Confusion About Best Subwoofer Option For My Audio System

[wgscott]

The thing that annoyed me is the insulation stuff they stuff on the inside is flammable.  That shouldn't be.  I understand electrical components will one day go bad, but I prefer they don't take out the family (with a few exceptions).

[Ralf11]

59 minutes ago, wgscott said:

The thing that annoyed me is the insulation stuff they stuff on the inside is flammable.  That shouldn't be.  I understand electrical components will one day go bad, but I prefer they don't take out the family (with a few exceptions).

 

the feds won't do much, but the State of California is pretty on the ball about consumer product safety

[mansr]

9 hours ago, Ralf11 said:

the feds won't do much, but the State of California is pretty on the ball about consumer product safety

I'm not convinced those cancer stickers are actually helping anyone.

[Blake]

15 hours ago, Guidof said:

 I also had a REL failure (but not self combustion) after about five years. 

 

Wow, that is terrible.  I have a Miller & Kreisel sub in my television setup that has been turned on almost continuously since around 1997 (probably powered on/off less than 10 times during that period).  It just keeps ticking.

[TubeLover]

All this talk of failures, much less bursting into flames have me reevaluating whether REL is my best choice. The tricky part is, they might be the only company that sells affordable subs that are recommended for "music" systems, as opposed to home theater systems. And there is a rather large difference.

 

JC

[STC]

Tried SVS, REL, HSU (though could get a home demo) but finally settled for http://www.rythmikaudio.com/ .

[ShawnC]

3 hours ago, TubeLover said:

All this talk of failures, much less bursting into flames have me reevaluating whether REL is my best choice. The tricky part is, they might be the only company that sells affordable subs that are recommended for "music" systems, as opposed to home theater systems. And there is a rather large difference.

 

JC

Those are extreme cases, there's always gonna be someone who had a product that had some sort of massive failure.  Unfortunately the company didn't handle the situation well at that time.  I've owned several Rel's over the past 16 years, left on 24/7 and have never had a problem. 

[wgscott]

Good point.  It also should be pointed out that I fail to use $10,000K speaker wire on the main speakers.

[mitchco]

6 hours ago, STC said:

Tried SVS, REL, HSU (though could get a home demo) but finally settled for http://www.rythmikaudio.com/ .

 

I have a pair of Rythmik L12's in a 30 x 16ft room. They are small, designed for music subs, and often paired with Maggies. More than enough in my room, even at concert levels. Sound really tight. Love their direct servo tech. I integrated and time aligned them with my mains using Audiolense.  I have an upcoming article on that soon. @TubeLovergood luck with your purchase.

[Forehaven]

I've been using a REL B1 for yrs without one problem.  It's just been retired due to a couple of SVS Ultra 16s. I'm just surprised to hear all these problems with REL.  

[mansr]

I've had a REL sub for 10 years without any problems.

[Steve7]

I currently run a Martin-Logan sub, have had no problems, consider it "musical" and will look at some point to add another sub to help in producing an even more balanced response (the sub's fine - the room is less than perfect).

[miguelito]

6 hours ago, wgscott said:

Good point.  It also should be pointed out that I fail to use $10,000K speaker wire on the main speakers.

Jeezus... What are you doing here then?

[barrows]

On one sub vs two (or more), It depends on how low your main speakers go.  I use a single JL E-112 sub in my system, without any difficulty.  My main speakers have usable output down into the very upper 30s, and I cross my sub in at just below 40 Hz.  If you cross a sub in this low in frequency, or lower, it will not localize in your room, and you do not need two subs (unless your room is so large that one sub will not be enough).

So my room is about 14' wide, opening to 18' wide, and very long.  Even in this relatively large space the single E-112 energizes it fine, and it blends ideally with the mains, and never do you hear the location of the sub.  I did initial set up just using an iPad RTA app to get reasonably close to flat response, and adjusted phase for maximum output (in phase).  Then fine tuned by ear from there.

If you have to cross the sub(s) in at much over 40 Hz, then you will probably need two subs for stereo, and the subs will need to be located close to the loudspeaker positions so that the subs upper response will not localize them as separate from the main speakers.

I have set up systems with both some REL subs, and JL subs, including the Fathom series 12" version and my own E series 12" sub.  Personally I feel JL offers better value, and even the relatively low cost E series is excellent.  As far as I could tell the E series is as good as the Fathom, but just a little harder to set up as it does not have the built in room correction and microphone auto  adjust feature.  Once you get the E-112 set up properly it appears to be just as good as the Fathom.

 

[Ralf11]

the Swarm system is another option

[docmark]

I have a pair of Burmester B10 speakers on desktop speaker stands made by Isoacoustics.  The speakers sounded great on their own, but I wanted more in the lower end.  My dealer recommended an E-series JL subwoofer.  It works beautifully.