2. home-theater
  3. 146911-72084

Have a pair of REL S3 HO and they don't produce enough bass

Hi all-

Just picked up a pair of REL S3 HO subs to work with both my 2 channel system and my home theater. The high output speaker connections on the subs go to my 2 channel system and plug into each mono block amp. The LFE connection from each sub hooks into my Anthem 720 receiver for home theater. 

For the 2 channel system it seems to work well. Nice low bass helping out my Focal Kanta No. 2 speakers. 

However, for the home theater system, they just don't produce enough bass. I have to turn them ALL the way up using the sub's LFE volume control, AND turn them all the way up in my Anthem receiver settings to get any semblance of home theater bass. I know this isn't normal, so something has to be either wrong, or the subs just aren't meant for home theater use.

I was using a pair of SVS 12" subs and man those things rocked. However, I picked up the RELs so I could integrate them with my 2 channel system as well, something the SVS' could not do.

Any idea what could be the problem? 

A side note: I have NOT run Anthem's ARC program again since buying the RELs. Perhaps that could be the issue, but I didn't think it would make that much of a difference. However, I could obviously be wrong. :-)

Thanks!
sadcaper
batman1971
96 posts
 
you answered your own question rerun the arc.
They are probably less efficient than your svs and/or input voltage might need to be a little higher to get same sound levels.
aawcy
1 posts
 
generally ported sub produce more bass even with smaller amplifier power...Since S3 SHO is a sealed sub...it required more power to move the cone to produce equivalent bass that you experienced with your SVS ported sub...
auxinput
2,920 posts
 
What aawcy stated is absolutely correct. Ported subwoofers naturally will be more flat all the way down to 20-30hz. Sealed subs cannot naturally do the low frequencies because the frequency response curve drops off very quickly. The sealed subs require extended EQ to boost the very low frequencies to be able to produce the low bass you need.

You did not indicate which model SVS subwoofer you had. They have cheap sealed subs all the way up to huge powered ported subs. Your new REL subwoofers are probably a significantly higher sound quality and will have much better definition for music purposes than the SVS, but if you had a larger ported SVS, you might just have to accept the fact that the REL subs are not going to "shake the walls" like a big SVS. For home theater, there is no substitute for the big SVS ability to push air.
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