Kenwood Receiver Quit. Onkyo maybe???

Yes, it has the controls (push buttons) on top of the sub. Thanks for your suggestions gear, I'm going to check out Klipsch and Mirage next.

 

look for things like this.....

the lowest frequency the sub will hit @ peak power

spl of sub, the higher the better, but not as important as in your main speakers..

cerwin vegas are good, but very boomy sounding (me no like em)
i personally have a polk sub psw404 series, i got it for cheap..

bass radiates, so you don't know where it is coming from, but if you can tell, then its not a good sub.

my cousin had 2 velodynes long time ago, them things rattled you off the couch. but they are a tad bit on the high side of $$$
shoot, look for open box values at circuit city and best buy, sometimes they sell the demo units for a fraction of the cost.
but just make sure the sub does not over power your existing speakers.