Subwoofers for Martin Logan CLX's

Please don't laugh (too hard)

It's not exactly state of the art but I use a single Janis W1 sub with Acoustat 3 speakers and it is a great match. It's very fast and blends really well when crossed over at about 50Hz. I would not recommend using it with its original Interphase amplifier because it shrinks the soundstage among other things. I'm sure that the Rythmik is amazing but the Janis with a decent crossover and amp, or even a Dayton subwoofer amp fed at speaker level sounds wonderful. A Marchand Sub amp would be perfect. I first bought one in the early eighties but sold it. The one that I use now cost me $41.00. The slot-loading and short-excursion driver permit the Janis to mate well with electrostatics in a non-EDM oriented system. Well, that concludes the low-budget section of today's discussion.

Thanks so far for the recommendations. Just to clarify my friends not interested in budged level subwoofers. I don’t think he will even consider lower level gear at this point or DYI options. His tastes and budget are in the upper audio gear level. I can’t see him buying an entry level subwoofer when he already has RELs top models from ten years ago. He’s looking for an upgrade to what he already has. He will most likely buy two REL sub at $30,000 if I can’t convince him to change directions. I’d like him to buy some OB servo subs from GR reasurch but he is hard to convince a sub below $2000 will out perform the top REL’s. But I’m trying. 

Let your friend buy whatever RELs he wants.  I'm not sure why he thinks the latest models are a sonic upgrade.  He might also consider stacking 3 or 4 RELs to a channel if he really wants to take it to the next level.

Sounds like he’s already made up his mind, but if it’s me I’d strongly consider four of their S Series subs in a swarm over two Reference Series subs for about the same price.  Four really good subs will outperform two excellent subs in room IMHO because physics is physics (read foremost sub expert Todd Welti’s research for more info on why).  He won’t do it but just wanted to throw it out there FWIW.

Sory I think I may not have been clear.

Soix:  The swarm idea is actual an option and not a bad one considering his room size and system issues, i.e bass room nodes.

I was referring to the Janis suggestion of a 15 year old sub, as good as they maybe I’d never convince him its an option but thanks for the suggestion.

I do know he’s looking at subs out of the EU can’t recall the name, but they feature a dual driver slot loaded configuration.  They are twice the price of the REL’s though.