I do consulting in sound and vision. In the past I did sell a lot of Rel sub. Also the more expensive ones. I always had stereo highend systems without sub's. For me they were too slow. At this moment Rel is not that big anymore. In europe there are many brands which are superior in subwoofers. Many clients bought other brands and they are all much more happy. For stereo I only found a few fast enough. It needs a 15 inch unit, ( Not made of paper), big amp and sealed. And only one speaker unit on the front side. With Audessey Pro you can get fully stealth low freq. I never thought this was possible. Using it to 120 hz is bringing it to a new level. The Old rel subwoofers like stadium became very noisy above 60 hz. because they were slow like hell. I use a Platinum PLW-15 subwoofer from Monitor Audio. It is so much faster compared to Rel. I would not even dear to sell it to my clients anymore.
Subs: sealed vs. ported
I need to add a sub. I don't have one now, so I'm not replacing anything, and I also don't have much in the way of preconceived notions. My reading is making me think sealed is preferred for music/2.1 channels, and ported is preferred for movies. Is this a fair assessment. I know everyone will have their own preferences for brands/models, and I'm open to suggestions, but it seems my first decision should be sealed or ported (or one of the brands that has ports and comes with plugs?)