The REL No.25 has Landed!

Congrats on the 25! Awesome sub-bass system that!
Always makes me smile when I hear that phrase “I wouldn’t want to hear music without it now” (or similar), I must’ve heard it a hundred times and it’s just so true! I am still completely unable to grasp why more people don’t at least give a sub a try in their systems, it generally makes an significant improvement and I personally find that most of that improvement is found in the non-bass frequencies.
It’s like REL subs are a secret or something but they really shouldn’t be. I’ve had a REL in my system for about 20years and am a big advocate of having a pair of subs (run 2 x REL T7x) in a stereo system. Anyone who hasn’t tried a REL really should give one (or two :wink:) a go. Relatively easy to setup (loads of videos on RELs website) and great vfm imho.

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Is that a Rory Strat reissue I see bottom left? :+1:

Totally agree and it was through watching YouTube clips that started me thinking about trying one :+1:

Yes well spotted Toon. On the far left behind the speaker is also a Flea fender jazz and next to that a Sammy Hagar Explorer :slightly_smiling_face: :grinning:

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Exactly surround sound is a different proposition, my comment is about the seamless integration with quality hifi speakers as opposed to causing phase or filtering issues which would detract from the effectiveness of the low end performance of your quality hifi speakers… that’s all… kind of obvious really.

The point is that and despite some attempts to undermine the first rate quality that movie soundtracks can offer a subwoofer is pivotal to effectively reproducing movies soundtracks where there is simply no place to hide. And most if not all of the processes which should be used to effectively align, calibrate and dial in a subwoofer in an AV system should also be carried over to help effectively align, calibrate and dial in a subwoofer as part of a music system.

Regardless of whether a subwoofer is there to support a dedicated music system, an AV system or a single system used for both music and movies the key is as I’ve said before is not to waste the potential of the subwoofer, to have seamless integration with the mains/satellites and the environment. If this is done correctly then the sub/s will optimally support the system and consistently disappear into the soundstage with a deep, sharp, tight fisted, fast and powerful punchy sub bass. The results are profound with stereo music, multi channel music, movies and games.

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Not so. For eg. here is a dedicated two channel system supported by dual Fathom f112 v2’s. There is seamless integration between the mains and the subs and just as importantly the potential of the subs is not being wasted as mains are unburdened of frequencies up to 90Hz. The Fathom f112 v2’s do a much better job than the mains in this region.

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How / where do you insert the crossover to filter out the sub-90Hz from the main speakers?

Best regards, BF

Correct me if I’m wrong but the Fathom f112 v2
Use room correction software to correct their own levels in room not other speakers.

In a dedicated two channel hifi system (Naim for instance) how are the speakers unburdened by any signal below 90hz. Surely the two channel speakers will do their own thing down to whatever level they roll off and the sub will do its own thing at whatever levels you set it at. In which case their outputs overlap. Where they overlap they either reinforce each other or cancel out depending on settings.

In this system by using a CR-1 active subwoofer crossover which is inserted between the pre and power amp.

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The Fathom v2 and Gotham v2 series of subs use DARO Digital Automatic Room Optimization which is 18 bands of digital equalization to eliminate the largest acoustic response peaks in the main listening position.

In this system to unburden the mains of LF frequencies of up to 90Hz a CR-1 active subwoofer is used the component with the silver front at the left hand corner on the lower shelf btw.

Ahhhh. That makes sense. I read a stereophile review of the cr-1 with Fathom f212v2. Clearly a hi end system and the corrected frequency slope looked very smooth.
I watched a video of a rel 25 where the install team used a DSpeaker in a similar way, I think, to the cr-1.

Certainly food for thought :slightly_smiling_face:

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Thank you Rik, very interesting. I am familiar with the wholly positive impact of W-B’s Torus on their ACT speakers, yet the JL Audio CR-1 is more sophisticated and relieves the main speakers of the lowest frequencies.

Tempting …

Best regards, BF

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Ok my bad I should have looked further at previous forum posts by @Richard.Dane. There must be at least 10 posts where you answer the same question.
One more remark on this. I would like to understand why without the 100 ohm resistor an instability is introduced or at best significant reduction in performance resulting.
Most cables like chord or mogami claim the low capacitance requirement and therefore not present a difficult load, so is it really necessary?
Regards,
Mark

Hello @Richard.Dane. Could you maybe provide some more information regarding my question. Perfectly fine if this can go offline but I’m not sure how
Thanks

Mark, I’m not quite sure what else you’re asking for here. The pre-amps were never designed to drive long or capacitive cabling, hence the need for the slugging resistor. Beyond that, I’m not an engineer so perhaps a question best answered by Naim.

It’s just that I receive conflicting information and before ordering an interconnect for €350, I would like to ensure that things are right.
There are 3 potential suppliers and Naim being one of them. Unfortunately the Naim cable does not run two separate cables to mono RCA inputs that can be separated at a distance. It is fine for a sub with stereo RCA inputs. The other suppliers claim low capacitance cables and suggest that they will be fine without adding the load resistors. However I would like if possible some idea from Naim.
I would gladly fire questions off to info@naim… in fact I did before getting my CDS3 serviced but did not get an answer. In fact I got the player back already.
I hope that helps to clarify the situation which I can assure you is not a rant and rave
Thanks in advance
Mark

I would definitely suggest slugging any cable longer than 2m.

You’re welcome.

CR-1 is a powerful tool hence the reason why I’ve used one over the last seven years. The highlight of the CR-1 are the damping controls. As long as other parameters external to and the CR-1’s have been correctly implemented then the effective use of the damping controls at the critical crossover region enables a seamless handshake between the sub and the mains. As long as sub is capable playing cleanly at frequencies of 80Hz and above and done correctly and with now no lag, bloom, bloat, boom or blur you’re instead presented with sub bass which is launched instantly, high speed, sharply focused and snappy.

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@Musicraft The CR-1 looks very interesting… Can it be used with other brands of subs or is it designed to only work with JL Audio?

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