Quality

none

Never thought much about Subwoofers in a music system but afer reading some
of the articles here and in hifi magazines i got interessted.
But good subwoofers are rear to find in the stores so i ordered one at a local shop called
"the Hifiwinkel", where a very enthousiastic man gave me a additional advise how to adjust
the controls.
After a few weeks i finally got the Strata III and hooked it in my system.
I only could place the sub. 15 cm in front of my left speaker , other location were not practical
because of the space problems.
The first weeks i experimented with the gain and the frequency control and found the
most sactifactoy gain position at 9 o'clock and the freq rolloff at 43 HZ
At that time the sub was only 15cm from the side wal.
But i wasn't fully pleased with the sound and a pushed the sub 15cm further from the sidewall
, so it is now 30 cm from the wall. This action and the final setting of the volume control
at 10 o'clock and the frequency at 41Hz made me very happy. (It took me two months)

room size : l=8m w=3.60m
room envirment : carpet and a lot of plants and furniture close by the speakers.
stereo equipment is between the speakers.

system:
Speaker: Translator Stylus one ( i glueed underneath the box a 7 Kg weight of solid steel)
Linn intek amp (mid/high, pre-amp connected to a separated transformer )
powertek (low)
Rega Planar3 (changed internal wire of arm, ringmat, rega Exact)
Marantz CD80 (changed opamps from analog device)
Interlink : Transparent link
Speaker cable : Symo Ls5 (mid /high)
cogelco (like the vdHul scs12 , low)
Mas powercord
All chasis are damped with bitumen also i used lack C37 ( www.ennemoser.com)
thru out the system. On all cabels are shakti stones and i use also Harmonix enacom toys.

Music: Jazz, classic, pop

Very versatile sub, due to wide ranging tone controls and inputs. Blends extremely well with my Martin Logan Aerius i's using Neutrix connection set at B1 (32 Hz). Adds palpability and depth to soundstage without boominess or lag time. To me, the Strata III is deep, tight, and right. Beautiful cherry wood veneer.

None, if your main priority is listening to music. If you're using 5.1 channels and dolby digital stuff, then you're probably looking for a differnt sub.

First, let me note that I live in a high-rise condo and use my two-channel system mostly to listen to music (rock, jazz, classical). Hence, I wasn't really looking for a huge sub to fill a concert hall or movie theater. My main objective was twofold: (1) to resolve the lower octave gap while still using my electrostats and (2) to add depth and palpability to the music without sacrificing the soundstage. The key to redressing these issues was to find a sub that would not draw sonic attention to itself, but could blend extremely well with my audio equipment, especially the fast ML speakers.

My primary listening system consists of the following equipment:

1. ML Aerius i's
2. Innersound Electrostatic Amplifier
3. Innersound Preamp
4. Arcam FMJ CD-23
5. Roksan Tuner
6. Theta Progeny DAC and Monarchy DIP II used for Panasonic DVD A320 Player
7. Analysis Plus Oval 9 Speaker Cables
8. Transparent and Cardas interconnects and power cords
9. Monster HTS2000

Given the layout of my condo, I had really only one place to set the REL (very close to the left of the left speaker). Thanks to the tone and volume controls, its location was not a problem.

Finding the best bass level blend (for me)took about two hours total on two different nights as I listened to a wide variety of music and adjusted my ears to heretofore unheard depths. For me, the main concern was to avoid boominess, so I tried tightly blending the sub with the ML's 8" woofers without crossing too much into their territory. I settled on 32 cycles using the Neutrix connection to my amp.

Mission accomplished! Listening to Patricia Barber's live album, I discovered I could hear the vibration of the bass strings as the bass player strummed. To get an even tighter bass string sound, I phase reversed (mode 3)the sub. Wow! Listening to the kick drum was ear opening too. I could pratically count the number of hairs on the drum stick pad. Everything became deep, tight, and right. Moreover, my soundstage improved. The heretofore phantom singer with the ethereal voice in my soundstage actually materialized and became a real person singing directly in front of me. That's palpability.

Lastly, I find I can now listen to music at lower volume levels and still feel the bass. That should save me a few pennies to pay for the sub.

Similar Products Used:

Velodyne HGS models, B&W models

Soundstage. A sense of integration and smoothing the sound.

I have used the REL Strata III with Sonus Faber speakers and I can say that it improves on all aspects of musical reprodution. With a cut-off frequency of 42 Hz, the bass became tigher and deeper, as one would think so. The efects on upper registers are subtil but very interesting. Vocals became more open and with a sense of easy and midband is larger, smoother and with a bigger soundstage. All of this without losing any of the special qualities of Sonus Faber speakers. And excellent product and an easy upgrade.