Who are some of elite sub woofers?

The problem with subs is it is impossible to get uniform, even and powerful deep bass with just one or even two subs. Also they cannot be located symmetrically the way the two main speakers are or you only make the inherent uneven response even worse. A minimum of three (and four is much better) located asymmetrically are required. The good news is using 4 allows them to be quite a bit smaller. The best solution seems to be here: http://www.audiokinesis.com/the-swarm-subwoofer-system-1.html

Here's a technical article essential to understanding subwoofers https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BxgUOGOB5HbfR0JTRF9XZjkyUms/view

Thank you all for insight.
Budge I'm guessing $1500 but thought about only one?Millercarbon suggested 3-4? That would change budget considerably.

No, it doesn't have to be expensive. All the comments so far are people following the old method of using one, or sometimes two, really big and powerful subs. Using one or even two means they have to be big and powerful. Using 4 means they can be much smaller.

But that's not even the biggest benefit. 

The real problem with subs, which you will discover real fast if you try, is lumpy, uneven bass response. This is for every sub made and there is no way around it. This is why I said "impossible" above. Its simply a fact of physics. 

So here's what happens. You stick the sub somewhere. Does not matter where. You listen. You hear more bass. Great. You're so happy. But then you notice its one note bass. Above and below that one note it drops off real fast. So you move the sub. Now its a different note. Turns out there's a whole thesis research paper study done on this with exhaustive measurements proving it is impossible to achieve even bass response with just one sub.

Or even two. Or even three, but its getting closer. Four and you are there. More is even better, but not a lot. Four is the sweet spot. Nice even powerful bass from 4 not very big subs.

That's what you want. Read the papers. Save your money. 

Wow, Duke in the house! This is pure gold!

Warning: The following three paragraphs go into some technical stuff. If you don’t like technical stuff, please skip them. 

A single equalized sub can give excellent results in the sweet spot, but often makes things worse outside the sweet spot. This is because the room-interaction peak-and-dip pattern is specific to that sub location and that listener location. Thus in other listening locations the peaks and dips will have moved around, such that in those locations the EQ could be boosting a peak and/or cutting a dip. 

With a distributed multisub system, the multiple dissimilar peak-and-dip patterns sum at any given listening position, and therefore tend to smooth one another out. The only way they could fail to smooth one another out would be if they were identical, and that won’t happen unless the subs are all in the exact same location. If there is still a significant residual peak or dip, chances are it’s present throughout the room, and therefore is a good candidate for correction via EQ. In other words, a distributed multisub system actually makes EQ more effective (though less likely to be needed), because its benefits are more likely to extend throughout the room.

And "smooth" bass is "fast" bass, because it is the in-room peaks which decay more slowly than the rest of the bass spectrum and therefore sound "slow". Yes we can hear the difference in perceptual "speed" between different types of subs, but that goes back to which is creating the biggest in-room peaks, and it will be the sub that is loudest in that region. 

Anyway imo you are WELL ahead of the game with three distributed, equalize-able bass sources. Earl Geddes, whose ideas I use (with his permission) in the Swarm, later moved to using three independently-equalized subs, with the equalization settings generated by his own proprietary algorithm from in-room measurements. I’m no Earl Geddes, so I’m still using his first-generation four-piece distributed multisub concept.

I wish I had sufficient economies of scale to do a $1500 budget-Swarm system... alas, not even close. The labor cost on the boxes doesn't go down significantly as the box size decreases, and labor is my biggest cost.  

Duke

Three paragraphs I wish could be pinned to the top of every subwoofer thread. This is like one of those puzzles, where everything seems impossible until you learn the trick, and suddenly its easy. Don't brute force it with one. Finesse it with four. 

High on my upgrade list for this year. Very high!

Right, harley. Because of the physical impossibility of EVER finding the right ONE.

Its simply physics. Because bass frequency wavelengths are much greater than any residential listening room then any one sub source will inevitably create lots of lumpy bass. Equalization can't really fix this, for the simple reason it can only work at one location. So whatever boost equalizes that one location that needed it inevitably boosts in other locations that don't. The resulting overhang from excessive energy at those locations loads the room creating muddy bass. Which people then try to damp with tube traps, a never ending process of slapping band-aids on a problem that cannot in fact ever be cured because it is inherent in the physics of waves and walls.

Duke says it better but after having read through a lot of the research and corresponded with him a fair bit now I am confident that is a pretty accurate summary of the problem.

In fact as I may already have said elsewhere this exactly matches my experience across many rooms and speakers and years, although I never really brainstormed the answer. All I knew was no matter what speaker and no matter where it went and no matter where I sat the measurements and sound never ever would be right. Of course not. Because it can't be. Not with just one or two subs.

The problem is not which subs are used. No single sub can ever get there. With four subs however suddenly it becomes easy!

That is why I've just ordered four of the  Morel Ultimate UW 1058 10" Subwoofers from Parts Express. These are some outstanding drivers and they have them right now on a hard to beat deal that gets you a quality sealed cabinet included for free! https://www.parts-express.com/morel-ultimate-uw-1058-10-subwoofer--297-130

There's plenty of MDF just sitting in my shop, right beside the table saw, and the router. But free is hard to beat. 

It'll take a while to get here, even longer to find the time to it all together (April, more'n likely- but couldn't let that deal slip by!) but then finally, finally I will have some world-class accurate smooth powerful and tuneful full range bass.

Someone will I'm sure be happy to buy my Talon Roc. You want one? Its at least as good as any of the other miracle subs people seem to think work so well.