Adding an REL sub

[metaphacts]

With a REL, lower crossover higher gain. Always.

If you go too high in crossover, you either get boom (gain too high) or lose output at the lowest frequencies (gain low enough to keep the too high crossover from causing boom). Neither is desireable. Typically, depending on vintage, REL crossovers end up set 1/2 an octave to an octave below the rolloff of the mains for best performance.

[Venere]

Thanks for the advice Bill and Jim. Still experimenting and got another day off work to play with it. I highly recommend making new gear purchases of all types before a three day weekend. Yes sir. As always, the recording makes a big difference. If you go too high on the crossover you dont notice the bloat on many classical recordings and it just adds heft and drama on crescendos. The same setting on some rock and jazz gets boomy and muddy. Always tricky to find a one size fits all compromise. But i think I'm pretty close with the 34hz crossover point. Sounds the best on most varieties of recordings. This is such a great forum for stuff like this. Thanks guys.

[4RE]

Quote Richard E. Lord, early nineties;
'If you want a better subwoofer, buy two subwoofers!'

there are no rules nor standards for setting gain and frequency.
It all depends on mainspeakers, and room interaction.
suggest to go with somewhat higher freq and lower gain. Typically around the 45 Hertz.

Start to save up for the second sub, and enjoy Stereo!

[metaphacts]

Originally Posted by 4RE

Quote Richard E. Lord, early nineties;
'If you want a better subwoofer, buy two subwoofers!'

there are no rules nor standards for setting gain and frequency.
It all depends on mainspeakers, and room interaction.
suggest to go with somewhat higher freq and lower gain. Typically around the 45 Hertz.

Start to save up for the second sub, and enjoy Stereo!

The last time I saw Richard was just after he sold REL to the owners of Sumiko, his then long standing US and largest distributor. I do miss his enthusiasm.

There are certainly basic guidelines to REL sub setup. Crossing a REL to a Venere 3.0 at 45 Hz will result in boom unless you turn the gain so low that you limit output in the lowest frequencies. That would defeat the purpose for which Richard designed his subs.

The trick is to get a combination of crossover frequency and gain that couples smoothly through the crossover point, has sufficient output at the lowest frequencies (REL call this sub bass), and does not unnecessarily excite typical room resonances. To do that, both speakers need to pressurize the room evenly and the sub must be properly positioned.

Follow the guidelines and a REL sets up in minutes.

[Venere]

Originally Posted by metaphacts

The last time I saw Richard was just after he sold REL to the owners of Sumiko, his then long standing US and largest distributor. I do miss his enthusiasm. There are certainly basic guidelines to REL sub setup. Crossing a REL to a Venere 3.0 at 45 Hz will result in boom unless you turn the gain so low that you limit output in the lowest frequencies. That would defeat the purpose for which Richard designed his subs. The trick is to get a combination of crossover frequency and gain that couples smoothly through the crossover point, has sufficient output at the lowest frequencies (REL call this sub bass), and does not unnecessarily excite typical room resonances. To do that, both speakers need to pressurize the room evenly and the sub must be properly positioned. Follow the guidelines and a REL sets up in minutes.

Spot on as usual Bill. The setting i tried out of the box because it looked fairly sensible was cross at 45 and volume at about one third point, and it sounded like a bad car stereo with a 15 inch woofer in the trunk. Then i saw the section in the manual saying low cross plus high gain equal better results. After much experimentation i found what sounded best on most recordings. This morning I measured in room system response and its almost dead flat from 200 down to 30 and about 6db down at 25 (almost exactly matching the specs). The really interesting part is that without the sub my mains have a peak at 80hz which bizarrely almost disappears with the sub playing. Not sure what is causing that but I'll take it. Nearly ruler flat in room response through the bass down to 30hz.