Best subwoofer under $1,500 for Magnepan 3.6R


I know that this topic has been covered here in depth over the years and I've already gone back and read those threads in the archives some of which are quite old.

I'm looking to add a powered subwoofer to my Magnepan 3.6R speaker set up which is used primarily for playing 2-channel and 5.1-channel acoutsic Jazz and electric Rock (Rush, Pink Floyd etc...) I use a pair of Magnepan MG MC1 speakers for the surround channels and an Magnepan CC3 center channel speaker. My room size is 19 feet by 12 feet in size.

I've read great things about REL, Velodyne etc.. but most of those are too expensive for my budget. I'm looking for a subwoofer that will work well with my all Magnepan speaker set up under $1,500 new or used.

I appreciate any and all advice that anyone is willing to offer.
southernphoenix
In an AES paper published some years ago, researcher James M. Kates showed that a dipole has smoother in-room bass than a monopole. Two dipole main speakers will have significantly smoother in-room bass than a single monopole sub, which can be frustrating because you can hear the discrepancy.

It seems to me that people who try a single sub with their Maggies eventually go back to using no sub roughly half the time. But people who try two subs are much more likely to keep the subs in their system. It's a matter of quality, not quantity. As a general principle, the in-room smoothness improves roughly in proportion to the number of bass sources spread around the room.

The word "smooth" doesn't sound very exciting as applied to bass, but that's where we get good pitch definition from (dipoles do this very wall, though they lack impact and "slam"). But lack of smoothness can make it hard to get satisfying low-end authority without boom or mud. You see, when the bass has significant peaks, we tend to set the level (loudness of the sub) based on those peaks, because they stick out like a sore thumb. So if we have a +6 dB peak, and we can only tolerate +3 dB, we set the level of the subwoofer -3 dB relative to the mains. However if, because of judicious use of multiple subs, our peaks are only +3 dB, then we can set the level of the subs equal to that of the mains, and have an overall more authoratitive, natural-sounding low end.

Imo, ime, ymmv, etc.

Duke
dealer/manufacturer
I have used an SVS Ultra as my sub for years now with my Maggie 3.6R's. I listen mostly to rock(Hendrix, Petty, Beatles) and find it fills my room with ample bass at a reasonable cost. I also own a JL F113 which I use in my Home theater, so I have experience with other subs. It is plenty 'fast' enough to handle all types of music in addition to rock, like jazz, classical and types I listen to. The only real drawback for me is the size of the cylinder(4 ft tall) which has a 14 inch footprint. I found the price from SVS sound competitive.

Happy Listening.

Rootman