SVS vs REL and experiences with both: your comments and preferences...

@ryder, Thanks for the kind comment. 

I looked long and hard at SVS SB-3000 subs, I read many reviews and peoples comments about them and determined that SVS was a better fit for H.T. This is strictly my view. 

The most common complaints about  the RELs are no numbers on the X-over and volume settings.....completely agree.....have to count the clicks. The other being no variable phase, I thought this would be an issue,  since both JL and Rythmic offer it but so far no complaints. 

For me, the REL's were very easy to set-up and to get Intergrated with my mains, took about three days. 

Lastly,  all of my past subs have been 12in, I wasn't sure I wanted  the S/510s, I contacted REL tech support and they told me the S/510 would be more than enough....as did my dealer.  So far quite happy with the end results.

Best of luck in your search. 

Maxboy00, thanks for the response which is appreciated. That's it. It would be the REL. A friend who is the hifi industry also advised that REL is a safer bet than the SVS.  Similarly I wrote to REL support but my story was a little different.  I was hoping they would endorse the T9x I was looking at but the tech advised that the model is not good enough for my speakers. The S510 and S812 were recommended instead.

I too think that SVS will be better for Home Theater while the REL is more appropriate for music. It's good to hear that the S510s integrate well with the main speakers in your system.

See my comments below. I would buy REL but not SVS. If the intended use was stereo, I would buy Rythmik, which I did, twin FG12 SE. The servo amp is fast...

I bought a very big sub from them 15+ years ago for HT. I think it was the SVS PB12-NSD/2. I live in Ohio so i picked it up. I had it for a few years, it was hard to tune in, because of the two styro foam plugs. The driver developed a problem and I thought I could get it serviced. Nope. They really didn’t want to touch it. They wanted for me to buy a new sub. I inquired about buying the driver and replacing it myself. Nope. Sold it at a garage sale for next to nothing owch! Years later I visited a stereo/home theater store looking for stereo subwoofers. They told me they had problems when SVS was accepted as a brand. SVS was still selling direct to consumer and were giving better prices??? Not a great business model. Long story short, not a big fan of SVS. Right now, I am a fan of Rythmik subs for music.

Interesting. When you inquired about the replacement driver from them, what was their response? Perhaps it's not available anymore and since SVS subs are not very costly, the cost of getting a new sub may be more practical than repairing the old one. Either way, your experience seems to suggest that after-sales support is less than satisfactory.

ryder

Yeah when I bought that sub, it was many years ago. I don't think they made those drivers anymore but they could have sold me an updated one? SVS has really taken off since then, the company has gotten bigger. The visit to the stereo/HT store was just about 4 years ago. And the fact they undercut he retail store was actually more troublesome to me. I really couldn’t buy a sub from them now....