In this episode of That's a Great Question with John Hunter, John has just 60 seconds to answer a real question submitted by the REL community.
This time, the question comes from a listener building a 70% home theater / 30% music system and trying to choose between the S/510, HT/1205, and T/9x. John explains how the models approach bass reproduction differently, when to prioritize speed and musicality versus maximum theater impact, and how to choose a subwoofer that supports your future system goals.
While the S/510 referenced in this video has since been succeeded by the S/550, John's advice on selecting the right subwoofer remains just as relevant today.
If you're interested in learning more about the current Serie S lineup, explore the S/550 and discover how it builds upon the performance of the S/510.
Social Media Question
"Looking for advice regarding subwoofer selection to match a set of RBH Sound 61-SE/R bookshelf speakers (three used across the front as LCR) for a system that's 70% home theater and 30% music in a 15' × 17' room.
I'm considering the REL S/510, HT/1205, or T/9x. I suspect the S/510 is probably overkill, but I'm leaning in that direction nevertheless."
The transcription of the video can be found below:
“Wow, what a well formulated question.
Okay, I'm going to try not to let you down here. The S/510 will be easily the fastest and most articulate of those three choices. For that reason alone, you're not wrong.
If you're principally trying to get theater and you're willing to give up on some of the real fine-tuning, the blending, and everything that we provide with our high level, the HT/1205 is a really good choice, too.
And you can certainly do two of those for, you know, less than the price of a single S/510.
If some of this is going to come down to your long-term goals, do you hope to build a system around, you know, that's S/510 worthy, if you will, down the road, then get the S/510.
I always try to find out where somebody is going the next step so that we lead the target rather than chase it. So, I would say you can't go wrong with one of the three of them. My sense is if you're just trying to do theater and you really want the loudness of the LFE, do one or a pair of HT/1205's. They'll do heroic stuff.
And there is a trick you can do. You can run the Left Right Low-level outputs into it. And you can also simultaneously run up one or more .1/LFEs into it simultaneously. You're going to have to adjust your LFE level using the remote in your receiver, but you can do that.
And with a little bit of patience, it's one more step because you'll have to go back in every time to adjust the gain for the LFE, but you can get that system really operating beautifully.”
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