Price Paid:  $1900.00 from Shelleys Woodland Hi

Summary:
Just a warning to Storm III owners who bought their subwoofer around 2004 maybe into 2005 or 6. REL has changed the configuration of their amp without notifying owners or calling a rebate. I believe the original amp could be faulty, as mine was, and the new version is considerably better. Beware of driver burn up, rarely seen, and try to get Sumiko to replace the amp before your warranty expires or your amp blows.

Price Paid:  $1900.00 from Shelleys Woodand Hil

Summary:
Be aware that REL, sometime since 2004, has changed it's faulty amp to a modified model, possibly 10x better than the old, without telling it's customers or offering a recall. Had my amp not blown out the drivers 2 weeks before the warranty expiration, I would have had to pay $800 for a new one. It is unheard of for these 4 transistors to just burn up. Though Sumiko was very helpful, it is the only facility in the USA to repair REL as private contractors are not given specifications, for good reason it seems, Therefore if you live far from Berkeley CA you have to ship the amp long distances.

The bad news is I've been listening to an inferior product for three years. The good news is the new Storm III is quite remarkable. However, the integrity of REL is certainly questionable in my mind.

Price Paid:  $1800.00 from High Fidelity, Inc

Summary:
This sub sounded "right" from the moment I hooked it up. The first thing I noticed was how every CD I played sounded more detailed... I am hearing things in music Ive listened to for 30 plus years that havent noticed before. Not boomy at all! I would recommend this product without hesitation. It does great on movies also. The D-Day scene in Saving Private Ryan was room shaking.

Strengths:
Easy to set up
Adds detail and acoustic space to Cds and movies
doesnt call attention to itself.
Build quality is first rate.
Can shake walls when called upon.

Weaknesses:
None, I am very pleased with the REL

Similar Products Used:
auditioned M&K 350thx,Paradigm 2200,Def tech,Phase tech,NHT,Velodyne.

Price Paid:  $1280.00

Summary:
All you audiophiles with derisory budgets, hear me for my cause, and be silent that you may hear. Please help us, don't help us.

From the wits of Martin Colloms to Alvin Gold down to Peter Walker, Deep Bass Weight is indispensable to absolute sound reproduction. Our experiences with live concerts attest to our analysis. Bass blows your heart out with natural music.

I think !!! the best appropriate design should consists of a very high quality monitor (horn/2-way) and a very high quality subwoofer (like REL). Crossover distortion is minimized to trifling level. To contemplate searching for the most near-perfect midrange quality speakers, delivering bass weight only up to mid/bass level and its consorted subwoofer should take care of the rest. How about adding s super tweeter (from Tannoy). I'm just trying to imagine the superlative outcome of canorous replication.

Break-A-Leg....and just remember, Hopper's afraid of birds.

Strengths:
small budget equates High-End budget

Weaknesses:
budget for two

Similar Products Used:
BA,B&W,Jamo,Tannoy

Price Paid:  $1400.00 from Ambrosia Audio Video

Summary:
Absolutely agree with Mario. I'd like to add some personal points. I have had two REL Storm IIIs for over 2 years and thought they are pretty good. Well how wrong I was. After a recent upgrade to a better digital source (a state-of-the-art in my opinion), the ModWright 9000ES, I began to realize how impressive a pair of RELs could be. For the first time in my room, with the same amplifiers and speakers and the same CDs, I heard prodigious bass that is fast, tuneful, and impactful. The shaking and growlings of bass notes are all over the room and plesantly give a lot of goose-bumps.

And yes, I spent $$ on better more expensive high level cables, and finally settled with the CAT5 single strand to get that satisfying bass quality. It's no longer a separate lower frequency part of the music; it blends totally with the main speakers so that no one can tell where the bass comes from. I often have to remind myself that the wondeful bass isn't coming from those little HornShoppe speakers, but I frequently fail miserably.

Strengths:
Speed that is on the same page with single driver Fostex and Lowther speakers.
Warm, tuneful, impactful bass quality
Disappear, blend well into the music
Break in time is relatively short compared with some >500 hours on other components.
Superb look and build
Extremely low cut-off frequency (22Hz) makes it easy to integrate with mains.
Great idea of connecting to main amps via the speaker level => No wonder other high end companies follow suit

Weaknesses:
Imported from U.K. so they're not as affordable as other U.S.A counterparts

Similar Products Used:
HSU (owned)
NHT, Velodyne, M&K (auditioned)