Has Rel fallen out of favor with audiophiles?


I own a Rel Storm 3. which I've had for 10 yrs or so. My new hardwood floor has really opened things up, especially in the bass area. much more pronounced bass and excellent sound stage.  I was planning on upgrading my sub after completing the floor. My Rel Storm 3 is pushing at its max to keep up in a 5k+ cu ft  room. Ten yrs ago the Storm 3 was one of the best on the market. It integrates very wall into the 2 channel system. Now, there is SVS, Rhythmic, PSA  etc which have much better specs than the Rels for less $$$. But the question for me is whether they actually integrate with the main speakers as well as the Rel? I use mine  for music 95% of the time. Music doesn't need to plumb the 16hz range as much as HT does. And most of the reviews seem to come from HT sources, IE AVS forum and the various HT magazines. From what I can tell, then Rhythmic seems to cater to the audiophile more than HT. But how about a sealed  SVS ?. And will they both integrate as well as the Rel with the high level speakon input? 

So, for audipophiles, do you sacrifice the ultra low hz for the good integration of the Rel? Or do you go with then SVS, Rhythmic, etc with their lower octave output? IOW, do the integrate as well?
Thanks for your help

arte
artemus_5

Showing 1 response by ackerdo

I hope so.  I've owned three and they've all stopped working for no reason whatsoever. The quality is so poor. They are not reliable.  The other brands keep on keeping on, without part failures. Not REL. The three REL subs I've owned had parts randomly stop working. Sent the R328 back for repairs... that last 2 years. The T/9x's just failed one day and I'm so disgusted with the brand I decided not to fix them, just replace them with a more reliable competitor. 

For the price we pay, we deserve quality engineering. I would never recommend REL again.