System edited: Forgot to add my screen selection.

maxim531 December 13, 2011 17:44

System edited: Added REL-R505 12" sub to the system.

maxim531 November 03, 2008 16:48

Just took delivery from a fellow Audiogoner on my REL R505. It was a pristine condition 12"sub and everything I had read about the RELs boiled up to my first moment after I unpackaged the thing.

For some reason, it seems like the heavier something is, the higher quality it is. That's why when you close the door of a German built car like a Mercedes or BMW, it closes like a bank vault and gives you the feel of a very expensive machine. The RELs have a heft to them ~65lbs (the thing almost gave me a hernia lifting it out of its protective shipping box) that imply that this is no ordinary sub and the finish of the knurled knobs on the front with protective frosted glass is a very nice touch of craftsmanship. The 3 knurled knobs are also lit with a high visibility blue LED light that lends a nice glow to the frosted glass cover when the sub is powered on that matches very nicely with the blue LEDs of my Rotels. The hand rubbed cherry stained finish and the decorative slats carved into each panel in addition to being carved into the feet of the base champions loudly that REL products are all about attention to detail.

What's interesting is that for a sub with only 3 dials and one power switch, you'd figure that the instruction manual would be only 2-3 pages. Instead REL gives you a 19 page manual that illustrates some of the finer points of subwoofer (excuse me, REL likes to call their R505 a sub-BASS system) and actually explains to me as to why their subs command such a premium price when compared to their more value oriented competition.

1. Most of the REL subs are built by hand in England. Makes sense, anything nowadays that is built by hand vs. done by machine emphasizes a quality vs. quantity value proposition for customers while emphasizing craftmanship vs. cost. You want greater bang for your buck? Go with a machine built or a sub built in China to take advantage of mass production and the economies of scale that go with it. Just don't expect the R505 to play as well to a value sensitive audience.

NOTE: Last I read in Sept. '08, REL had just opened up a China manufacturing facility for its value subs in 2008 to keep it competitive with their competition. Let's just hope that it doesn't come at a cost in quality or craftmanship.

2. REL subs have a thermal protection circuit. In the event that you somehow approach critical meltdown after a particularly vigorous listening session, there's a thermal protection circuit that shuts down the REL from further harm. Never heard this feature get mentioned anywhere in any review that I've read.

3. REL subs also have an anti-clipping mechanism - in the event that the sub tries to produce a signal that will cause it to clip, it will instantaneously cause a shortened frequency response to prevent the clipping and protect the 12" woofer and prevent hyper-extension.

The causes of a speaker clipping are generally because you don't have enough power from your amp to power the incoming signal. Very rarely is it because you have too much power going into the speaker. I personally would find it very difficult to cause clipping in the REL since it's a 500w Class D amplifier that powers it. I'm also assuming that this is a conservative 500w RMS (Root Means Square) amp and not a 500w peak amplifier as a lot of the big box manufacturers (like Best Buy, Circuit City) would display on their product tags.

Unless I'm attempting to reproduce the sound of whales at their hearing volume, I seriously doubt that I will be able be able to 1)clip the sub, and 2)even notice that the anti-clipping feature kicks in at that kind of volume.
Again, never heard this feature referenced anywhere in any sub review.

REL recommends setting the sub at a frequency response level that overlaps that of your primary speakers. So if your main Left/Right speakers have a frequency response down to 65 Hz, REL recommends that you set the sub frequency response around 65HZ to 1)augment your existing speaker's frequency response at that point, and 2) balance out the sound at that crossover point for a seamless sonic presence.

4. REL also has a detailed explanation as to where their subs should be positioned within a room. I wish I had known this earlier before I began setting up my room. REL recommends that a REL be positioned behind your main L/R speakers a few feet from a corner. In addition the sub's speaker should be pointed diagonally into the room to take advantage of the longest wavelength that the room can theoretically generate.

Apparently, the REL takes greater advantage of your room's natural acoustics to generate the fullest sub-bass sound possible vs. relying on the sub's speaker to generate the sound independently. I believe I've heard of this as "room boom" in the various forums and it is normally perceived of as a "bad thing" in a theater/listening room setup.

I'm not sure that I've ever heard of a speaker manufacturer explain that their speakers take advantage of room acoustics quite like this. Any thoughts or feedback on this would be greatly appreciated.

5. The neutrik-speakon cable that comes with the REL is a fancy cable that plugs into the back of your left/right channel speaker amp and provides the input speaker signal directly to the sub. According to REL, the underlying assumption for this is that owners of high-end audio systems chose their amps with great precision and care, and because they liked the audio characteristics and flavor of that particular amp when paired with their speakers.

If one routes a sub connection from a central receiver to the sub, you bypass the sonic characteristics that your separate amplifier would normally provide since some of that sonic "flavor" is automatically filtered out when the receiver is providing the output to your sub.

In addition, the REL thinking goes, one loses a fraction of sub transient response time due to the time it takes for your receiver to process the incoming signal from your separate amplifier and thus having a very slight delay in your sub's response relative to the signal.

Personally I don't know if this is marketing hype or what, but the logic appears reasonable to me. My only concern is that I just don't know if even the most hardcore audiophile has such a heightened form of sensitivity to notice this very subtle nuance, but at the very least, it becomes a very poignant example that goes to show you what REL as a company believes is necessary to engineer true high end audio sound regardless of budget.

So, onto the listening!

What started as a 10 min test flight turned into a 3 hour listening/viewing session.

I began with a few DVDs to test out the home theater effects. U571's scene where depth charges are being dropped into the water and exploding all around the Nazi sub took on a whole new level of realism and elevated anticipation.

Disney's the Incredibles also took on incredible new heights with the Kronos shuttle launch as well as the flying saucer chase of Dash through Synchro's island hideout. Fantastic!

Next up, Diana Krall's concert from Paris. Bass notes from her cellist were phenomenal and the drummer's kick drum, while not as snappy as say a 10" sub, were full and balanced - I actually got chills from some of her songs just at the amount of warmth conveyed. The REL seems to do really well with jazz pieces. Just for fun I put in Eric Clapton's unplugged concert and tracks like Tears in Heaven had a new warmth to them that I hadn't noticed before.

Seal's Live from Paris concert gave a whole new dimension to the bass guitar and percussionist keyboards. Much more enveloping experience and concert feel. Seal's vocals are so dynamic that coupling it with bass notes that were equally so provided an even stronger, almost in your face, performance that I had to turn down the volume a bit to enjoy. Not that it was harsh, but the REL conveyed to me Seal's utmost determination at wanting to impress you with his musical brilliance with no peer equals.

Linkin Park's Collision Course DVD was next just to throw a curveball into the mix. Linkin Park's music generally makes some very musical speakers sound awful (Sonus Faber Grand Pianos) and is a real world test for speakers in all setups to break ties in performance. The one nuance that jumped out at me after playing this was the section where LP is beginning their concert and the shot jumps from LP playing onstage to backstage where Jay-Z is about to go onstage. As the sub transients back and forth between what the music sounds like on-stage (clear) vs. backstage (muffled) I was stunned at this minute sonic detail that made my viewing experience that much more enjoyable. Oh, and the REL did a great job on the LP tracks with Jay-Z.

Finally, watched Iron Man with the wife.

One word: WOW.

Stark's initial opening salvo of introducing his new Jericho missile weapon at the test range looked and FELT like a thermonuclear bomb hit the room without it feeling harsh. It just felt like a huge sonic wave cascaded the room. Too much fun!

The scene with Stark's initial Iron Man suit when busting his way out of the cave was intense and laced with adrenaline with the sub reproducing explosions with equal aplomb. The smile on my face said it all.

Iron Man is a great movie to test a sub. Never did the REL sound harsh, if anything it seemed more subtle than harsh, and never aggressive. If you're looking for a "meaner" sounding sub, you'll probably want to look elsewhere or try out the REL 10" to see if they have a stronger snap to is audio - odds are that if the R505 is any indicator, REL tunes its subs to be more balanced and musical with its presence, vs. snappy and harsh when necessary.

The only downsides to note thus far are:

- Weight of the sub - this is not an easy sub to move around. Care must be exercised or you could throw out your back.
- It's big - not 1970s computer big, but big enough that small rooms may not be able to accommodate it's special setup requirements. My listening room is 16'x20' and I feel as though this is a minimum size room for a sub with this much power. This sub is easily capable of filling a room up to double my current size. I can't imagine having two of these in my room for "stereo" sound. It would just be too much.
- My wife wasn't happy with how "boomy" the sub sounded so I increased the gain to 75% and lowered my frequency cutoff to 50 hZ (range of sub frequency response is 25Hz-100Hz and I initially had it set to 75Hz as the upper cutoff with about 65% gain). Personally I liked how the sub-bass audio seemed to fill the room but my wife preferred a sub-bass presence that was more subtle than overt. I personally liked it but tuned it so that it was more complimentary vs. being the star of the audio set up.
- Because this sub can hit low bass notes even on moderate settings, the rumbling will go throughout the house waking babies, neighbors, and probably more than a few dogs in the neighborhood. Try to have enough sonic isolation in your listening room to counteract the bass penetration through your walls, floors and ceilings to minimize neighbor
disturbance.
- As such, I would not recommend this sub for apartment/condo/townhome dwellers unless you've got some VERY understanding neighbors all around you or you've got noise insulation that borders on a full blown sensory deprivation chamber.

In all, excellent sub for all around home theater viewing and fantastic for jazz, rock, and classical audio performances.

There are definitely more value oriented alternatives out there (Hsu Research, Klipsch, Velodyne, Martin Logan, B&W), but few that have the advanced anti-clipping, thermal protection and 500w amplifier features coupled with old-world craftmanship and a finish sophisticated enough to grow with your system as Richard Lord's REL subs. I feel as though I'll be in good shape for at least a solid 20 years with this sub and have loads of fun in the process.

maxim531 November 03, 2008 16:37

System edited: Added a new subwoofer to the stable. Can't wait to review!

maxim531 October 17, 2008 12:29