The story of REL is similar to many others: once upon a time there lived a talented man on Earth who did not like the situation on the market, and he decided to change it. In our case, this man’s name was Richard Edmund Lord, and he did not like existing subwoofers and low-frequency solutions in multi-band acoustics. He made his fateful decision to change the world in 1990. Richard was categorically not satisfied with the speakers that existed then, 25 years ago, on the market. He did not hear normal low frequencies in any acoustics: large speakers rumbled, and small ones simply squeaked. Subwoofers were nothing more than consumer goods for Richard, which were installed at home for “just what it was.”
Richard didn’t like anything that was on sale at the time: he believed that low frequencies not only deserved their own separate cabinets in every sense, but deserved to be the best. That’s when he decided to create subs. Without wasting any time, he named the company REL (an abbreviation of the first letters of his own name – Richard Edmund Lord), coined the term “sub bass system” and began rolling up his sleeves to conquer audiophiles. Audiophiles fell for the newcomer almost immediately – with the release of the REL Stadium model, a new chapter in the history of subwoofers was opened. Stadium was designed with Richard’s guiding principle in mind: subs should fit into any system as naturally as possible and reproduce low frequencies as cleanly and clearly as possible. The subwoofer should be physically present, but absent auditorily; a person should not hear that the subwoofer is playing right now. The system just needs to have good musical bass.
REL Britannia B3
The first solution is that the woofer is connected to the bass amplifier with separate cables. Secondly, the subwoofer, according to Richard’s plan, becomes active and has its own independent, tunable crossover. In this case, the latter is completely separated from the system. An active circuit with a high input impedance was also invented, thanks to which the subwoofer was connected directly to the output terminals of the amplifier. After passing through the circuit, the signal enters the input of a power amplifier (with low output and high input impedance) using field-effect transistors, the parameters of which are optimized for operation with a low-frequency driver. By the way, all pass-through capacitors were excluded from this circuit. Audiophiles appreciated all this and rushed to buy new products even more furiously, and in 1995 the company moved to the city of Bridgend in south Wales, simultaneously expanding the line in different price ranges. And the fact that REL produces only subwoofers gives the company an excellent chance to be head and shoulders above its competitors.
REL Habitat
In 2005, a new era for REL began with the acquisition of the company by John Hunter and Donald Brody. The new owners decided to “modernize” the company’s approach to product production. First, the current product lines have been updated externally to ensure the subs not only sound great, but look great, too. Secondly, we improved the electronics by replacing a number of components with better ones and “redrawing” some circuits. However, the basic principles are still practiced today. And reliability, innovation and modern design allow us to maintain leadership in the segment. Finished products are tested under the highest possible overload conditions, while the circuit boards themselves are manufactured to extremely strict standards to ensure the maximum degree of protection. Even cabinet joints are checked manually under bright light – they should not be visible, and the cabinets must be made extremely rigid so that no resonance spoils the sound quality. In addition, the cabinets use special tongue-and-groove joints combined with additional brackets that tighten the body to the maximum.
REL Gibraltar
Richard Lord is no longer the director and chief designer of REL, but the company still produces high-quality low-frequency acoustics. He recently took a look at the new range of subwoofers for stereo and multi-channel systems and was very appreciative of what he called the “fantastic” job the new owners have done. Richard is still in close contact with the new owners and keeps his finger on the pulse. Today, REL products are represented by several lines of subwoofers. These are the S and T series, the Gibraltar series (aka G series), the Habitat wireless subwoofer and accessories. All of the company’s subwoofers need to be calibrated during installation so that the bass fills the entire space, organically “merging” into the music, and does not come out only from one point. In addition, it is important to understand that these subwoofers are suitable not only for listening to music (including rhythmic music), but also for watching movies.
REL subwoofers today
Finally, about connectivity. REL always recommends using a high-level connection for its subwoofers (directly to the amplifier’s speaker terminals). For this purpose, a corresponding cable is included with the subwoofer, but you can also purchase an improved version of it separately.
Turnkey website development , any modifications and settings – FreeWorker freelance service. It should also be said that all models are equipped with a tunable crossover (with sixteen frequency values from 30 to 120 Hz), a phase switch, level controls, terminals for connecting a pre-amplifier output and outputs for connecting satellites with a low-pass filter. And the Set-Safe electronic circuit, which protects the subwoofer from overload.
Loading ...