a question about REL Storm 3

Discussion in 'Audio Hardware' started by antonkk, Nov 1, 2004.

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  1. antonkk

    antonkk Senior Member Thread Starter

    Location:
    moscow
    I haven't posted in this section for a while being busy building a decent multichanel system. At the moment I have Sonus Faber surround speakers (Grand Pianos on the front), REL Storm 3 sub, McIntosh MHT 100 receiver, Sony xa9000es SACD player and Denon 2900 universal player. I'm trying to set up the sub for a few days and still can't reach even a satisfactory result. The bass is boomy, muddy and abstract. Given the fact the both the speakers and the sub are supposed to be great components I guess I'm doing something wrong. Anyone has any experience with Sonus Faber and REL? What's the correct set up (my room is about 50 square meters with the wooden floor and it somehows usualy causes boomy bass) or maybe you guys can come up with any ideas? :help:
     
  2. Danny Kaey

    Danny Kaey New Member

    Location:
    Long Beach, CA
    Get yourself a Radioshack SPL meter and find a bass test cd containing test tones... run a sweep, plot a graph on a sheet of paper and see what the acoustics of your room are *without* the sub in place.

    Then follow with the second step, by running a sweep with the REL in place... follow the instructions that came with the REL which are quite good...

    This is one of the main points I pointed out in my review of the Velodyne DD series, as it takes out any guess work on behalf of the conusumer and one can in general setup the sub with fantastic results in relativley short time.

    hope this helps!
     
  3. Vinyl-Addict

    Vinyl-Addict Groovetracer Manufacturer

    Location:
    USA
    I suggest the Rives Test CD because it has the corrective signals for the Radio Shack analog SPL meter. I own a Rel Storm III myself, have had it for 3 years now and love it. It integrates very well in my 2 channel system. :)
     
  4. Danny Kaey

    Danny Kaey New Member

    Location:
    Long Beach, CA
    that's what I thought... I know REL makes great product!

    :righton:
     
  5. I use two REL Storm III in my system. My floors are carpeted though.
    Here is what I would suggest.
    Put the REL in a corner about 3 inches out from both walls.
    Place a concrete 15x15 paving block under the REL
    Roll off the REL at about 28 HZ
    Volume set at about 30%
    Try reversing phase on the REL. Sometimes that helps to integrate with the main speakers.
    Place sound absorbing, preferably 4" thick fiberglass behind and above the REL
    also, place the same acoustical treatment above the REL on the ceiling.
    A good deal of the boom that you hear is caused by the low frequencies bouncing from the floor to the ceiling and back.
    Here is a good place to start to look for the wide variety of acoustical treatment.
    You will want to find something that deals with the lower frequencies.
    http://www.eqmag.com/classifieds.htm
     
  6. gelder

    gelder New Member

    Location:
    north carolina
    I have a Rel Strata III with Sonus Faber Concerto's. The key I found is getting under the main speakers. I have my settings set at 26hz and 12 O'clock on the gain. I originally had the 30hz as my initial crossover and it was too much. The Grand Pianos go even lower than the Concerto's so I would try 24hz or 22hz for the crossover setting. The gain you will have to play with some. Most of the research I did when setting my sub bass up, pointed to the fact most people set the crossover too high.
     
  7. AudioEnz

    AudioEnz Senior Member

    Rel subs are awesome. The Sonus Faber is a favourite speaker of mine.

    Whenever I've head a system where a Rel sub sounds boomy, it's inevitably because the "crossover" frequency is set too high. I've found that it always need to be set lower than the frequency you'd initially guess.

    Try turning the crossover down to the lowest frequency. Still boom? Then you have probems. Boom gone away (more likely)? Then raise the frequncy slightly. Keep going until you have great bass and no hole between the Fabers and Rel.
     
  8. KLM

    KLM Senior Member

    I use a REL in m two channel system with my Thiel 1.6 and it' great. I would agree about the Radio Shack meter as well as Rives disc. When I set mine up I was surprised but how low I set the crossover and volume. I almost thought I was setting it too low to get any bass. Then turned the unit off and noticed a HUGE difference. The best subwoofer is one ou don't notice. The REL integrates extremely well into systems but you have to take the time to set it up properly. I would experiment with the phase switch as well although I have been told that in phase is better, but let your ears decide.
     
  9. antonkk

    antonkk Senior Member Thread Starter

    Location:
    moscow
    My sub problem is solved and you will all laugh when I tell you what caused the problem: the speaker cable, damn it! I ran Kimber cable from my Mac into Sonus Fabers and it turned out that it had that boomy, muddy bass effect that refused to go away no matter what crossower settings were. Even if I sat them on 140 Hz on my Mac (speakers small) it still prodused that massive bass distortion that never allowed my REL to settle down properly. When i already gave up hope and decided to sell Sonus Faber's I changed the cable and the problem just went away! With every new cable the sound was amazingly different (I never met a system before that depended THAT much on a right cable choice, in fact with this set up it can either make or break it) but with most other speaker cables I managed to make REL dissapear and just produce the tight, great bass! So far the best sound I had was using the Mogami cable but now I'll be waiting for my Grover SR II speaker cable and ICs to do things right!
     
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