Are REL the most Musical Subs?

Deep_33 

what other subs do you consider more musical?

No, REL is absolutely not the most "musical" sub. There are several manufacturers who make better subs, more "musical" as well.

I have a pair of S/510's with Tannoy Autograph Mini's in a near field setup (7 feet away) with the subs far removed from walls and corners. The integration with the Tannoys is perfectly seamless, even following their field of imaging and making the subs pull a disappearing act as good as the Tannoys. The Tannoys bottom out at 100 hz and the RELs fill in from there down to 25 hz with no problem whatsoever. Asking a sub to crossover at 100 hz is asking a lot, which is the reason why the RELs are expensive. This setup only costs about $7,500 and will probably out-perform some floorstanders selling at three times the price. When you listen to something like this you instantly notice what is missing without subwoofers.

I don’t know, I just perused the SVS site and the prices seem about the same as REL?  Maybe I’m missing something…

Sure the REL is a bit better, but it’ll also cost you multiples the price of an SVS sub for similar bass capabilities, and for a HT application you really need to think if spending double or triple for the REL is worth it.  Plus for HT low frequency extension is more important and that’s not a REL strong suit until you spend big bucks.  I think it’s highly unlikely you’d be disappointed with SVS for HT, but it’s your $$$.  And while bass is omnidirectional especially below 80Hz, two subs pressurize the room better and can better deal with modes/nulls and just flat out sound better than a single sub — no contest and no question about that whatsoever. 

My experience in my REL is also that it’s the most musical sub I’ve ever encountered.  Besides Paradigm I’ve also owned subs from B&W, Sony and Polk .

  I’ve heard good things about SVS.  If they are roughly equivalent to REL I’d just stick with the known quantity.  I also like that TEL is sold by a dealer that I have a long history with.  I’ve come to hate having to ship bulky audio products and be at the mercy of the likes of UPS.  Now if the SVS was vastly superior to REL I might be tempted…

  I don’t know if multiple subs would really make a difference?  25 years ago the thinking was that bass was unidirectional and that a properly set up sub should do the job.  Of course the dealers will try to persuade one otherwise 

Several thoughts as I’ve recently done a bit of research on subs:

• REL makes good subs but do not have a monopoly on naturally integrating into a system. Any good, properly-positioned and dialed-in sub will integrate seamlessly.
• You should seriously consider adding a second sub especially to your 2-channel system. Two subs can provide substantial benefits over just one and three or four even more so. But two subs should be considered a minimum as it’s such an improvement over a single sub.
• Placing a sub between the speakers is very rarely the best place to get optimal in-room performance from a subwoofer, so having to place the sub elsewhere could very well work to your benefit especially if you do some basic homework on optimal sub placement (I can provide some helpful links if desired). This is even more important for your 2-channel system if you haven’t already addressed this.
• For your HT system I’d recommend SVS subs for several reasons. They offer good performance and high value as they sell direct, include a very helpful app to make integration much easier, have excellent customer support, and they offer a 45-day, risk-free trial including shipping both ways. I’d recommend two SB1000 Pro subs as they’re small/inexpensive yet still get you to an honest 20Hz, but if you’re constrained to one sub an SB2000 or SB3000 will still provide a very satisfying HT experience for relatively not much $$$. Rhythmik subs are even a bit better but are a little more expensive and don’t have the convenient setup software that SVS offers.

Hope this helps, and best of luck.

In my experience Rel subs easily most coherent sub I've tried, I'm running two and they simply act as extensions of my Klipschorns which provide strong in room response down to 32hz. Boom and spectacle in bass not my thing, for that I have Genesis clone sub with dsp. Generally I want invisibility in my subs, the Rels fit the bill like no others I've tried.