Little help with REL subwoofers, please?

@jeenam -- Great stuff. A few others have also recommended Rythmik subs. I'm going to take a look and, ideally, a listen. It means opening the search up rather than narrowing it down, but that's a good thing (until it's not). Thank you.

@ronboco and @drlou77 -- thank you both. The S series could be just the ticket but it's quite a bit more expensive. I imagine it's brilliant.

@sslbun -- I loved your (first!) post. That Richter track is one of my favorites as well, and that moment when the bass comes in always makes me smile. It's something that needs to be felt. You have a major-league system and I appreciate that you stayed with the challenge until you got it right. I bet it sounds AMAZING.

@northman 

REL was having a sale on the S/510 when I bought it.  I think it was $2,200 plus 0% financing until 1/25.  The T/9x is $1,500.  I'm not trying to spend your money, but I got a great deal and a sub that's just perfect in my system.

Good luck.0

I have 2 T/9x's and believe in matched stereo pairs or quads for 2 channel systems.

In your case, I'd get 2 T/7s if you can't swing 2 T/9's.

@northman 

The MiniDSP uses Dirac Live which is pretty idiot proof. The SHD is their full function preamp but the DACs are substandard. The SHD Studio is the same unit without DACs. Two Benchmark DACs and you are in business big time. The improvement in your systems performance will be nothing less than stunning. 

@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.