Most Musical Subwoofer, MJ Acoustics over REL ?


I tried numerous subwoofers trying to find a musical one to extend the sound of my floorstanding S8e Spendor speakers, which already have good low bass with its 8" woofers.

I started out years ago with Cerwin Vega, an AV123 Rocket sub (musical, no longer made) then more recently had a Velodyne HGS, and Martin Logan subwoofer. Both the Velodyne and Martin Logan being premier subs sounded great and had the crunching low power needed for home theater. However, I found they stuck out like a sore thumb when listening to music and didn't blend as well as I wanted.

Someone told me that REL subs are the most musical. Then I read where MJ Acoustics subs are made by ex REL staff in England who got abandoned when a US Co. bought out REL and moved production to China. I saw where they had improvements such as programmability which is remote selectable for both volume, rollover, and several other parameters. And remarkably with a beautiful wood finish and lower price than REL.

I purchased their 8" Ref 100 and found that it is indeed a remarkably musical subwoofer. It blends in perfectly with my speakers and extends the bass to the extent that my speakers sound as if they have 12" woofers.

By the way, my favorite cut for tuning a subwoofer is O'Farrels Welcome to Limerick... (4th cut) on the Celtic Solstice CD by Paul Winter. Two irish kettle type drums are played. One is around 70-80 Hz and the other is deeper. The deeper one sounds muffled and almost non-existant with my speakers. With the subwoofer in line, I hear the second deeper drum at near even level as it would sound in real life.

My search for the perfect musical subwoofer is over with the MJ Acoustics sub. If you have had the same problems I have had getting subs to blend well with music, stop searching and just buy the MJ Acoustics sub.

(There is a new one on Audiogon now at a great price by the way).
128x128plangco
Plangco - Did you even listen to a Rel? I have the B3 and prefer it to Mj. I would rather have the Mj in HT over the Rel but it wasn't as musical for 2ch in my opinion. I do agree the 'R' series should not have the Rel logo on it.
If you guys ever get a chance to audition a TBI "Magellin VI"or the "Magellin VIII"subs I think that you will be amazed at how good they are for two channel stereo! I'm using a pair of the Magellin VI's in stereo with my Sonist Concerto 2's and couldn't be happier! Very musical and blend well even with horns. Check em out!
You really have to dial in the Velodyne DD series for them to be seemless with music. If done so properly, they are very good for music. Many people just use the auto set-up which works relatively well, but using your TV and the graphic interface for setting up the sub according to music and the type of music (there are 6 presets to dial in for HT and music) really shine in what it is capable of.