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When could 1 subwoofer be better than buying a pair of RELs?
Hi, John Hunter with REL here, and we get this question in a variety of different ways. I’m going to turn this one around a little bit. So, we often get asked about stereo pairs and they’re fantastic. If you get it just right. If you properly matched the sub with the speakers in and really set everything up right, it’s fantastic.
It’s really special with these modern RELs that are so fast, but there are times when you’re better off with one than two. Why? If, for example, you want really big prodigious home theater bass, and you’re sitting there going, gosh. I wonder if I should do a pair of say S/812s or should I just do a single 212/SX?
I mean, they’re kind of the same budget. I just don’t know which way to go? If you want big and when you want big, you want big. A 212/SX will play astoundingly loud and drive huge amounts of sound everywhere in anything but the largest theaters. So that’s a classic example. You go, well, this is what it was made for. The 212/SX is made to be that Herculean big experience.
Don’t mistake two S/812s for one 212/SX. They’re very different things. Does that make sense? So there, we’re not talking about the finest industry reproduction. We’re talking about something that can do stereo just beautifully, but really can make incredible amounts of air movement that really sells big, special effects in theater.
Same thing goes on. If you need a 510, you need a 510, two of these will not add up to a 510. If that’s the speaker match that is called for, if we set it on our website, that’s the right thing. If you need to come back in two years and buy the partnering S/510, so you finally have the stereo pair. Great. It’s one of the most beautiful things about stereo pairs. You don’t have to do them all at once. In many cases, you can do it at that time. And then you have a whole nother wonderful experience a year or two from now as you get the second one. Finally go, oh my gosh, those guys are right. That’s quite a bit better.