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Has anyone compared the REL T5 and T7 subwoofers in the same system?

Posted by JoshT (A) on August 23, 2014 at 08:10:29

I am home demoing a REL T5 for music only in our living room system, which is both 2 channel and HT/MCH. We have a fairly large living room area within an open floor plan condominium, so it's effectively a very large space. We do not need the REL to do .1 duty, as we have a huge Paradigm Servo 15 for movies which is great for that application. For movies or music, we run our main speakers, Dynaudio Focus 160s, at full range. The T5 is hooked up to the High Level Inputs using the Neutrik Speakon connection, so its job is to simply provide a low end extension/foundation for the Focus 160s.

I am quite amazed at how well this tiny little box with an 8 inch down firing driver is performing in our open space. Once it is dialed in, it does what it should do. That is, it seemingly vanishes until turned off, which is when you realize what it was doing. With it on, the Dynaudios, which are good bass performers for stand mounted speakers, just sound bigger and fuller, the imaging improves, and, when called for, the bass is nice and deep.

It's simply astounding to me that this little cube seems so significantly deeper, tighter and faster than an old REL Q150S I tried to use, which was much harder to dial in as well.

But I can't help feeling like the T7, with its bigger enclosure, more powerful amp and added 10 inch passive radiator, would be more appropriate still for such a large area. Both get very good reviews in the pro press as well as by users, but I've yet to hear from anyone who has actually compared the two in the same system. Unfortunately, my dealer who is permitting this very extended home audition only has the Tzero and T5 to demo, and yet he's been fantastic and I want to stay loyal to him on this project, so I'm not sure I'll be able to compare the T5 to one of its larger siblings.

I'm also curious about the T9, but I've yet to read any reviews of it, professional or otherwise. Also, the price of the T9 gets it up against the new S/2, which I assume would be a step up with its higher quality drivers and enclosure. Anyone heard either of those two as well, preferably in their own systems?

(Edits were to fix typos and some confusing, sleep depravation-induced, sentence drafting - I even had to edit this parenthetical - sigh.)
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"If you are the owner of a new stereophonic system, this record will play with even more brilliant true-to-life fidelity. In short, you can purchase this record with no fear of its becoming obsolete in the future."

Edits: 08/23/14 08/23/14 08/23/14

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