The amazing new REL S/812.
Experience a REL sub and you will know why they choose to specialize on just one thing: world class reproduction of speedy, accurate and musical low end in your system. REL is definitely the leader in bass knowledge worldwide and their unique design philosophy must be experienced to be fully understood!
First clue is that REL does not design subwoofers per se, but choose to refer to their products as sub bass systems. Once you are trained to integrate a REL and hear/feel the difference we began to understand the term sub bass systems. Rather than just adding bass to a system, the unique way a properly integrated REL works is to perform so well and integrate so tightly that it makes the whole system sound much better! Our by-appointment showroom is the proof of this. It was already an excellent quality 2.2 system installed in a very difficult room and we had the bass handled by a pair of (not to be named) excellent quality highly reviewed subs. It was a great setup but I always was considering some form of upgrade-itus to squeeze a little more listening enjoyment out.
That was before the demo order of RELs arrived, we had to wait for the S/510 planned for that system because it was so new. So we started by breaking in the smaller demo models that arrived and integrating them to that system and enjoying/learning/evaluating. First up was the T/7i, quite a bit undersized and budget for the large format system it was going into. It performed amazingly well and we could already notice a different and superior quality to the bass reproduction and system performance……. fun! Then our demo T/9i got here, which we of course got installed immediately. T9i is still a quite under spec’d sub for the room and system, but it delivered the goods and pretty much kept up with a high end system that had 400 WPC on tap for the mains! The T/91 noticeably improved the sound of the mains a lot and made us pretty darned impatient for REL to get our new S Serie demo unit built and shipped up so we could experience that. The undersized T/9i proved we were smart to sign with REL and at this point the previous brand of subs was removed from the room and system, we knew we would never look back! Well the audio gods must indeed like us because the sleek and powerful S/510 did finally arrive. It is correctly spec’d for the system and the room and a single S/510 delivers even, fast, accurate and musical bass in this space in a way that makes me sad for the dual very well regarded subs it replaced. Remarkable system now in all aspects and my upgrade-itus impulse has faded away into pure, satisfying listening enjoyment.
Another plus from the REL product line is one that you might not expect from products that offer such outstanding craftsmanship and performance…… value. Each step of the REL product line is a great value to the owner at its respective price as they punch well above their cost every time. And they have a complete line of sub bass systems to match any audio system or room, from the tiny, yet robust Tzero priced at just $449.00 up to their amazing No.25 Reference Series subs and also offer the ability to stack multiple units in sub bass line arrays for the higher end models. Their reliable and fast wireless capability is also a great problem solver on existing installs where cable install is not an option. Give us a call or email if you would like to hear REL.
