B&W DB1D vs REL Subwoofer

[everydayIs25]

I had used few subs and the REL S5 SHO and 212/SE, and their Carbon series.

 

I found the REL are exceptional well for music listening, they are not good value sub woofer brand for movie, but for music they are one of the top brand without question. It reproduce so much low end details that was missing.

 

The placement is extremely important for these sub, you hear significant different why placing differently.

[jamiebosco]

REL have uploaded some nice informative  videos to their YouTube channel recently, worth a look if you're interested in that sort of thing

 

[almikel]

On 30/05/2019 at 12:21 PM, everydayIs25 said:

I found the REL are exceptional well for music listening, they are not good value sub woofer brand for movie, but for music they are one of the top brand without question.

I don't get why a sub brand would be good for music, but not good value for movies - movies have music, and good subs produce low frequencies accurately.

Good subs are good subs - a sub good for movies, but not for music is not a good sub.

 

Mike

[everydayIs25]

I don't get why a sub brand would be good for music, but not good value for movies - movies have music, and good subs produce low frequencies accurately.
Good subs are good subs - a sub good for movies, but not for music is not a good sub.
 
Mike

Movie effects are different, I am not talking about the music in Movie, I am talking about the special sound like explosion. And for movie effects the accuracy is not the most important, it’s the effect is the most important. In many industry you see product designed for different purpose, even the main speaker. It is not that simple and easy that you think make it accurate then will resolve all the problems. Accuracy doesn’t resolve all the problems and doesn’t simply give you the best sounding. Like many monitor speakers or headphone that is quite accurate but not necessarily people enjoy their sounding characters. May be Music is about art, sound can be about accurate.

BTW, REL has subs that designed for HT too.

[petetherock]

I’ve had good experiences with the JL Audio e112

[almikel]

On 06/06/2019 at 11:31 PM, everydayIs25 said:

Movie effects are different, I am not talking about the music in Movie, I am talking about the special sound like explosion. And for movie effects the accuracy is not the most important, it’s the effect is the most important.

I accept there's a likely a plethora of commercial subs that may be better suited to movies because they can cope with a movie explosion better than a more "music" oriented commercial sub that focuses on accuracy.

 

 

In my world of DIY subs it's much simpler - you design your sub/s to hit an SPL target at a particular frequency.

This requires EQ capability, an amp with sufficient headroom including the EQ applied, and drivers with enough cone radiating area and excursion - all working together to meet your SPL targets in the room.

 

On 06/06/2019 at 11:31 PM, everydayIs25 said:

It is not that simple and easy that you think make it accurate then will resolve all the problems. Accuracy doesn’t resolve all the problems and doesn’t simply give you the best sounding.

Maybe not with commercial subs - my DIY sub designed along the principles outlined above achieves accuracy and SPL for both movie effects and music.

 

All subs are constrained by Hoffman's iron rule - you can have only 2 of the 3 criteria below:

1. low bass
2. small box
3. high efficiency

Commercial subs typically target a small box, at the expense of either low bass or high efficiency  - it will be in these compromises that the differences between a "music" oriented commercial sub and a movie "effects" sub become apparent.

 

IMO good subs meet the "in room" SPL targets at the desired frequency.

 

mike