I have now owned the new REL T5 subwoofer for about a month and wanted to write a mini review of this subwoofer.
Things did not start off too well with my acquisition of this sub, my dealer was back-ordered over a month and apparently the supplier...Sumiko US, has problems with acquiring enough supply to meet demand.
The subwoofer can be ordered in piano black or gloss white...( gloss white??? would you really want this color option...Really?) BTW, the gloss white was not as back-ordered as the piano black...can't imagine why
To get back to my little escapade, after five weeks, the dealer calls me and we are ready to go.
The subwoofer is delivered in a standard size cardboard box, upon opening the box, one is greeted with a cloth covering of exceptional quality....a good sign so far. The box also has an interesting warning, to be careful not to mar the finish of the product as Sumiko won't be responsible if you do
Next I note that this subwoofer is designed in the UK and in California and made in......China
The subwoofer is appx 12"X12"x12" with four small aluminum feet supporting the box. I looked at the 8" driver and was pleased to see that it features a full rubber surround (not the dreaded foam) and is of the long throw design. On the back panel is a standard iec, rotary controls for adjusting the x-over , a Neutrik connector and two gold plated RCA's for high level input along with a phase reverse switch. The RCA's appear to be of a little better quality than one usually sees at this price point, another good thing.
The manual is fairly straight forward and an easy read...I opted to connect up the subwoofer directly to my amp(s) as suggested in the manual....vs. connecting to the preamp output, which would be done via the RCA connections and a Y-splitter ( not a good thing IMO).
There are three wires that are connected to the left and right Positive speaker outputs and a ground wire that is connected to the negative amp speaker output terminal on the amp.
With this simple connection completed, all that is needed to be done is to plug in the sub to the wall and set the x-over slope and volume. Herein lies the fun The manual is fairly helpful with this,BUT it has taken me the better part of two(2) weeks to get this blend correct.
Firstly, one has to experiment with the positioning of the subwoofer in the room, once that is satisfactory, a lengthy listening session with various types of music is required. Much fiddling and adjustment is required to get the blend exact...( although one can get close with not too much effort, to get the blend exact needs more time and experimentation).
In my next mini installment, i will relate as to the various hook-up options and questions that I had in regards to this subwoofer and my older ARC D-series tube amp , which uses a 4ohm speaker hookup as a ground and is a balanced design due to that aspect. Also, I will be talking more of the influence of how the Subwoofer impacts the presentation of my main speakers
Things did not start off too well with my acquisition of this sub, my dealer was back-ordered over a month and apparently the supplier...Sumiko US, has problems with acquiring enough supply to meet demand.
The subwoofer can be ordered in piano black or gloss white...( gloss white??? would you really want this color option...Really?) BTW, the gloss white was not as back-ordered as the piano black...can't imagine why
To get back to my little escapade, after five weeks, the dealer calls me and we are ready to go.
The subwoofer is delivered in a standard size cardboard box, upon opening the box, one is greeted with a cloth covering of exceptional quality....a good sign so far. The box also has an interesting warning, to be careful not to mar the finish of the product as Sumiko won't be responsible if you do
Next I note that this subwoofer is designed in the UK and in California and made in......China
The subwoofer is appx 12"X12"x12" with four small aluminum feet supporting the box. I looked at the 8" driver and was pleased to see that it features a full rubber surround (not the dreaded foam) and is of the long throw design. On the back panel is a standard iec, rotary controls for adjusting the x-over , a Neutrik connector and two gold plated RCA's for high level input along with a phase reverse switch. The RCA's appear to be of a little better quality than one usually sees at this price point, another good thing.
The manual is fairly straight forward and an easy read...I opted to connect up the subwoofer directly to my amp(s) as suggested in the manual....vs. connecting to the preamp output, which would be done via the RCA connections and a Y-splitter ( not a good thing IMO).
There are three wires that are connected to the left and right Positive speaker outputs and a ground wire that is connected to the negative amp speaker output terminal on the amp.
With this simple connection completed, all that is needed to be done is to plug in the sub to the wall and set the x-over slope and volume. Herein lies the fun The manual is fairly helpful with this,BUT it has taken me the better part of two(2) weeks to get this blend correct.
Firstly, one has to experiment with the positioning of the subwoofer in the room, once that is satisfactory, a lengthy listening session with various types of music is required. Much fiddling and adjustment is required to get the blend exact...( although one can get close with not too much effort, to get the blend exact needs more time and experimentation).
In my next mini installment, i will relate as to the various hook-up options and questions that I had in regards to this subwoofer and my older ARC D-series tube amp , which uses a 4ohm speaker hookup as a ground and is a balanced design due to that aspect. Also, I will be talking more of the influence of how the Subwoofer impacts the presentation of my main speakers