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REL Subwoofer Rattling

I have an REL T7 that I’ve owned for nearly 3 years. It was a wonderful addition to my system. And I was happy with it...until it started rattling about a year and a half ago. I searched these forums and the rest of the Internet and the only recommendations made were to tighten all the bolts and screws securing the woofers and back panel. I did this and it solved the problem. For a month or two. Initially it only noticeably rattled during TV and movie watching. Then around 6 months ago I started noticing it in my music that had moderate to heavy bass. Today I decided to open it up to find the cause of the issue.

First, make sure you don’t do any of your own work before contacting REL. YOU DON’T WANT TO RISK VOIDING THE WARRANTY IF YOU HAVE ONE! If you’re ok with doing some work yourself, read on. The second thing I highly recommend is disconnecting everything on your sub. Especially the power source.

I began by unhooking my subwoofer and removed the passive driver. It was the front firing woofer on my REL. look at your manual to find out which woofer of yours is passive. This is important because there is no wiring on this woofer. It comes right out and you don’t have to disconnect anything. Be careful removing the woofer as you do not want to damage it. I finally figured out that I could turn the woofer clockwise around the ring of the woofer to break it free from the seal. Mine was not glued in any way.

Once I removed the woofer I tapped around the entire box and shook it a little to find anything that was loose. That’s when I found a component on the top of the box was moving pretty easily. It’s secured to the box by two straps that are screwed into the box. In the middle of the component is a 1/2" bolt securing the component to the straps. I tightened this bolt. It was quite loose. I did not tighten until I couldn’t turn the wrench. I only tightened it until it didn’t move so freely. It still moved when I wiggled it by hand, but it didn’t seem to move when I shook the box. I put everything back together and hooked it back up. I’ve tested it with movies and music and so far I don’t hear any rattling! Hopefully that’s the last I’ll hear of it! I hope these instructions helped you!
ummy01
10 responses Add your response
gdnrbob
4,406 posts
 
Great detective work ummy01.
I had a Rega Apollo that I bought from a dealer as a demo.
When I moved the case, I noticed that something inside was moving around. When I contacted the dealer, he said to open it up.
When I did, I saw the power supply had come loose and the bolt holding it was the part that was rattling. A quick re tightening did the trick. But, I was a bit annoyed that it happened in the first place.
jafant
18,759 posts
 
Bravo! ummy01-

REL is the best sub in the business. I do not like the fact that the newer models are junk-sourced (in part) to china? The older models were proudly made in the U.K.
shadorne's avatar
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shadorne
7,467 posts
 
+1 Jafant 

way too much "junk-sourcing" from China these days - I had not heard that term but highly appropriate
richard_james
5 posts
 
Yes bravo indeed . It was a very involving read ) i am sure id run to a dealer in desperation if ive heard those scary rattle sounds. good thing nothing serious like on rel storm iii or strata.  Those require special training to unsolder /solder back couple of transistors and resistors. 
northwestfinecarpentry
2 posts
 
My REL R-205 had a rattle when pushed a little I assumed it was the driver (as I bought it used) so I tried a few other 10" drivers I have lying around ( earthquake, Boston g5-10") but had the similar rattle. So looked on Craigslist and found a JLW6-V2-D4 driver and it worked awesome. 
It's been awhile but what I kinda remember is the driver can be wired in 2 ohm or 8 ohm, I wired it 8 ohm first but was not getting much output so I tried 2 ohm and performed great with no rattle,  so I left it that way until I sold it with original driver. I never really put a lot of hours on it after that to know the long term effects.  I know this is kinda of getto and it's probably hard on the amp but it was cheap fun considering I bought it at a yard sale for $25 to start with. 
Now I just bought the REL R-305 and when pushed a little I get that same rattle, bums me out considering the price of these things new. 
I think original drivers are 4 ohm so maybe a single voice coil JL-W6 4 ohm driver would be safer if they make one.
I just wanted to post this to let people know there might be hope for that rattling REL subwoofer. I still have my JLW6-V2-D4 driver sitting on a shelf if mine gets any worse but I will be keeping an eye out for a cool replacement driver to have on hand in a 4 ohm.

wolf_garcia
6,588 posts
 
If you think all China made stuff is "junk sourced" please toss your iPhone out the window. The quality control in manufacturing is all that matters regardless of whether it's made in China or Cleveland.
jafant
18,759 posts
 

Agreed wolf,

I miss my old Motorola phone that was made in Japan.

jeffreylee
38 posts
 
Japan and China are different countries. Just saying. 
faber23
1 posts
 
Same problem,  did this and thought it fixed it, but it didn’t. If yours is making vibration noise still, I found the problem with mine that may help. 

The passive cone that is forward facing (that does not have a magnet) is vulnerable to excessive throw in this design as the magnet and voice coil are not present to arrest the throw.  The spider, that light brown corrugated flat disc that connects the cone to the metal basket or frame of the speaker, came unglued on mine.  It is hard to spot as you need to push on it to see where the glue has failed, it will lift off the metal frame.  At volume it is flapping against the frame of the speaker basket making the vibration.  Even though it sounds like a metal vibration this didn’t help it completely resolved it.

So (disconnect it from the power) unscrew and remove  the font facing speaker, not the active smaller speaker underneath.  I had to unscrew the back panel also to be able to dislodge the speaker by pushing it out from behind.

Unplug connected speaker wires, inspect the spider.  Google speaker spider and you’ll see what this is if this is something you are not familiar with.

Look for where the spider has come away from the metal frame

Use super glue to reattach it.  It is tricky to get the glue in there between the frame and the spider.  Buy a tube with a long narrow spout or be creative.  Try and get glue on as much of the dislodged part of the spider and frame.  Rubber gloves are useful that stuff is sticky :)

your done!   Give it 20 minutes to stick, put it back together and you’re done.   The more patient you are the better before cranking it up I’d suggest.  Mine is completely vibration free at ‘full’ volume now. You’ll know immediately when you put it back on. 

Good luck.



wolf_garcia
6,588 posts
 
I take most newly acquired things apart just to make sure everything looks solid, and that includes both of my RELs (UK made Q150e and Q108MKII) and with speakers I always tighten all of the screws...I do that once in a while anyway as things do loosen up over time.
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