Subwoofer Reviews

For some reason, REL has been quite the reviewer's darling over the years, even though the performance/price ratio has always been terrible. I notice REL is still pushing the old-fashioned idea of running speakers full range.

There is no reason this sub should be a top pick. This sub is rolling off at 24 dB/octave below 40 Hz. Many $300 subs have better performance than this. Even relying on room gain and boundary reinforcement would not result in flat response to 20 Hz. Compounding the poor low-end performance is the fact that the sub rolls off just as hard in the higher frequencies...being already 3 dB down at 60 Hz severely limits the types of speakers this sub can be used with.

Let's face it, this is clearly a band-pass design and not a very good one at that. I would be disappointed to pay $500 for this, let alone $1800.

There's something very special about REL subwoofers,
yes, I know they're not the best "bang for buck", and you can find subwoofers with the exact\better specs out there in 1000$ less,
REL subs are more musical, transparent, accurate, period.
they maybe won't shake your house, but they sure do produce astonishing delicate waves.

BTW, I've heard the 328 and the 528 (Serie R), and they're both able to shake your entire building, but they're quite expensive (the T series is too gentle for movies in my opinion).

This system uses a "passive radiator" which is a variant of "vented" design. Way different than a "Bandpass design"
Proof is in the listening as kurole suggests. RELs simply just sound Great!