I went from Sunfire Signature’s to SVS’s then to JL Audio F113v2’s. It would be a cold day in hell before I parted with my JL’s. Just saying!
I love my dual SVS PB-16 Ultra’s but I don’t have to worry about WAF. It’s in my man-den. So long as she’s a part of the decision to spend the money, she gives me a LOT of leeway on placement and such.
My system is dual purpose, Music and Home Theater.
My vote goes to the SVS SB-3000. I like being able to have complete control over the sub from the same iPad I control Roon from. If it matters to anyone, it got an ‘A’ rating in Stereophile’s Recommended Components for 2020.
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I would love to control my subs from my chair.
Or would I?..
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You would 
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As a REL G1 owner, and user from my chair, I can say ‘you would.’
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Once you can, there’s no going back to controlling it manually.
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Well folks, I have succeeded in my quest for the perfect bottom octave solution. Thanks to you guys I’ve decided to step over my Chinese child labor problems and bought me a pair of REL T9i’s. I connected them with RCA’s since I don’t believe that “sound of the amplifier” crap. I think I got lucky in adjusting and tuning cause I was listening to way more speaker in less than 15 minutes.
So thank you all very much for all your advice, it really worked for me. Much appreciated for sure.
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It’s definitely not BS.
For years, I used RCA’s with all of my subs including these old and inexpensive Polk subs and the JL e110’s that are sitting in the closet, and multiple SVS subs in years past.
I can honestly say there is a vast improvement in sound quality with both the JL’s and even more so with these Polk’s when feeding them a high-level signal straight from the main amps. They get tighter, cleaner, more detailed and more tuneful, not to mention they blend a LOT better with the main speakers. They also seem to have a little extra grunt on the bottom end.
I urge you to try it. What do you have to lose?
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Agreed, it is well worth experimenting.
And “beliefs” are by far not the best way to make determinations of audio quality. Your system does not care if you believe in it, it instead responds to however it is setup.
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Those REL T/9i subs indicate a low frequency cutoff of 28 Hz (6 dB down as well). That doesn’t sound like very low extension. My full-range floor standers are rated at 20 Hz (2 dB down). Not sure a sub would do much for me unless it’s massive!
I agree, you are right. I will and let you know the results. Gimmie a week or two…?
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I am sure you have great standers. Me too… I think… Now I have those two REL’s next to them I have even bigger standers. And what I did not share with you guys is that this is my office setup. Y’all know my primary setup which has even bigger standers. Anyway, I am glad I have the decision making out of the way. Feels like work… 
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That’s a hell of a nice office system. Wow!
A sub can help a full range speaker by helping to even out bass response. As you know, low frequency waves cancel each other out and otherwise misbehave. A sub or two in locations different than your main speakers makes good bass easier to achieve. Plus, it takes incredible energy to create bass flat to 20Hz, adding subs makes this more likely to occur.
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I am a bit late to the party and honestly I did not read all of the posts. As I always do. I shall recommend MJ Acoustics. It is sort of 1985 REL. Made in GB not China. Your budget will afford a very nice one. It is a very musical sub. It is not really a home theater sub. Made for 2 channel not multi. It will not get you in the gut. I have their best one. They measure it freestanding to 13hz. In my room I measure it down to 7HZ flat! It still has very little “punch”. If that is what you are looking for, look at SVS then. If you can extend your budget to the Windsor with haggling you have something world class. It goes for $5500. I haggled mine to $3800. Otherwise the reference 200 series is below your budget and plenty good. Just google them if you have any interest. I personally cannot see paying for REL’s ‘G’ series when made in China. That is just me though. Nothing against China. I just think they are putting a huge margin on it. If you like musicality in a sub I think you might really like these.
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Here’s what I was able to achieve with stand mount ATC with 6.5" woofers and dual 12" sealed subs. These measurements were used to create multiple sets convolution filters to further refine and have different ‘house curves’ at my disposal. I thought this was a pretty good starting point. It took a good number of hours of adjusting position in the room to achieve along with fine tuning of the phase to further smooth the response. The room is quite asymmetric as well hence the different response and suck out at 25Hz in one channel and at 58Hz in the other.
No smoothing
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I hope to lay my hands on one or two B&W 825:s… Since I have the 802:s I expect those to be a perfect extension down to 20hz.
Can you share more about your process and tools to get to this point?