Need help finding a subwoofer that is...

I did not know the Merlins were $7000 to $8000 speakers. The REL Stratus a $1300 sub (and a steal at that price). So the Talon being a $4000 sub should be better although I have never heard it. The RELs in that class are the Stentor $4000, Stadium $3000, and Studio $80000. There are lots of links to reviews available on these subs at REL's website and Audioreview.com

I am very familiar with the Rel products. The StentorII is amazing and fast enough to keep up with the Sonus Extremas that we use it with. Fast and accurate and it can shake the room.

I can really recommend the Velodyne FSR or HGS series subs. Sealed box, front firing, adjustable corner points, a reasonnably steep slope to cut the subs top end off (12 DB per octave increasing to 48 DB per octave after the first octave)and they are QUICK. I've had both the HGS & FSR subs and I feel the older FSR series sounds better for a given size cone. The high pass section is quite transparent and lets the benefits of bi-amping come thru, however, your corner point is limited (80 or 100 HZ)and the slope shallow (6 DB per octave). The good news is that the FSR series can be had cheaply on the used or N.O.S. market (about $800 for an FSR-12, for example). If you want a steeper slope to cut off the bottom of the Merlins, you can go to an outboard electronic x-over from Marchand (highly recommended)and bypass the internal x-over in the Velodyne (called sub woofer direct, or something like that). These guys are as quick as the RELs (an excellent series of subs by the way)and can keep up with my Apogees. Good luck.

i tried the rel stratus - typical one-note-thump is what i heard. i like a pair of vmps larger subs w/a quality outboard x-over, like the marchand xm-9 deluxe version, & a pair of beefy decent solid-state amps. my entire setup - subs/x-over (bought new)/amps (one new, one used), cost under $2400. can't touch it for anything near the price, imho. doug

Bag end elf processor/crossover (1,700) and 2 S 18's.(700.00 each). Stereo subs puts bass image in the sweet spot right with the mids and highs. Smokes rel, velodyne, and others. Paired with decent amp or amps you will not miss the one note character of all other sub system that operate above resonance. Blends seamlessly with Kef 3's.