Subwoofer for Ayre AX-7e?

So in other words, the Ayre is relatively un-user-friendly for adding subs into my system. At this point, per JohnnyR’s recommendation, should I look at a full-range speaker option and lose the monitors + sub idea? First time i’ve actually had a twinge of regret owning the Ayre. Love the sound, but what's up with that?

Thanks for all of the feedback and suggestions. It’s a fair point that the M5s are the weak link. They’ve served me just fine in the mid/upper freqs for the last 12 years and so I’ve really wanted to fill out the low end in a way that wasn’t going to amount to new speakers. But the Vandersteens sound like a serious top-to-bottom upgrade so perhaps I need to approach it more holistically. I just don’t want another set of speakers, however amazing, that still leave me wanting substantially more bass. I don’t have new mains AND a sub in the bank account right now.

Cool, I’ll look into the 1Ci ... price is right for what it purports.

@taww: Thinking about your remarks re: limitations of the Ayre single-ended. I’ve wondered what I’m losing running my RP8-->Lehmann Decade single-ended-->Ayre. My Schiit DAC running balanced into the Ayre brings me to tears. But I feel like I’m never really going to hear vinyl totally right unless I figure out a balanced path. So, what, I save next for the P-5xe, too? Grr.

So at this point I'm quite happy to check the 1Ci out and see if it does it for me. I'm quite hoping it does and that it has the low end I need to not pine after subs.

That being said, between the Ayre and Vandy lovers here, I haven't heard anyone cop to the fact that the AX-7e requires, relative to other integrateds, some considerable gymnastics to integrate subs. I just find that odd in a modern amp. Don't get me wrong, I love the Ayre. And if the Vandy floor standers solve my issues, then great, but if someone wants significant bass with a bookshelf setup, how does this amp make sense? Really just a curiosity to me at this point. I don't need to be sold on either the Ayre or the Vandy. I'm more interested in how folks engage the design issue. 

Circling back to this thread with a particular question for folks familiar with REL's subs: Does the Arrow wireless system solve any issues with the high level amp to sub connection problem that some have mentioned here?