I had a nice little demo yesterday comparing the baby Velos: CHT-8 vs. SPL-800. The SPL was far and away the better sub (as it should be at 2.5 times the price of the CHT!), but the CHT was surprisingly good for the price. The amp and driver performed really well, and the only thing that really let it down was the cabinet, which didn't seem to be terribly well braced and had a tendency to sing along quite audibly.
But in terms of sound quality - the bass was tight and fast and clean. Not terribly deep, perhaps, but what can you expect from a £300 8-inch sub! It also integrated very easily with the mains, which was handy in a relatively short demo (two hours or so).
The dealer said the step up from the 8 to the 10 is quite significant, and if Velodyne have improved the cabinet any, I'd certainly be inclined to believe him! However, if the cab is the same design (only bigger), it may be no better on that front. Hard to say, but just thought I'd warn you.
Let us know how you get on.
Dunc
P.S. - I have an itchy trigger finger like you, when it comes to this sort of thing, but in all honesty, you would be better off saving up those extra 4 weeks and spending £5-600+ on it. With that you could get an SVS PCi maybe, or a secondhand CHT-15.