Living with the REL....... ten days on
Posted by: i am simon 2 on 14 January 2004
The REL Quake I got for my birthday has settled down and I find that I am making less and less changes to the crossover point and gain controls.
The sub is set up in the main stereo and also for HT.
Home Theatre seems easier to setup as you almost want the LFE not to be subtle, and the tiny box that is the quake can make some terrifying noises.
Watching Top Gun the other day, the rumble you get from the jet engines is great fun, and explosions have an added dimension.
On to the HiFi
Connected to the speaker end of the speaker cables via the high level input it took quite a few days to get right.
I am now at a stage where I cross over at about 30 HZ and have the gain set surprisingly low. Once I spent a little more time on positioning the sub (small adjustments close to the corner of the room make a big difference to perceived output) the gain could be lowered and I began to achieve the "room pressurisation" that REL describe. At these frequencies that are not so much heard but felt, I think getting the room loading is very important.
The outcome - Normal music that is not bass heavy just sounds more open and is delivered with more confidence. Lower mid bass is not noticeably affected as I think the sub has rolled of up at these frequencies, lower bass is enhanced, but all frequencies seem opened up. Sound stage is improved as well. On deep bass heavy music I am now getting frequencies that the Minstrels did not even try to produce.
Timing and rhythm - I was worried that the sub would not be ale to keep pace with the fast Minstrels and their first order crossover that deliver lightning fast and coherent music, but it seems that in its own domain ie sub bass, the Quake is plenty fast enough and PRAT is not upset to any degree. Please note that if you have the crossover on the REL set too high you run the risk of killing the timing. The fact that the quake is a 200mm driver in a small sealed box probably meant that if any sub was going to be fast enough for the Naim Royd combination then this was the one.
Overall - For a small modestly priced "sub base system" the REL Quake does everything I want and need it to do in the home cinema setup and as a bonus adds a new dimension to the hifi, which may well put off a speaker upgrade for some time.
If the bigger RELs are this quick they must be frightening.
The strangest thing that I have noticed is when the stereo is on and I am not in my lounge, my hallway leading into the lounge has become a giant transmission line for the enclosure that is my lounge and you get the boomiest bass in the rest of the flat, out of all proportion to the volume of the music, however once in the lounge this effect is undetectable.
I would recommend at least a home demo to anyone who likes their speakers but would like them to sound as if they were twice the size, it may save you a costly upgrade.
Simon
The sub is set up in the main stereo and also for HT.
Home Theatre seems easier to setup as you almost want the LFE not to be subtle, and the tiny box that is the quake can make some terrifying noises.
Watching Top Gun the other day, the rumble you get from the jet engines is great fun, and explosions have an added dimension.
On to the HiFi
Connected to the speaker end of the speaker cables via the high level input it took quite a few days to get right.
I am now at a stage where I cross over at about 30 HZ and have the gain set surprisingly low. Once I spent a little more time on positioning the sub (small adjustments close to the corner of the room make a big difference to perceived output) the gain could be lowered and I began to achieve the "room pressurisation" that REL describe. At these frequencies that are not so much heard but felt, I think getting the room loading is very important.
The outcome - Normal music that is not bass heavy just sounds more open and is delivered with more confidence. Lower mid bass is not noticeably affected as I think the sub has rolled of up at these frequencies, lower bass is enhanced, but all frequencies seem opened up. Sound stage is improved as well. On deep bass heavy music I am now getting frequencies that the Minstrels did not even try to produce.
Timing and rhythm - I was worried that the sub would not be ale to keep pace with the fast Minstrels and their first order crossover that deliver lightning fast and coherent music, but it seems that in its own domain ie sub bass, the Quake is plenty fast enough and PRAT is not upset to any degree. Please note that if you have the crossover on the REL set too high you run the risk of killing the timing. The fact that the quake is a 200mm driver in a small sealed box probably meant that if any sub was going to be fast enough for the Naim Royd combination then this was the one.
Overall - For a small modestly priced "sub base system" the REL Quake does everything I want and need it to do in the home cinema setup and as a bonus adds a new dimension to the hifi, which may well put off a speaker upgrade for some time.
If the bigger RELs are this quick they must be frightening.
The strangest thing that I have noticed is when the stereo is on and I am not in my lounge, my hallway leading into the lounge has become a giant transmission line for the enclosure that is my lounge and you get the boomiest bass in the rest of the flat, out of all proportion to the volume of the music, however once in the lounge this effect is undetectable.
I would recommend at least a home demo to anyone who likes their speakers but would like them to sound as if they were twice the size, it may save you a costly upgrade.
Simon