I’d like to get burned on this opinion question.

ematthews

ematthews

Audioholic General
Just been browsing a lot on subwoofers. I’m not in the market. I’m super happy with my HSU subs. But a question. Why do most feel Rel subs are better for music than Rythmik??? I don’t get it. But I also chose the ULS 15’s over both those brands. Opinions??!!
 
William Lemmerhirt

William Lemmerhirt

Audioholic Overlord
Marketing...
It plants the seeds of placebo and creates instant bias. Put that together with years of audiophile myth, and voila!!!

Edit: by “most”, who does that mean exactly?
 
ematthews

ematthews

Audioholic General
Marketing...
It plants the seeds of placebo and creates instant bias. Put that together with years of audiophile myth, and voila!!!


Edit: by “most”, who does that mean exactly?

Most of the articles and reviews that I’ve read. However I saw where one of the guys from Rythmik responded to a thread that total blew ReL’s claim to fame out of the water. I’m still very curious how two Rythmiks would do bs my HSU subs.
 
William Lemmerhirt

William Lemmerhirt

Audioholic Overlord
Most of the articles and reviews that I’ve read. However I saw where one of the guys from Rythmik responded to a thread that total blew ReL’s claim to fame out of the water. I’m still very curious how two Rythmiks would do bs my HSU subs.
Exactly why you have to take reviews with a healthy dose of salt. IMO, many reviewers have some kind of skin in the game. So reading between the lines is important. I’d love a link to the Rythmik thing if you could.
I like Rythmik, but for your use case, they’ll likely be very much the same as your “shoes”.
 
ryanosaur

ryanosaur

Audioholic Overlord
As I recall some of the lessons we’ve had from Headmaster Shady, driver and cabinet design, port tuning, group delay... All of these contributed early on to the creation of that myth. Most of these problems have been left in the past, now. With any of the companies we typically discuss.
It seems that when you move beyond that story, what you are left with is deciding on the FR and output profile (infrasonic v. Mid-bass), then the size and connectivity/UI options.
Other than matching Sub to room size, which includes sealed subs for rooms below 3000cu.ft, or support for large and extreme rooms, there is very little left to worry about.

In the end, the outliers are subs that have not been handled in-depth for third party tests. At this point, that is newer Rythmik and PSA subs. There are some older reviews of Rythmik on DataBass. If anything has changed with them, I can’t say.

But what I can say is that I would not use sealed subs unless I had a room smaller than 3000cu.ft, and be able to employ 3-4 in the room. Even still, my 2 porteds perform very well in my 2000cu.ft. room. Even @CB22 found the outlaws to perform well enough that he moved his old Hsus out iirc.
In the end it’s all about setting the subs up right in your room. If you get that done well, and you have a sub of solid quality and performance, there should be no musicality concerns.
 
ematthews

ematthews

Audioholic General
I ran my single Outlaw Ultra X12 in my small audio room and it was great. I like Ported subs. I think I leaned towards a sub that Isn’t so tight. Not that Ported isn’t tight. Just sounds different to me.
 
S

SimplyEpic

Audioholic
Rel have to be better. They have chrome and silver accents and everyone knows Chrome and silver makes things faster and better just like adding flames.
 
J

JMB

Audioholic Intern
You might find this article written by Brent Butterworth in 2014 interesting. Its mostly about some fake upgrade of the Pioneer SW-8Mk2 but there are a couple of measurement graphs comparing the Pioneer to an REL T7.

https://hometheaterreview.com/the-pioneer-sw-8mk2-meets-the-meters/

I own both the Pioneer and a ULS-15Mk2. Before upgrading, I was also interested in an REL before spending some time in these forums and decided on the HSU.
 
ryanosaur

ryanosaur

Audioholic Overlord
It would be awesome to see a new AH Subwoofer Primer. Between @gene @shadyJ and @Matthew J Poes ... a little help from the likes of JTR’s @Jeff Permanian and SVS’s @Ed Mullen ...
You see where I’m going with this? ;)
It would be very cool to have an article that not only walks the beginner through what really matters in buying a sub, but can also be a central repository for all other pertinent knowledge of Subs in 2020 and beyond. It could revise dated articles, examine new issues, and settle for all time random Subwoofer myths that still seem to manifest.

Come on guys!!! Winter is coming, which means lots of newb sub questions. :D :p :cool:
 
S

SimplyEpic

Audioholic
I was interested in the Rel (forget the model but it was black with chrome handles on the side). Saw it at Best Buy and it was in the same room as a SVS SB-4000. A/B'd the 2 and the Rel kept bottoming out so I had the salesman stop before the Rel was damaged. Now I own 2 PB-4000's thinking I could always use the PB's in sealed mode and never looked back :)

@ryanosaur I love the article idea. The meeting of the subwoofer minds would provide an amazing amount of knowledge to be shared for sure.
 
lovinthehd

lovinthehd

Audioholic Jedi
Rel has a big headstart with the marketing and caters to the "audiophile" market via reviewers and many of the sycophants of such suck it up :). Their subs haven't proven to be particularly good performers, particularly at their price points. Some are nice furniture, tho I don't think on the order of a Funk or Salk etc....
 
Pogre

Pogre

Audioholic Slumlord
Who is most?? Tell you what, start a poll here and I'll bet you find it isn't "most"... lol
 
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