Everytime I watched a movie at my favourite local cinema, I left with a smile, always so impressed by the quality of the sound. Original movie soundtracks are mixed for big venues, with lots of big speakers. The question is - Is it possible to add more depth and detail to our own home cinema systems without changing the front, left and rear speakers? The short answer to this is - Yes, add THREE REL Acoustics subwoofers and experience what is called - REL 3D

How does it work?

REL 3D refers to a set-up that each of the three groups of speakers in a traditional 5.1 home cinema system (front left/right, centre and surround channels) are underpinned by a REL subwoofer to improve depth and body to create a better, tighter and bigger sounding bass. Check out the picture below for a better representation of what I’m talking about.

The plan, the room and the set-up

To put this method to the test, we thought we’d go ahead and put a system together in our store demo room. And as the saying says, “Go big or go home”, we decided to “Go big” set up a 9.2.4 Dolby Atmos home cinema sound system with REL 3D.

We used a combination of Bowers & Wilkins 600 Anniversary front speakers, centre and surround channels , three REL Acoustics Tx Series subwoofers, four KEF in-ceiling speakers, a Denon home cinema amplifier and a Panasonic 4K Blu-Ray player.

Speakers

Bowers & Wilkins 607 Anniversary (rear speakers),
Bowers & Wilkins 606 S2 Anniversary (front speakers),
Bowers & Wilkins HTM6 S2 Anniversary (centre speaker).
KEF Ci160.2CR x 4 (Atmos in-ceiling speakers)

Subwoofers

REL T9x (front right corner - high level front left & right speakers and LFE)
REL T7x (rear left corner- high level rear speakers and LFE)
REL T5x (high level centre speaker)

AV Receiver

Denon AVC-X4700H - 9.2 channel amplifier that supports Dolby Atmos and DTS-X

Blu-Ray player

Panasonic DP-UB820 4K Blu-Ray Player

REL Acoustics Tx Series Subwoofers

From left to right we have the REL T5x, T7x and T9x - Ready to go into our home cinema system -

The hard work

I’m sure that many of us who have set-up a home cinema system before agree that the hardest part of it is getting down on your knees, crawling into narrow spaces, connecting all the components together and then trying to fit them all into cupboards, but it’s a great feeling once you’re finished and you know you’ve done a good job.

To start with, we positioned our left and right speakers, a pair of B&W 606 S2 Anniversary. We set them up like you would a conventional two channel system, striving for the best possible stereo imaging.

The REL high level is supplied with every one of their subwoofer

This done, we connected the main front subwoofer, a REL T9x using the supplied high-level cable to the front left/right speaker terminals of the Denon amplifier and set it up.

Why is this important?

With the use of the high level cable, the REL subwoofer is now like an extension of the two front speakers, working as one with them. It gets exactly the same information as the two front speakers and adds depth and clarity, allowing your speakers to sound bigger in the sound stage and infinitely better in their performance. The cable connects to the .1 channel (called LFE -Low frequency effects) on the back of the subwoofer and that is your front-end done.

Next we positioned the second subwoofer, the REL T7x, in the left rear corner and connected the high level cable to the rear speaker terminals on the Denon amplifier in the same way as the first sub. On top of the included high level cable, we added a second dedicated phono to phono sub cable to the LFE (Low Frequency Effect) channel. This dedicated input allows the AV receiver to send discrete content to the subwoofer from a Dolby or DTS encoded audio track.

The B&W HTM6 centre speaker sounds great on its own, but with the added support of a REL T5x, it grows into a bigger and deeper sounding speaker.

When fine tuning the system I love to use the opening sequence of the 2009 animated film, “9”. Produced by Tim Burton, this movie has a dark and ominous presence which puts the subwoofers through their paces.

The reward - It’s movie time!

To kick things off, we decided to start with the action packed, 2021 monster mash, Godzilla vs. Kong. There are so many great scenes to choose from, but you have a listen to Kong’s monster growl through the HTM6/REL T5x combination and you’ll know what we mean. Moving on to the moment when Godzilla and Kong fight under and above water, you can feel the weight of those two gargantuan beasts. The REL T9x & T7x are hard working speakers and never lose control of the dedicated LFE frequencies. This set-up is guaranteed to put a smile on the faces of most customers.

The next tester was the 2011 drama, War Horse, directed by Steven Spielberg. We could barely contain ourselves; we jumped straight to the iconic scene where the massive cannons are tirelessly pulled uphill by two rows of exhausted horses and put into position to fire. And then… this is hard to put into words… cannon fire with a satisfying bass so tight and loud it is a feast to the ears. A true reflection of the cinema experience this film was made for.

The conclusion

Now we’re not suggesting that everyone should go out and put three subwoofers into their room, we know not everyone will have the space. BUT, it’s a method worth considering when looking to improve the overall sound of your home cinema setup. Why not start with one main subwoofer and add more with time. You won’t be disappointed.

If you’d like to find out more about REL subwoofers or the 3D technique, feel free to contact us.

Thanks for reading.

Andy & Stefan - Audio T Swindon

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