One thing stands out about REL at 35 -We’re more committed to the relentless pursuit of perfect bass than ever. At no time in our history has there been more energy and more projects streaming toward release than at any previous period in our history.
The Past. Let’s begin with our legacy customers…you know, the folks that got us here. We took a few weeks off from development of new products to go back and begin reimagining amplifier solutions for some of our best sellers from 15 years ago. Our original factory had taken these boards out of production, so we’re looking into incorporating our modern amplifiers in rear panels designed to fit some of these older models perfectly. Only REL would think to assign engineering talent to creating a new lease on life for models that are fifteen years old. But we take care of our own. You’ll hear more about this project in second half of 2026.
The Present. Of course, we continue to evolve the state of the art at every achievable price point. Fantastically high-performance traditional subwoofers will always be our foundation, as the release of the new generation of Serie S demonstrates. We’ve never seen so much interest and demand for new products as these have generated. But we have to be free to respond to how our customers use our products. As homes and interior spaces evolve, so too must our designs.
Which brings us to…The Future.
What’s changing is the way people want their subwoofers to serve them. Many of these shifts stem from the modern home itself. The rise of open-floor-plan living has pushed us to explore solutions that are anything but traditional.
We first ventured into this space back in 2011 with the original Habitat, long before most dealers or installers were ready for it. And honestly, REL in 2010 wasn’t yet the sales, education, and marketing force needed to fully support such a new idea.
Today, we’re ready. And next year, we’ll begin unveiling something designed specifically for these expansive, architectural spaces – a beautiful, high-performance solution created to disappear into the home while delivering the kind of immersive bass you expect from REL.
There are other categories in which we’ve done all the core engineering to deliver incredible-sounding (and looking) solutions that take home integration to a new level. The challenge now lies in adapting those designs to modern home construction. One prototype, running for two years, delivers absurdly deep, loud bass so powerful that it makes walls creak, groan, and rattle. Sigh, we’ll keep working on how to turn your home into something as well built as a REL needs to be.
Behind all this is our highly evolved, but still very human engineering. We’re completely open to the latest technologies, as drivers and amplifiers continue to evolve and improve at a pace we couldn’t have imagined 20 years ago, much less 35. However, we’re also musicians and we have yet to hear, for example, anyone’s digitally enhanced crossovers sound as natural as our all-analog designs.
Power, specifically very high-powered, yet still very reliable amplifiers will begin making more appearances in our future projects. Power can be used for many aspects of sonic improvement. For example, a small cabinet volume can have far greater extensions into deeper bass than we currently see on the market by using analog filters. Imagine radical new versions of our PerfectFilters, paired with amplifiers delivering two to three times the power we currently use, and drivers built to match producing a compact sub that reaches down toward 20 Hz with ease.
I believe REL is that rare company, the one that has the bones to weather the next 35 years successfully. I certainly plan to be here for many years to come. Will we be discussing the latest Serie W that is packaged into a 3” cube (75mm) with 10,000 watts delivered on a chip the size of your littlest fingernail that plays flat to 22Hz? Who knows. What we can promise you is that as our world evolves, REL will continue to be there. Still offering beautifully crafted, elegant solutions delivered at fair and reasonable prices to lovers of music, movies and any kinds of home relaxation and entertainment that reveal themselves to our future selves. Maybe we’ll even be building solutions to amplifiers that were built and sold “way back” in 2025 that old timers (I’m talking to you Millennials!) still love and want to be able to fit a newly reengineered solution into. Because a company that seeks to experience a bright future surely must honor its own rich heritage.
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