Contents:
- Intro, Lack of Space
- You're Not Alone
- Tough Decisions
- It's Not About Price, It's About Space
-
The Breakthrough Explained
-
It Works!
-
5.7 Inches of Perfect Bass
- How Does REL's Planar Change Everything?
- The Hidden Subwoofer?
- Frequently Asked Questions
- Gamechanger
How a New Ultra-Thin Subwoofer is Solving the Real Challenge to Subwoofer Ownership
"Space. The Final Frontier."
"My room doesn't have enough space for a subwoofer."
We would like to politely disagree.
Your room used to not have enough room to house a subwoofer.
If This All Sounds Familiar, You're Not Alone
It's likely that one third of the people who would love to own a subwoofer feel that they can't not because they don't want one, but because they simply don't believe they have the room.
They live in an apartment, or their home is chopped up into inconveniently small rooms we have that issue with very expensive Victorians here in San Francisco. Or they have a nice open floor plan home and having large, conventional subwoofers introduces design challenges that can be, well, challenging.
Many Challenges, One Dilemma
They all face the same dilemma, and it's a tough one.
Either install a good conventional subwoofer, perhaps at the cost of disrupting a beautiful room. Or live without the many benefits a great subwoofer can bring to the party: greater dynamics, more warmth, being able to more easily hear the recorded venue, more texture, more nuance and, oh yes, kick-ass bass.
Not Just a Pretty Face: A Compact Subwoofer That Actually Performs
If Planar were merely a sexy new packaging device for a subwoofer, we wouldn't be talking about it here. We wouldn't be talking about it at all. Because we would have scrapped the project. REL doesn't dabble in pretty for its own sake.
First and always, we are a subwoofer company that takes bass very seriously. When we say Planar is a genuine REL in every sense of that word, we mean it. What makes Planar transformative is that, while they may be very pretty and occupy remarkably little space allowing huge flexibility and opening up the possibility of having one's cake and eating it too, with a grin only the Cheshire Cat could appreciate, their principal mission is to deliver oceans of deep, rich, tuneful, fast, slammin' bass. Just like a REL.
Planar delivers all the big-boy REL stuff that we alone have delivered for much of the past four decades.
Both subs go deep. Both play loud. Their instantaneous dynamics are right there with some of the best built. And they can blend perfectly with your main speakers.
How Does REL's Planar Series Deliver All of That Performance in Such a Compact Subwoofer
It's not a trick. Here's what REL's designers recognized: instead of fighting with the room and its often troublesome acoustics (boomy over here, thin weak bass over there, complete cancellation of bass in the middle of most rooms), if they worked closely with room-boundary effects essentially making the subwoofer one with a wall it would allow the wall itself to become a sort of bass projector.
And It Really Works
That's right, by close coupling with the wall, Planar provides a defined method of projecting bass that is the full height of the wall. But there are other benefits. Because the wall's proximity emphasizes acoustical efficiency, Planar can play remarkably loud. And because our engineers factored advanced physics into the suspensions of their special drivers, they extend much deeper into the bass than anything vaguely similar that's been tried in the past. Planar is grounded in solid physics married to beautiful forms that have delivered a real performance breakthrough. The secret to Planar isn't simply that its dimensions make it look like it belongs in the pages of Dwell magazine. It isn't even that it performs like a full-blooded REL of similar price. It's that by applying boundary coupling and putting the wall to work for you, we've been able to give customers both incredible subwoofer performance and give you back your beautiful room.
Give Us 6 Inches and We'll Give You Back Your Room AND Perfect Bass.
If you can give us just 6 inches of depth, we can deliver bass with huge scale, excellent extension into bass regions normally associated with pipe organs and, using our High-Level Connection method, Planar doesn't require a subwoofer output to connect.
You can use any amplifier, and these days many include a decent streamer, to drive your speakers.
Planars connect to the same terminals your speakers do but don't use up any of their power. You can even use your favorite vintage receiver.
Planars supply 300W (PL-1) to 550W (PL-2) of powerful, room-filling bass depending on which model you choose.
How Does a Compact or Hidden Subwoofer Manifest Itself in Real-World Situations?
Does that mean you can slip a potent subwoofer between the back of your couch and the back wall of your room? Yup. Don't believe us?
Our Director of Sales North America uses exactly this trick to deliver potent, true theater surround effects in his smallish theater room.
This from a guy who’s main two-channel audio system runs into the multiple hundreds of thousands of dollars, so the man knows high-performance audio, and he damned sure knows high-performance bass.
He reports that Planar's ability to produce an exceptionally tall height of image with powerful bass in his theater has transformed the experience for him. "Before we launched Planar, I just couldn't find a way to fit quality deep bass in the rear half of the theater," he says. "After I helped a local dealer mount one to his rear wall in a theater demo room and heard how it transformed a much larger room than mine, I borrowed our company demo and tried it at home.
Wow, just wow!
It's a game changer."
Is Planar a Kind of Hidden Subwoofer?
The Planar design permits the casual use of terms like "hidden subwoofer." While it's not language, we're likely to use in marketing, the reality is that a subwoofer that is less than 6 inches thick takes up less physical space about what a paperback book takes up. Slip it in behind your curtains. In doing so, Planars can lower the temperature of everyone in the household who thought adding a subwoofer into their life meant they were being asked to audition to be the model in the famous 1980s Maxell Tape commercial known as "Blown Away Guy."
You can find a way to turn a Planar into a hidden subwoofer easily.
But when they look this gorgeous, why would you want to?
Frequently Asked Questions
Can a wall-mounted subwoofer match the bass output of a traditional floor-standing subwoofer?
Yes. Planar was engineered to deliver the speed, depth, and musicality REL is known for while occupying a fraction of the space of a conventional subwoofer. While every room and application is different, Planar is designed to provide authentic REL performance in locations where traditional subwoofers may not be practical.
What is a hidden subwoofer?
A hidden subwoofer is designed to blend into your living space while still delivering full-range bass performance. At less than 6 inches deep, Planar can be wall-mounted, placed behind furniture, concealed beside cabinetry, or integrated into spaces where a traditional subwoofer would be visually intrusive. Its slim profile allows you to enjoy powerful bass without sacrificing valuable floor space.
Can a slim subwoofer work in a small apartment?
Absolutely. Planar was specifically designed for modern living spaces, including apartments, condos, media rooms, and multipurpose environments. Its compact footprint and flexible placement options make it easy to achieve high-quality bass performance while minimizing the visual and spatial impact on your room.
Does a wall-mounted subwoofer need a dedicated subwoofer output?
No. Like other REL subwoofers, Planar offers multiple connection options depending on your system. It can be connected through a dedicated LFE/subwoofer output for home theater applications or integrated into compatible two-channel systems using REL's preferred connection methods. This flexibility allows Planar to perform exceptionally in both music and movie systems.
Do I need a professional installer for a wall-mounted subwoofer?
Not necessarily. Planar was designed with installation flexibility in mind, and many owners can complete the installation themselves by following REL's mounting instructions. However, for the best results—particularly when wall mounting, concealing cables, or integrating Planar into a custom installation—a professional installer is recommended. REL also provides installation guidance and support to help ensure a successful setup.
Where can I place Planar?
One of Planar's greatest advantages is placement flexibility. It can be wall-mounted, positioned behind furniture, installed alongside cabinetry, or placed in other locations where traditional subwoofers simply won't fit. This versatility allows you to optimize both your room's aesthetics and bass performance.
Will hiding Planar affect its performance?
No. Planar was designed specifically for discreet placement. While proper positioning is always important for achieving the best bass response, Planar can perform exceptionally well when integrated into a room's design, allowing you to enjoy immersive low-frequency performance without drawing attention to the subwoofer itself.
Gamechanger: Why the REL Planar Changes the Rules on Bass and Space
REL's new ultra-thin panel subwoofers, called Planar, turn the objection some have to subwoofer ownership into a triumphant solution.
This is not some fancified "lifestyle" product.
This is a potent, high-performance/high-style audio event.
We've put your walls to work in a way others didn't recognize and turned your lack of space into an asset.
Challenge yourself to turn this up. Way up. And experience the future of bass.
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