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In Living Color
REL’s Sizzling Hot T/9x SE Colors
This article shares the brief and colorful (groan) journey REL has taken to produce two gorgeous new finishes in our Special Edition versions of the T/9x. Last year, we reintroduced a red that for legal and political reasons we call Italian Racing Red. People who own cars with a prancing horse on their flanks will recognize it as Rosso Forza and yes, the brand starts with an “F” and ends with an “I”.
This year, we’re pushing the boundaries of color even further with the introduction of two bold new shades: a striking yellow and a fiery orange. But these aren’t just any colors; they’re the result of a meticulous process inspired by some of the most legendary cars on the planet.
Let’s face it – color is irresistible. It’s what draws us in, captivates us, and keeps us coming back for more. Just like how 4K pulls you into its vibrant world, our new T/9x colors are designed to grab your attention and never let go.
No one knows this better than the billionaires who run F-1 Racing. For sheer retina-sizzling punch, the color schemes that are applied to each car’s body are designed to do one thing and one thing only: grab hold of your eyeballs and keep them fixed on their car. But it wasn’t always so. Ferrari’s racing red used to look more like burgundy. Here’s a picture of that color reissued in the late 90’s.
When we decided to expand our palette to include a gorgeous and fresh yellow and a deep, richly-hued orange, we looked to exotic cars and race teams for inspiration. Why not, the work that goes into creating a unique hue for the world’s greatest cars runs into the millions. So, were we able to simply grab McLaren’s Orange in a rattle can and spray our subs? Believe me, there were days I wished we could.
Just as with the subtle Grey T/9x, applying bright colors to a relatively modest-sized subwoofer like our T/9x requires careful scaling of the color in question. A color that looks incredible on a Lamborghini may not work on a subwoofer barely over one cubic foot (.0283 cubic meters) in size. We know, we tried. And we tried. And we tried about 20 more times.
What works when applying paint to such a small object, is to interpret the color and intensity so that it reads correctly on the object. Take our Tangerine Dream orange color. We started out shooting samples in Porsche’s GT-3RS orange. Impossible to get the correct formula. The NSA doesn’t keep secrets as well as Porsche when it comes to this rare shade. So, we sprayed cabinet samples in McLaren’s Orange (over the years, there have been about 15 variations of what you may think is “McClaren Orange”). Didn’t cut it. We shot versions using Porsche’s “standard” orange as used on, among other things, their 2008 Boxster Special Edition. For some reason, the way light struck the surface, it looked as though a vanilla milkshake had fallen into the paint can.
So, we mixed a custom color we call Tangerine Dream, a half shade deeper than P-car’s orange, and a little brighter than McOrange. Unique, maybe a tiny bit like the 2008-12 Fire Orange M3 but with the flame banked a tiny bit. We could have called it REL Orange, but somehow Tangerine Dream better fits its personality.
Then we turned to our fresh-as-Spring Yellow. By now, we had discarded trying to reuse anything directly from a factory. Same drill though, you think it’s going to be easy, and the more you think that, the more you’ll struggle. So, we went straight into the “We want the vividness of the C-6 Corvette Velocity Yellow, but without the “why did I leave my sunglasses home today” effect that color has. Also, it looked terrible in real living rooms. So, custom color matching again and we arrived at a wonderful yellow, a yellow so pretty that the first 6 women we showed it to all said (pretty much instantly) “I want to buy that!” I’m going to say that again v-e-r-r-y slowly… six women agreed on a color instantly. Without any prodding. Do you know how much money Dupont, PPG, Sikkens, and every other paint company would pay to get that reaction?
Then we had to give it a name. With apologies to the Automobile Club de l’Oust who sanctioned the famous 24 Hours of Le Mans, I hit on the only name it could possibly be. Le Mon Yellow, to bring it back to high-performance cars that inspire us.
Of course, being a part of our Special Edition mini-series of T/9x’s we had to apply the full monte, so on went the triple chrome plated cast and machined solid billet feet. We use triple chrome plating; triple refers to the old-fashioned, more expensive method for chroming. We use pure copper, with nickel plating on top of the copper, and then finish with an extra-long bath in chromium to leave a deep lustrous chrome. Yes, it costs more. Yes, it looks about 100 times better than doing it the slapdash way.
And, of course, all our drivers in the SE range are that next step beyond the standard T/x drivers. The use of 6000 series carbon fibre in the center cap produces incredible stiffness yet reduces moving mass significantly. This alone is enough to add an extra 1.2 dB, not a huge increase in output, but a significant indicator that the amp is not having to work as hard to produce the same output, which means that it plays even louder than a standard T/9x. Look at it this way, the custom paint alone costs more than the $150 we charge for any of the SEs (last check red ran $735/gallon) the orange and yellow are within a stone’s throw of that. We add the extra performance of the carbon fibre for free because we wanted there to be an audible improvement, not just a color upgrade.
Thanks for riding along on this colorful adventure with us. Every time we push the boundaries—whether it’s through performance or design—we do it with one goal in mind: to bring you closer to the perfect sound experience. And with these Special Edition T/9x subs, we think we’ve done just that.
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