Older vs. newer REL subs

I may go with REL yet. There’s pretty much a drumbeat for REL and I can understand why. I have a REL and it’s very musical and the company’s been extraordinary to work with, in terms of communication and support.

That said, I’m trying out a couple of Rythmiks. I placed an order yesterday, to be fulfilled (hopefully) in June. I have a trial for those. I have consistently found value in products that are not from very large companies with a lot of marketing, advertising, and dealer overhead. Quicksilver, Fritz, Salk, MHDT have all provided amazing value. That said, REL has the R&D and customer testimony (and economy of scale) to meet a very high quality metric, so I don’t discount their ability to hit the mark, too. Just a different path.

But for now I want to try Rythmik because I have spent a lot of time trying to integrate my REL -- especially dealing with room gain in the 70-80 hz spectrum. The lack of control I have over the REL is making this impossible. I need more control on the unit. But I don't want to spend $5000 a sub. (Or near that.)

Consider what is available in the Reference Rels --

Parametic EQ to (as the REL manual states) "cure certain room acoustics challenges"
The manual continues,

"Application: Most rooms produce room gain--higher output--in the upper bass region, typically in the 70-80Hz region. Generally speaking, most rooms have reduced gain in the low bass regions, somewhere in the mid-20’s to mid-30’s area. For this reason, we provide you the ability to produce noteworthy improvements in both trouble regions by gently cutting the higher bass frequencies and gently boosting the lower region.
To share our own experiences; while developing this filter set in our own studios, we found +2 dB at 25Hz and -2 dB at 43Hz (crossover frequency was set to 34Hz) produced evenness of output and the overall result was found to be much more consistent across the entire bass range. More impressive in long term listening were improvements in clarity extending all the way up into the upper midrange. This is clearly the result of a slight reduction in mid bass overhang that the 43Hz cut function provided."

The ability to deal with room gain at a price point I’m capable of is why I’m trying Rythmik, first, this time around.

Without having read the seventy plus responses I'd guess there are less than ten responses that have ever used any other subwoofer then their REL. You already have a REL.

I recall listening to a small pair of Salk Sound Veracity speakers at a show. They demonstrated their bass performance by cutting in a 12" Rythmik subwoofer. Those little speakers did very well on their own.

I managed to get much better texture from a large beautifully built $9K REL Stadium III locating it in the rooms main mode placing it on its side and slaving an optimized low level signal from another subwoofer.
Better than no sub at all is all I'd say about REL. Who rates subs at -6dB?

Forget the stereo. Crawl test and map your room for the two loudest modes. Place your Rythmik in, or close to one, and the REL in the other. Get two pairs of inexpensive long interconnects from Blue Jeans or Monoprice and use the L/R RCA outputs from the Rythmik to your REL. Now go beat your own drum.

I'm torn on what to upgrade with.

One of my R218's broke and I haven't had much luck fixing or finding a 2nd used one.  In my haste I bought two T5x and for 2 channel music and it's pretty good and is satisfying enough.  I compared it to my one working R218 and the R218 definitely hits harder.  Not trying to chase bass for music hence going with the T5x pair (for cost and enough dynamics)

I decide to hook up the R218 for my centre channel after seeing a Youtube on Rel 3D.  WOW!  

One thing I miss is having more HT impact so I'm on the lookout for a pair of S3 SHO (22Hz) which on paper hit lower than the R218 pair (25Hz).  The T5x  can be used for the rear surrounds or in another system.    The new  S/510 (20Hz) is just out of my price range.  The T9x (27Hz) may not be enough.

I believe everyone is forgetting how important the room treatment is especially when it comes to low frequencies. 

A rel T series can sound much better in a treated room than a rel S series in a regular room.

It doesn't matter if the subwoofer is very fast in a room that has no bass absorption --> You will hear the low frequencies reverberation instead of the actual sound getting from the speaker.  Of course you will also hear the reverberation of the main speakers. 

The dealers usually have treated rooms in which you can hear the differences between S and T series but at home the difference may be minimal and more related to price and placebo effect. 

To make an idea: a subwoofer can sound 2 or 3 times better in a treated room than in a regular room, so save some budget for low frequency absorption too. 

 

I am also interested in this subject and how does R-328 compare with a T series.

The R-328 is powered by a 350W class D amplifier but it's an older model (The R series is the equivalent of the newer S series)

T9x is powered by a 300W class AB amplifier

T7x = 200 W class AB amplifier

The class D amplifiers are "faster" because they have a much better damping control than class AB amplifiers.

The price of a second hand R-328 is close to the price of a new T9x

I suspect that the R-328 is a bit faster and better than the T9x (also based on the specs) but is there anyone that listened to both in the same room?