LOVE them, I have heard some new systems that incorporated stereo subwoofers crossed at 40-50 hz to work with ported speakers with good lower octaves like the Cirrus but just missing that lowest Octave or two for the world class bass.  I have recently set up a new listening room that is sufficiently sized to not be overloaded by a good subwoofer 20x30 with 7 foot ceilings.  any recommendations for a good sub to cover 20-60Hz at most with musicality, texture, and resolution to match the Cirrus Black?

I have been looking at some of REL's offerings but to really perform well in that super low range my outlay would be as much as my speakers.  Ryan do you have anything planned?  Anyone have any recommendations?  My HSU just does not blend well.  Should I DIY?  What are some good drivers?

Ryan's got a couple of OB subs each using dual 15" Acoustic Elegance woofers in a "ripole" type of enclosure.  They sound amazing even though peak output is somewhat limited.  You might convince him to lend them to you for a while and see if they meet the need.  Their footprint is small too.

[seadogs1]

Pete, how about some pictures and details on Ryan's sub. Please!!!!!

[Bob in St. Louis]

Ryan's got a couple of OB subs .....

Ryan has come to the dark side? 

[fex02]

It has taken years of therapy for him to admit he likes SUBS!

[Pete Schumacher]

Ryan had 4 AE 15" aluminum sub drivers in his basement for a few years.  We put them into a Ripole enclosure to take to an Axpona event maybe 3 years ago.  Their small footprint made transport and room placement pretty easy.  The drivers are excellent quality and even if the OB implementation dramatically reduces total output at very low frequencies, they still fill in the bottom octaves very nicely.  They're certainly nothing special to look at, just a rough finish painted black in order to easily disappear into the room.  He hasn't used them since that show if that gives you any idea of his thoughts on the need for subs.

This is a good representation of the look, just all black.  But the back of the woofer does not protrude through through the walls as this picture indicates.

[Bob in St. Louis]

That looks familiar.   
https://vimeo.com/25941468

[bajaed]

Stlrman sold me a really nice servo sub he had built by a guy in Pittsburgh.  Sounds great and blends very well with my Breeze. The waterfall Bubinga looks really nice as well.

UPS tried to rip the amp out of it in shipping but I screwed it back in and everything works fine.

[geowak]

I'd like to hear what Vapor could do with a sub. You really can't go wrong with a sealed sub from SVS or any of the Rythmiks. Personally, I'd push the budget a little further and get the Swarm (which I heard recently at RMAF). I would love to hear the Swarm with my Sundogs.

If you get a ported sub, get one tuned low, the lower, the better. Keep the port out of the way as much as possible.

I would agree with tesseeract. I think the Swarm looks great, but I have not heard it. His gif is cool too, and I have seen that.

[Eugene2]

If you have Cirrus Ryan already has that issue solved.  He can make your Cirrus 95-98% of the Joule by adding the Joule bass modules, he did it for me the only difference with the Joule is the smaller Raal used in the Cirrus.

[Duke]

I'd like to hear what Vapor could do with a sub. You really can't go wrong with a sealed sub from SVS or any of the Rythmiks. Personally, I'd push the budget a little further and get the Swarm (which I heard recently at RMAF). I would love to hear the Swarm with my Sundogs.

If you get a ported sub, get one tuned low, the lower, the better. Keep the port out of the way as much as possible.

I'm embarrassed to admit that we only had two of the four Swarm subs operational on Friday and Saturday at RMAF.  In my haste to get everything set up, I had tightened down an input connector onto the insulated part of a wire instead of onto the tinned conductor, and didn't double-check until Saturday night.   

[jtwrace]

I'm embarrassed to admit that we only had two of the four Swarm subs operational on Friday and Saturday at RMAF.  In my haste to get everything set up, I had tightened down an input connector onto the insulated part of a wire instead of onto the tinned conductor, and didn't double-check until Saturday night.

It did sound wonderful once working though!   

[Vapor Audio]

If I'm building a subwoofer for myself, the way I want without compromise, I'm using our stacked ply 10:1 tapering TL cabinets and the AudioTechnology woofer of choice.  That combo is untouchable in tonal accuracy and density, from my experience.  For power I'd wait on the newly announced Dayton Audio DSP plate amplifiers, or use whatever amp along with a standalone DSP. 

The AT woofers are very expensive but deliver what nothing else can.  You could get close and save quite a bit by using the Acoustic Elegance TD15H+ as well. 

There are no shortage of lesser subwoofer options on the market, and it's impossible for us to compete on price with many of them.  But they're almost all compromised in one way or another.  Question is do you just want good bass, or do you want bass that matches the articulation of your mains all the way down to 20hz?