Price Paid:  $9000.00 from High Fidelity, Inc.

Summary:
I recently attended a demonstration of Sonus Faber, Vienna Acoustics, and REL speakers by their US representative, Sumiko. The wine and cheese were good, and it’s always fun to shoot the bull with fellow audio geeks. The major focus of the presentations seemed to be the REL subwoofers; and although I’ve never really been very favorably impressed with these, or any other, subwoofers in a store setting, it did pique my interest in the possibility of successfully mating a sub to planer loudspeakers. I liked the REL design “philosophy.” I borrowed a REL “Stentor III” for a week and was very surprised at the improvements made with my MG20.1 system. Without the sub, the speakers actually measure slightly high at 25 Hz before dropping down at 20 Hz. I placed the subwoofer in the rear corner of the room, set it to cross at 22 Hz (the lowest possible), and dialed in the level for the smoothest transition, and confirmed it with measurements. At first I just tried musical selections which I knew contained really low bass: pipe organ, synthesizer, flamenco dancers, etc.. This sub did resolve very low bass details which I had been unable to hear with IRS Beta servo-bass towers, or Apogee Studio Grand integrated active subwoofers, or Velodyne ULD-15 powered servo sub. But it didn’t take long to run out of obvious musical bass ammunition, and that’s when I relaxed and began playing more of my everyday music, only to find that a great many, if not most, of my recordings are filled with very low frequency information that heretofore I was unaware. Resolving the lowest frequencies, particularly with live recordings brings you into the performance venue by recreating ambience cues. Dynamics, rhythm and pace, depth, soundstage, and sense of physical presence to instruments are all given new life. I can now hear the body of instruments, the room in which they are played, and the musicians’ fingering, bowing, or other physical contacts necessary to launch the notes. Listening to music becomes less analytical and more emotional. Once you become aware of the difference it’s very difficult to go without it. Unlike other subwoofers I’ve tried with Dahlquist, Acoustat, Infinity, Apogee, and Quad loudspeakers, REL seems to give me all the benefits of very low frequency information, with much better quality than any other bass system I’ve tried, and with non of the usual drawbacks. Rather than buy the “Stentor”, I purchased the “Studio III”, which REL believes to be better than 2 “Stentor IIIs.” I can’t make that comparison directly, but after several days of break in with 20 Hz warble tones and sine waves, and a minor placement change, I feel very happy indeed with my decision! …. Gary

Strengths:
Unmatched resolution, extension to 9 Hz (unverified by me), flexible Xover which allows for very low turnover frequency, no active Xover, easy placement (with very low turnover frequencies)

Weaknesses:
Best used with "full-range" loudspeakers, also very expensive, only 2 polarity settings rather than 360 degree phase control

Similar Products Used:
Velodyne ULD-15, Dahlquist active sub system, Infinty IRS Beta and Apogee Studio Grand active subwoofer systems

Price Paid:  $5000.00 from local dealer in Taipei

Summary:
REL makes several grades of sub with similar specifciation. I ended up buying the top fo the line instead of going for two of the smaller Stadium. My room is not big enough to house two sub so I select studion which has two drivers and still cost more than two stadium put togeter. My equipment consist of Wadia CD system, Krell 250 ARC sp-15 later changed to Gryphon xt and to proprietary ptube preamp and highly modified Dynaco MKIII.
I bought the REL to work with the Apoggee cliper I had. Finding the proper placement for the two were a nightmare both being very particular about placement. Once it was set up I was very disappointed with the sound. It was so bad that I call the dealer to take it back, but instead the dealer send a engineer to my house and rearranged the placemnet of th speakers. Well the sound got better but no where my expectation after paying $5000. They assure that the sub will sound better once it has more than 100 hours of breaking in. So I took their advice and ran the sub 4 days a week wrapped in a blanket for one month. When I finally btook the blancket away the sub openned up a flower in the spring. It sounded so refreshing its unbelievable. I set the cross over at around 30Hz and the sub just blend in in with Apogee as if sound was coming from one system.
I love the way it makes the soudn sweeter and more dynamic not mentioning its capability to deliver low notes take shakes the floor.
For those guys wants to play abit more I highly recommend changing the calbe they supply with a better cable. You will be surprise. The improvement is very apparent. I will not tell you my finding but I can tell I am satisfied.

Strengths:
very powerful, produce the lowest notes with ease, very flexible

Weaknesses:
fairly large at 150liters of volume, very heavy, a bit picky on placement, tends to narrow the sound stage a bit (maybe two will solve the problem)

Similar Products Used:
Hsu, sunfire

Summary:
I use the REL with my JM Labs Mezzo Utopia main speakers to supplement the lowest octave, positioned just to the right of the right speaker. Positioning is critical and I experimented with different locations before settling on the current one. Integration is made easy with the coarse/fine control system. I found that the settings I need are much lower in frequency (set to 21Hz) and gain compared with initial setup using a test disc and sound level meter. I arrived at final settings only after a lot of listening and adjustment.
The result is seamless integration between the Mezzos and REL, with bass running down to very low frequencies such that not only lowest organ pedal stops but the sounds of real life are reproduced with stunning power and accuracy. Whether I'm listening to full orchestral, organ, well recorded wide bandwidth (e.g. the superb second album from Jewel), or TV drama, this subwoofer adds to the experience when material demands and otherwise keeps its presence unfelt.
Its a lot of money (and weight) for one octave of reproduction but has taken my overall speaker system to a new high. For that alone, it was worth every penny.

Strengths:
Huge power, depth of bass, easy integration

Weaknesses:
None