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Rel Sentor II Speaker Cable Upgrade evaluation

Rel Sentor II Speaker Cable Upgrade

I recently upgraded the stock Rel cable for my subwoffer that came with the unit to Discovery Signature Speaker cable. I purchased on audiogon a used 12' set of Discovery and then bought a Neutrik connector for $7 at my local speaker supply retailer. The Discovery Signature cable is there mid level series that consists of (4) 16 guage stranded copper conductors. I cut off the two spades on one of the two cables I had bought and installed the 4 wires to the neutrik connector which was fairly easy and fast.

The Sound: The overall improvement was a bit more that I initially was expecting. I have my Rel Sentor II set at 32 for the crossover point going from my Convergent Audio JL2 amp to the subwoffer. The bottom end bass was much fuller and more pronounced. The added richness combined with better definition produced a much more lifelike and convincing bottom end. After several days of listening in my system the improvement was at least 25-30% in the low end bass. The only regret I had is waiting so long to do the upgrade. I have owned the Rel for about 2 years and had I known it would have made this much difference I would have done it much earlier, even my wife who is not a audiophile noticed how more pronounced the bass was when she first heard it over this last weekend. For under $150 total it was the most cost effective upgrade I have done for my speaker system. The cheap stock cable the Rel comes with does not do this fine product justice. The stock thin wire looks metallic in color and does not ever appear to be copper.

Conclusion: In comparison the stock Rel speaker wire sounds somewhat thin, lacks the extension, definition, fullness and body of the Discovery cable. This cable upgrade along with a very good aftermarket powerchord can transform this already excellent product to the next level bring one a step closer to the live sound we all seek.

John
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Showing 3 responses by fmpnd

fmpnd
481 posts
 
John, thanks for the valuable info. I have a pair of Stentor IIIs and have been meaning to upgrade the cables for a while so your post has just prompted me to get it done.

I have been told that, due to the type of signal going to the sub, it may actually be better to use a decent shielded interconect cable terminated in the Neutrik connectors -- have you heard this? I want to get this upgrade done but now need to determine what cable to use. I have also been told that XLO has made upgraded cables for RELs. Have you heard any other cables versus our stock one?

Thanks again.

Frank
fmpnd
481 posts
 
Thanks John. Between the time I posted and you answered I called and confirmed with Terry at Sumiko that he was the one who told me that an interconnect should be better because we are dealing with voltage and not current and it may provide greater shielding. BUT, he said the improvement would be subtle. I have a number of decent speaker cables I am not using so I may just try them first.

Finally, two last questions. First, I was under the impression that the REL cable only used three wires (thus using only three of the four Neutrik connections). Second, I was wondering if there was any reason you did not use the Neutrik connector that REL supplies (or did you not have them)?

Thanks,

Frank
fmpnd
481 posts
 
Thanks John. I am going to try to construct a pair tonight and I'll let you know what happens!

Frank
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