Little help with REL subwoofers, please?

Good subwoofers that have been properly set up will never call attention to themselves. The point of purchasing JL/Rythmik/Rel is they disappear and make it seem as though speakers simply have proper low end fullness and extension.

Please let us know your thoughts once you’ve decided on and configured whichever sub you do end up purchasing. The last Rel I had was the T7. It was paired with PMC OB1 speakers and it sounded fantastic and integrated seamlessly with plenty of kick/punch for my tastes. Drum n Bass, techno and house are among the genres I listen to so you best believe I’m critical and demanding when it comes to subsonic performance. Drum n Bass producers tend to know a thing or two about bass ;)

MiniDSP is my vote for room correction solution.

You'll need a microphone as well for measurements.

You’d be surprised how fast the Rythmik subs are. I’m using an F12 with Ascend Sierra Towers w/ RAAL ribbon tweeters and they integrate great to my ears.

I’ve eyed the FM8’s before but my use for them would be as low/mid-bass drivers, as they were intended, to add punch around 150Hz. Sub-bass (<80Hz) isn’t the type of bass that hits you in the chest.

Tzero subs are not going to be able to output the lowest octave very loudly. As a former owner of multiple Rel subs (Storm III, R205, T5 and T7), I recommend looking into Rythmik subs. They will output down to 20Hz and they will integrate very well. Rythmik offers amplifiers with speaker level inputs so you can connect their subs the same way Rel recommends. This will allow you to preserve the tone of the amplifier that is driving your Maggies. Rythmik recommends using the line level RCA or balanced XLR, which is how most owners connect their subs. I opted for speaker level input to a Rythmik F12 due to gain mismatching with my 2-ch amp.

I’m still a fan of Rel, but Rythmik subs are a much better value at this point IMHO. You can purchase a used F12G for around the same price as a used T9i. The F12G will smoke the T9i in regards to output level, and it will do so cleanly down to 20Hz. An even better value would be their L12 sub. The difference between the F12 and L12 is minimal according to user reports.

@northman I have yet to read on any forum where a Rythmik owner switched back to Rel. Rel makes great subs, and they are the reason I insist on having a sub with whatever system I’m using. Their use of speaker-level inputs to match the tone and voice of the source amplifier that is powering speakers makes perfect sense. Using the line input with subs does not allow for tone matching to the source amp. You’re left with whatever flavor the sub amp provides. For integration purposes, obviously not ideal.

My take on Rel now is that they’ve invested far too much in the ’lipstick and makeup’ without any appreciable increase in performance to justify their price increases. Rel had always priced their subs a bit high, but it’s gotten out of hand.

Rythmik on the other hand continues to focus on building great subs. The cabinets are plane jane, but last I checked the reason one buys a subwoofer is for sound, not looks. Most of the time people simply stuff their sub in the corner and essentially out of sight and out of mind.

Put simply, if Rythmik wasn’t around I’d still be buying Rel subs. But seriously, reach out to the owner of Rythmik and inquire about their subs. There are a number of F12/F12G subs available for sale on various classified sites such as Audiogon right now because people bought themselves new toys for the holidays and are unloading their used gear. If you decide to purchase new, I believe they have a 30 day return policy, minus shipping costs of course.

Edit: Forgot to mention I’ve been using the Rythmik F12 with Ascend Towers with the RAAL ribbon tweeters. The F12 is lightning fast and has no problem keeping up with the RAAL ribbons. The only subs I’d consider using would be made by JL Audio, Rythmik, and Rel, in that order. I remember about a decade back people were hyping up the Martin Logan subs so I purchased one (can’t recall which - it had a silver bass driver). I hooked it up and to my horror the first thought that came to mind was "This subwoofer is slow and sounds awful". The point is the majority of folks have no idea what a properly integrated subwoofer actually sounds like. Just look at the legions of people who swear by SVS or Hsu. You will NEVER find an SVS or Hsu sub in a professional mastering studio, but you will find there are quite a few that use Rythmik.