The REL No.25 has Landed!

It’s a Gibson Firebird Stooge - really thin fast neck think twiddle twiddle Skynyrd :grinning:

Ah ok. Johnny Winter’s favorite guitar!

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I’ve been up late the last few nights listening to lots of different music. What comes across is how the sub is helping to lift and enhance whatever I throw at it.

My room which is approx 5m x 4m has extended by three times the size, and when I listen to live albums I’m in the venue, it’s uncanny.

A sturdy foundation of deep bass allows the bass that I had before to be heard as it crosses over to the REL.

Kate Bush’s 9th Wave has so much more detail in the lower register. Ambient sound, voices, swelling waves can now be clearly defined, whereas before they merged together incoherently.

Moving pictures has been opened up so I can hear all the little bass runs that Geddy makes to counter Neil Peart. There is so much detail that I’ve missed and I’ve played this album easily a hundred times or more.

Anne Bisson’s ‘Us And Them’ just shimmers with a three dimensionally that I wouldn’t have thought possible with a 2 speaker system.

The biggest thrill was to play Ace of Spades, Bomber, and Overkill at a blistering level and hear everything so clearly … I was back at The Birmingham Odeon in 1979 as a 14 year old grinning ear to ear.

I’m absolutely stunned at what the No.25 has bought to my system and my enjoyment of music.

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What’s the rest of your system?

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It’s a fundamental truth that if you can tidy-up the bottom-end frequencies, the rest of the ‘replay picture’ becomes so much better, ergo the benefits of room treatment in many cases. And, it’s my understanding, that most of the room challenges which arise are ‘bottom end’ in nature.

I’ve heard this is in @PeterR 's room, as he went on his room treatment journey. Simply diagnosing what you need to treat can be a challenge in itself and, of course, changes in kit can re-set things.

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you cant beat a bit of lemmy at proper levels! good man :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye:

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Hi Mike,

I’ve made up a connection manuel for the system and below if the front page spec. I have
1 x 500 and 2 x 300s at the moment but have two more that I ordered to replace them end of last year. Speaker cable is NACA but I’m waiting for 3 pairs of 6M gutwire Chime AE to swap over in the next couple of weeks.

Cheers Pete

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Oh my Pete, that’s some dream set up. You must be in heaven!

Thanks Mike 30 years in the making!

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Hi, and happy new year!
I am curious on what is the Whest buffer. And do you find the Puritan strip very good?

An interesting thread and one remark about improving the results over the complete frequency range is generally accepted when adding a sub.
I have tried this after discussions with a friend that also runs his HiFi system with a sub and confirm that it adds a certain lift to the overall presentation.
I have a B&W ASW610 sub which has most desirable features, volume(speakers,line in), low pass frequency setting, phase inversion etc for HiFi and I tried this by connecting from the SL2 to the speaker level in inputs of the sub.
I see that people are using other means of connection. Care to elaborate as I don’t understand these other options. I have a 252 plus supercap2 plus 300 by the way.
Sorry I should also add that after reading a response from Pete that I run a passive setup
The recommendation from B&W is to set the low pass cut off to the -6dB for the speaker frequency response and set the volume (speakers) on the sub appropriately to achieve the best integration of sound. I believe the -3 dB cut off frequency for SL2 is 30Hz. So -6dB will be a bit lower possible to predict knowing the roll off.
One thing I found though is the room lottery effect. I only have two rooms to compare and I much prefer the room where I have a very simple (but very nice) budget system to the room where I have the better system.

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All the best for the new year to you FR.

Well, the Whest Buffer is a revelation and I absolutely recommend it to anyone with a digital source - CD player streamer — it even works with a Record Player!

I bought a Titan pro phonostage from James at Whest several months ago, which he was kind enough to bring over and set up. I asked him about his Buffer II and he explained that it was a kind of phonostage for digital sources. It is not a DAC as some people have assume and I believe it’s unique in the market. He didn’t try to sell it he asked if I’d be interested in trying one and I could then make my mind up.

Essentially if you put as in my case the CD555 into it before the pre amp it optimises the signal bringing more depth and and bandwidth to the recording. He advises that if you have a relatively cheap source adding a Buffer II will out perform much more expensive players taking a £400 CD player into the realms of a £3000.00 or more. I know this is quite a claim but it is absolutely true.

I took it to the Audio Consultants in Reading, very knowledgeable and seriously experienced music advisors who were very cautious about the claims being made. We spent an afternoon doing A-B test with and without the Buffer on several different priced CD players: AVM (2K), Luxman (3.5 K), AVM (6-7K) and a top end Luxman (15K).

On every player there was an uplift in SQ, detail, musicality, dynamics - especially on the ‘cheaper’ players. As the price point got higher there was less effect and became a question of whether you preferred the new presentation that the Buffer added.

Without question something like an Audiolab (1K) would get a massive uplift. James recommends using something like a Marantz CD6007 (£400.00) and his theory is in several years when the CD packs up you’re not replacing a several thousand player as the Buffer II will still be working fine. He has one customer who sold his 6K CD player and now plays from his laptop through the buffer.

The uplift on my CD555 powered by 2 x 555ps is quite remarkable. I’ve had two Hi-Hi enthusiasts buy the Buffer II after hearing it on my system and then loaning to them for a couple of days it’s that good.

Cheers Pete

PS - Yes the Puritan is extremely good especially the Fururtech socket version that you can get but is only made for one retailer.

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I’ve found that as I’ve upgraded the kit over the years, better source, amps, power supply, cables etc. the less I have a problem with bass issues. You wouldn’t think that my speakers and this massive Sub sitting in a room 5m x 4m would be able to work - but it does.

As I run an active system I take signal out of the back of the Supercap that powers and delivers signal into the SNAXO crossover that then splits the frequencies for speakers. This means that I’m sending the same frequency range to the REL sub. This was all advised by Jason at NAIM and Rob at REL, not by me I might add :rofl: :shushing_face:

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Thanks, very interesting. I imagine this buffer is like an invention in audio, because I have never heard of something similar. Will try to see if there are some reviews on it.

On the specific point about taking the feed off the SC powering the SNAXO, is that from one of the DIN outputs then, please? I’m envisaging one of the sockets 3,4 or 5 being used, but is that correct, and do you then have a particular lead to connect to the REL?

Although on a much smaller scale I’m also thinking about adding a sub, the key reasons being that there’s available space, and I can’t help myself. As my system is also active this SC to sub connection has piqued my interest!

Yes that’s correct CJ. I had a chord Epic Din to 2 RCA cable made that goes from socket 4 going into the low level RCA input on the REL. REL advise to use the Hi Level but doing it this way there’s hardly any difference you lose about 5 per cent of what the Hi Level does :+1:

Thanks. I’m getting excited at the possibilities now! Does that lead also have a resistor as well please?

I don’t think so CJ. Are you in the UK? If so it might be worth contacting Chord directly and tell them what you intend the interconnect for. I gave all the info about my supercap and the REL to the dealer who passed it on to Chord who made up the cable in a couple of weeks

Excellent, excellent! Yes, I’m in the UK. :grinning:

And thanks again!