New Rel T5i. Anyone heard them?

I came across this post while looking for user experiences with REL subs, of which I’ve owned a few, even recently made ones, and with which there has never been any type of problem.

That said, just want to warn potential readers that once again jafant is shooting his mouth off about off shore manufacturing without providing any objective evidence to support his claims.

Part of my job for years has been to evaluate and select Asian suppliers. I’ve spent a lot of time on factory floors in those countries, including China. There is good and bad. I’ve spent equal or more time on factory floors in America. Same thing, good and bad.

I’ll restate, I’ve owned several recent REL products, and other brands and products sourced off shore, and never had any problems, and never heard of any problems that also couldn’t arise with domestically-made (Western) products.

To state unequivocally, and with out objective evidence, that REL subs are junk-sourced, is just another asinine statement from this guy.

I have nothing at stake in this, just sharing factual experience, not some hot air opinion.

Readers, you decide.

To the OP: I can't compare the new model with old sound-wise, but can say that I'm very familiar with the T5i, having been around one for over a year, and it's always performed well, as well as being well made. Nice for a smaller room or system. Can't go wrong.

Also disagree with jafant.

To the OP:  Can't speak to the T5i, but have been using a T5 for several years with both Spendor s5e's and Omega SAM's and the REL has been great.  I liked it so much that I added a 2nd one about 2 years ago (so now one/channel) and that really filled things out even more.  As it only has a single 8-inch driver it's not hitting the lowest notes in an organ symphony (nor would I expect it to), but it does a pretty good job on most music - Pink Floyd's 'Wish You Were Here' sounds fantastic, as does Mahler's 1st.  Remember, your mains still run full range, with the REL supplementing the lower frequencies (<120hz)

I cannot answer the question, but I suppose the differences will be relatively minor. More generally, it is a good idea to have two small subwoofers rather than one big (unless you want HT bomb sounds), for a smoother response over wider area. Accepted wisdom seems to be that it is better to use them in mono rather than one per channel. I would also strongly recommend using a room eq like the Antimode 8033.
And indeed, the idea that Asian products are of inferior quality is nonsense. I have seen too many shoddy UK or US products for that (and also many very good ones, of course).

thanks for the help guys
I actually went and bought a REL T5i to compare to my REL T5. imo, the REL t5i is a relatively significant upgrade vs the previous rel t5

here are my thoughts:
http://forums.stevehoffman.tv/threads/rel-t5i-vs-rel-t5-my-opinion.656659/

@murphythecat

A question here on the T5i and its ability to blend with speakers. I read your comments on SH forum with the T5i not being able to use with a Harbeth speaker because the crossover on the T5i would not roll off enough below 55Hz. I am not versed in using subwoofers, so I am rather confused about this. And I may not be understanding what you said.
What I am considering is to pick up a T5i to augment a center channel speaker in a home theater system. I would be using the Speakon high level connection cable. This would not be for the LFE track. The center speaker is a Polk LSiM706, which is rated down to 50Hz, -3dB. Basically, the goal would be to turn the Polk into a full range speaker. The sub would sit on the floor directly below the Polk speaker.

https://www.polkaudio.com/products/lsim706c

Could you comment on whether or not this T5i would or would not work with the Polk speaker for my purpose? The frequency response would not have to be perfect. It would just need to extend the bass reach of the Polk speaker.

yes, my mesurements of the REl t5 and rel t5i made clear that at the lowest setting (30hz) on the knob, the rel t5or t5i only starts to roll off around 55hz. therefore, if your speakers are -3db at 45hz, you will get a quite serious bump at from 40hz to 80hz, making the sub imo useless

IMO, its only with the P3esr or Atc scm7 which are about -3db at 65hz that I could have decent integration. I think the rel t5/t5i only works with very small speakers that a limited in extension.
if your speakers extend down to 50 or even 60hz, i dont think tis a good match.

and tbh, a 8 inch sub is really only meant to go with very small 5 inch or 4 inch based speakers. makes no sense to add a rel t5 with speakers using 6.5inch or 8 inch woofers.

my recommendation? get bigger speakers or get a real sub with at least a 12 inch woofer. those rel t5i with their weird ass roll off behavior are toys

@murphythecat
Thanks, well that's not good, since I wanted to use the REL's Speakon connection.  I wonder if I could keep the volume on the sub low enough to extend the center speaker's bass just enough.

Why would you want to run a center channel full range?   Home theater is designed to roll all the speakers off below 80hz.  Take advantage of that.

Because the center channel, just like the front L/R and surround channels, is a full range channel, and it is independent from the LFE channel.  I like to hear the full frequency range of that channel.
The problem comes in particularly with deep male voice, a good example of which occurs with Russell Crow's voice in Mummy.  If you saw the movie at a theater, you know his voice in some scenes should be positively subterranean.  I don't think the LFE channel carries the lower frequencies of his voice.  And I have tried in vain to set crossovers on both subs and AV receivers to get that vocal quality in deep male voice.  The only way to get it is with a true full range center speaker.
I have seen a store demo of a HT setup in which they used the REL Ti series of subs to augment and extend the bass of the front L/R channels, and the improvement was great.  They employed a separate sub for the LFE channel. 

Unless you have a very unusual processor, when you set the crossover to high pass the mains/center/surround, all frequencies below the the high pass should be low passed to the subwoofer in addition to the .1. Running a center channel full range (unless it is enormous, which your’s is not; even Mark Seaton high passes his Catalyst mains for HT use, and they are huge) is only going to limit its output and increase distortion. You are also going to have phasing issues running your speakers full range with subs overlapping.

Most likely what you have heard at the demo was the subwoofer level was set much higher than the mains, given a big boost even into the 100-120hz range. It is done all the time to make demos impressive. While not technically accurate, many (possibly most) home theater enthusiast run their sub(s) hot. I suggest playing with that and/or adding addition subs to get the sound, not running your center and mains full range and over driving them.  You may want to pop over to AVS Forums and open a discussion there, as they are home theater focused.  

“While not technically accurate, many (possibly most) home theater enthusiast run their sub(s) hot.“

True for novices.  Absolutely DO NOT agree for any serious enthusiast.    If you have a properly calibrated and room corrected system, turning the subs up even 3db sounds so obviously bad.  Someone who wants to HEAR the subs working and have them stand out is not someone who I’d ever trust for audio advice in any way.  And that’s a huge problem with AVS forum.

I have found the AVS guys to be pretty good and have a lot of data and information on setup for home theater.