On Thursday 14th November (19:00 - 21:00), Audio T Bristol will be hosting the first of our Winter Series of events beginning with the question - What can subwoofers do for the Hi-Fi Experience? Led by Rob Hunt from REL, this promises to be a SUBstantial journey into the wonderful world of bass.

Full details of the event follow at the end of this blog, but first let’s discuss Subwoofers…

The Marmite Analogy - once more…

Across the pond, it is a matter of course to add subwoofers to a Hi-Fi system and a no brainer if you are passing through audio from a TV to enjoy cinema at home.

Here in the UK, there are still members of the Hi-Fi community that frown deeply at the thought of subwoofers. It borders on heresy, largely due to experiences of booming boxes from other brands, questionable early subwoofer marketing days and a misconception that subs are for the youth in lowered cars with UV lights and phat exhausts.

REL Acoustics’ Approach to Subwoofers

REL Acoustics began in 1990, driven by one man’s dissatisfaction with the performance of subwoofers available at the time. That search for better, that pursuit of perfect bass reproduction remains the driving force behind REL.

Over the years, with renewed emphasis on reliability, high powered, fast reacting subwoofer drivers and REL’s production and technical abilities have turned them into world leaders in Subwoofer performance - the benchmark of benchmarks. Check out the blog section of REL’s website - a treasure trove of in depth answers to every subwoofer question and solution out there can be found here.

The Common Subwoofer Misconception

I’m not a bass freak
Flow and timing are ruined
Lower octave bass is not needed, if you’ve got good speakers
That boomy, uncontrolled, sloppy and slow sound will ruin my system setup
Takes up too much room

The RELevance of Subwoofers

Most people buy a sub to add some bass to their Home Cinema and/or gaming experience. We would go a step further and say you cannot fully experience Home Cinema and gaming without a Sub, such is the use of sub frequencies in film and gaming production effects, music and ambient environment - there is so much of the audio immersive experience missing.
Expanded soundstage
Enhanced mid range
Better Imaging
Vocal presence improved; A sub increases intelligibility of dialogue.
Richness, transparency & focus
Bang for buck it can be one of the best performance improvements you can make to a system.
Clearly produces the lower frequency instruments with better impact, punch and dynamism.
It can overcome the deleterious effects of bad rooms. We all have rooms to live in, not perfect conditions for acoustic reproduction.

The 3 Commandments according to RELigion

1: The Sub should never boom or call attention to itself. The goal is to get the sub locked in. Natural integration with that seamless handover between speaker and sub is essential. You should never be able to audibly detect where a Sub is in a room, it fills in where the speakers need support in the lower frequencies that the speaker cannot reproduce. Interestingly this does not take away the character of the speakers’ presentation at all.

2: Woolly bass is largely a product of bad cabinet design. The build quality and finish of the REL is impressive. A subwoofer running is having to deal with 40 -50 psi (2.7-3.5 Bar) of cabinet pressure as the pistonic action of the huge driver moves to produce the frequencies. That requires a very well braced, damped and reinforced cabinet and REL succeeds hugely on this over the competition.

3: Speed is key. REL’s circuitry and filters allow for the sub frequencies to be transmitted at speed. Most subwoofers will fulfil a criteria of producing 20-20Hz region with output peak of around 100dB (very loud). But, most of them will not possess the speed and suppleness of a REL. The High Level connection (more on this later) allows for a response rate of 8ms for the T series falling to 4ms and less in the Reference & S series. Where most subwoofers seemingly bow out of the conversation by 10ms, the S/510, for example, has the capacity to open up fast loudspeakers, many of them costing upwards of $20,000, and improve the very things they’re best known for - Image precision, rhythm, nuance, harmonic structure, and air…all improve vastly when the sub matches speaker speed.

High Level Connection

What High Level connection means, is that you are taking the same signal from the amplifier output terminals that feed the main speakers directly to the Subwoofer. The High level allows REL to take the high voltage signal from the amplifier, step it down through a resistor ladder matrix. It seems easy, it’s not and is the hard fought knowledge of many years of development and key to REL’s signature transparency and speed. The character of your speakers is determined by all the components from the source and the eventual signal path to the speakers is where all the character comes from and this is where REL sits and this is better than a low level connector. To the amplifier, it does not “see” that connection as it runs at over 100,000 Ohms and represents effectively no load to the amp.

Audio T Presents…

Get ready for an immersive journey into the world of high-fidelity sound as Audio T Bristol kick off our Winter Series of events with something truly special. Join us for an evening dedicated to answering one of the most debated questions in the audiophile community: What can subwoofers really do for the Hi-Fi experience?

When? Thursday 14th November (19:00 - 21:00)

Where? BAWA, 589 Southmead Rd, Filton, Bristol BS34 7RG

How much? Tickets are FREE, Demand is high, so BOOK NOW, Refreshments provided

This is an event you can experience the RELs for yourself. It you can’t make it book a demonstration or enjoy a weekend home loan (deposit required) to see how subs can transform our Hi-FI Music and Cinema Experience

Book now

See you there!

Justin, George & Max - Audio T Bristol

If you have any questions about any of the equipment featured in this article, or any other Hi-Fi or home cinema enquiries, be sure to Contact Us.

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