Ondrej Simek

Overall Rating
 5 of 5

Value Rating
 5 of 5

Used product for
More than 1 year

Visitors rate this review
3.50 of 5, 4.00 votes

Price Paid:  $1000.00 from eBay

Summary:
Having built my small home studio equiped with pair of actve Dynaydio Acoustic BM 6A speakers (amazing itself) I came quickly to the need of proffesional grade subwoofer to pull whole hearable spectrum out. Dynaudios are class itself and I'm extremely satisfied with them Therefore it was quite challenge to find the best possible bass extension to fit with them and still keep my limit max 1kEUR. then I spent many days reading reviews, talking with audiophiles and friends. Must admit this forum gave me most of all sources to decide the best option - REL Strata III. Quickly I found good piece for 700Eur in Holland (btw I've realised there's signifficantly more REL offers per capita then anywhere else - probably good distributor's work :) . As I've never listen them before (no distributor in Poland :( ) my curiosity was extremely high when I finally pushed "ON" in my home setup. Already first impression was simply amazing. Sound stage grew up signifficantly while subwoofers stay virually "invisible". After some testing twidling and tweaking I've fixed cutof frequency at 31Hz with volume knob turned at around 2'o'clock. The sound I'm getting is one of the best I've ever heard and couple of my friend's just selling/changing their "High End" couldn't accept it sounds like cheap Tesco minisystem compare tto my sound :) REALLY!
Although I can not say I have ever compared with any other subs at my home, I'm still absolutely convinced I'm getting better sound than I was ever dreaming for!!!!

Remark: I swear I'm not linked to any REL distributor, all claims above are my very honest opinion based on long term usage of my beloved REL Strata III :)

Strengths:
- world champion in the integration with the main stereo speakers (music listening)
- extremely fast, tight and precisely controled sub bass. It's mainly due to closed
construction (no bass port)
- bass sounds very "analog"
- very musical expression
- beautifull executtion
- actually best value for money too

Weaknesses:
- suitable rather for smaller to midddle rooms like mine 20sqm (you can always
use pair of them for bigger rooms)

Similar Products Used:
My equipment used :
Speakers: active Dynaudio Acoustic BM6A
Pre-amp: Technics SU-A6
CD players: Technics SL-P8
Technics SL-P10
Sony CDP-502ES
Sony CDP-559ES
Denon DCD-2560

cathal

Overall Rating
 4 of 5

Value Rating
 5 of 5

Used product for
1 to 3 months

Visitors rate this review
2.00 of 5, 2.00 votes

Price Paid:  $500.00 from Dublin Ireland

Summary:
I picked up a pair of second hand Strata 3 subs and hooked them up to Cyrus 8vs amp and ProAc Studio 110's... the stereo bass effect is great!!!
Easy to set up!

Strengths:
gr8 sound

Weaknesses:
bit big ...

Similar Products Used:
none

jon0008

Overall Rating
 1 of 5

Value Rating
 1 of 5

Used product for
More than 1 year

Visitors rate this review
1.00 of 5, 2.00 votes

Price Paid:  $1000.00 from ebay

Summary:
the rel sub worked for a while but then the main amp burnt out rel charged me the earth to get it repaird and since found out the it was a design fault that that is inherant in all the ST3 range and they have used the same amps in many of there B range subs buyer beware

Strengths:
sounded great then started crackling

Weaknesses:
over heated

Similar Products Used:
mj acoustics

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accurus

Overall Rating
 5 of 5

Value Rating
 5 of 5

Used product for
3 Months to 1 year

Visitors rate this review
5.00 of 5, 7.00 votes

Price Paid:  $1300.00 from Magnolia Hifi

Summary:
After owning a set of Magnepan MG10's I found that my Paradigm PDR-12 was far too boomy on any material past 60hz. I then went in search of finding a better subwoofer. My first thought was go from a 12inch woofer to a 8 inch or 10 inch woofer and have the enclousure be sealed. I wasn't initially looking at spending $1300. Instead I was looking at something around the $400-$600 range. So I went out to my local Magnolia Hifi and listened around. A 8inch Definitive Tech seemed to be the best offering at the time compared to a single 12inch M&K VX125. The M&K felt too thuddy and more of a movie than musical subwoofer. The Definitive Tech seemed musical. After taking the Definititive Tech home I was still not pleased with the setup. It didn't really seem to go low enough, thougnt the speed of the subwoofer was much better than the Paradigm. After I returned the subwoofer to the dealer I decided that unless I was going to spend over $1000 on a subwoofer there was nothing that would meet my needs with the MG 10s. Deciding that the MG10s were far to finicky for a 19 year old I went out and traded then up at Bradford Audio for a set of Magnepan MG12s. I had previously owned a set of MMGs and I was hoping that the MG12s would give me the bigger sound of the MG10s with the better bass repsonse of the MMGs. My theory was right on and I decided to keep the MG 12s and then go in search of a subwoofer. The Magnolia dealer was surprised that I returned the Definitive Tech subwoofer. They suggested I bring in my Magnepans and give them a spin in the store that way I could listen to my own speakers in store and compare them. As well they could have a better estimate of what I needed for a subwoofer. After the dealer listened to my speakers they understood why I was having problems with subwoofer integration. The Maggies are incredibly fast speakers in the bass section and need a subwoofer to augment the low end rather than just play all of the bass notes, and it must be as fast. The first sub they hooked up was a REL Q150E Mark II. Immediately I was shocked by the difference. The sub was well controlled and enchanced the better qualities of the Maggies. Rather than sounding like the Magnepans had a subwoofer hooked up, it sounded more like a larger set of Magnepans. This was exactly what I was looking for. At a $900 on sale I was well over what I was wanting to spend, but I was far too impressed with the sub not to buy it. So I went ahead and picked one up. The Strata III at the time was around $1600. I had heard the Strata II before at a dealer, however I disliked the port noise generated by the sub and it seemed to be not powerful enough compared to the Storm II. A few weeks later Magnolia calls me and tells me they have the Strata III's on sale for $1300 and I can get full price on the Q150 I recently purchased. So I went down to the dealer and had a listen. THe Strata III was a much more enhanced version of the Q150E. In the deeper area of bass, the Q150E would sometimes back down a little bit, where the Strata III would continue push furthur down. As well the Strata was much for powerful and dynamic sounding. When the subwoofer plays lower notes you know it is really hitting them, but the sub is not blowing the room up when it hits that low. The Strata III was much more musical as well and seemed to have more transparent bass that was in the room rather than hard hitting bass that sounded like a movie soundtrack. Plus the Strata III was a sealed enclousure and fixed the problems with port noise that hard hurt the Strata II and was much more powerful. So I decided to get the Strata III. And I was completely happy with the setup, then I found a deal for a second Strata III and went ahead and purchased it. Now I have finally been able to solve all bass issues I ever could have had. To be honest one Strata III was enough, but the addition of the second just made the bass sound deeper and even more transparent sounding. Overall I could not be happier with the sub setup and I will not be looking for a new subwoofer solution anytime soon, infact I will probably keep these subs until they die and then just get them repaired. Rel has a real killer here on the Strata III and two Strata IIIs is probably the best anyone can do for subwoofers unless your willing to spend enough to buy a new home. I would even say the two Strata IIIs would kill anything else in the Rel lineup. But don't worry about getting two Stratas for good bass. One will be more than enough to make anybody happy or at the minimum impressed with the quality of sound that this subwoofer provides to both bass and the soundstage/presentation of your loudspeakers.

Strengths:
Incredible Speed Can play down to the lower range of bass Strong Amplifier ABC dial in setup makes it easy to install Blends in with any speaker Augments the lows and enhances good characteristics of the system

Weaknesses:
None, especially in this price range.

Similar Products Used:
B&W ASW 600, Paradigm PDR 8-12, M&K VX125, M&K MX-60, Definitive Tech ProSub 80, Rel Strata II, Rel Q150E Mark II

DonDeBusk

Overall Rating
 5 of 5

Value Rating
 5 of 5

Used product for
Less than 1 month

Visitors rate this review
4.20 of 5, 5.00 votes

Price Paid:  $500.00 from private

Summary:
OK, this isnt a Studio II, but I dont wish it were. I listen mostly to music and am very particular about tone and timbre, imaging, depth, etc. I bought this unit to add low end to my theater system which to me is far less important than music. I paid less for the entire system than I'd pay for one of the drivers in my main speakers. That said, this piece has impressed me greatly. Some have said that it might get a bit "untidy" at and below 20Hz. Fine. Do YOU hear 20Hz? Does anyone really sit for an hour and listen to test tones? At any reasonable and realistic levels, this sub is rich full bodied and transparent. For example, in the beginning of LOTR Two Towers as Gandalf is battling the Balrog, there is no boominess, or flab; on the contrary, nice tight and full. Others have stated difficulty in set up. I merely set it between my mains, set the frequency to the roll off point of my surround speakers and left it. After about a week, I got tweaky and decided to try it with my mains on some music. wow. Bass guitar got rounder and fuller. There is more trailing edge to the open B (six string bass) to the open A strings. There seems to even be more air around the instruments in bassier chamber recordings. I have several Telarc recordings, which are notoriously bass enhanced and they sound richer and fuller, if less natural. All in all, I would recommend this unit to anyone for either music or cinema. Save your money! Buy this sub and spend the remaining $7500 youd pay for a Studio sub and put it into new mains. A real winner! Dont bother with the Strata 5---- stinks!

Strengths:
Price is amazing for what you get. These can be had for less than half of retail now!

Weaknesses:
I suppose it could use another hundred watts when listening at VERY high levels. WHich I dont.

Similar Products Used:
Strata 5 inhome audition. Velodyne CT150 B&W ASW675