I demoed a R505 unit for several weeks. I mainly used the unit for 5 channel sound (i.e., movie applications) and for two channel applications, I attached to my main speakers as instructed. After some time, I also experimented with attaching to my center channel speaker.

My overall impression of the unit was good, but the quality did not blow me away (although I wanted to be blown away!). The unit performed adequately in terms of impact and punch for purpose of movies, although I did find slightly of the "boomy" side. I did experiment a lot with position and crossover setting, etc., this can be quite complicated. I never did seem to find a perfect set of conditions. For some DVDs there was a noticeable boomy character, especially when I was using in a center channel application..but this might be the fault of the DVD, who knows?

The R505 provides deep clean bass reproduction while allowing user flexibility in mating with your speakers.The R505 has an adjustable crossover from 25hz to 100hz which aids big time in blending with any speaker

Non worth mentioning

I currently own a Rel R205 after auditioning a R505 I could only afford the 205 but when I stumbled across a going out of business sale the R505 fell in my lap and oh what joy .The R505 is a very musical deep bass machine,I hear my music like never before notes I did'nt recall hearing before.Movies are a room shaking affair, accurate and precise bass reproduction.I use both the R205&R505 in my system and they both satisfy although the R505 takes the show up a couple of notches.Rels are pricey so if you can afford one go for it ,they might not be for everyone but I saw them improve my sound on par with far more expensive speakers my fronts are Snell E5.

Customer Service

Rel is sold through Sumiko who are not bad to work with they know thier products

Similar Products Used:

Paradigm,Definitive tech,Snell,Sunfire.