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Subwoofer manufacturer/brand question - part 2

W

Writer

pfm Member
Subwoofer manufacturer/brand question.

I'm having a bit of trouble with Subwoofer brands.

Is anybody familiar with the following makes:

REL
MJ Acoustics
BK Electrical

The reason I'm asking is that I was all ready to buy two REL R328 units at £1,200 each as recommended by Kevin at REL. But I then decided against when I found out they where made in China.

Then I researched some more and Audiofile in Cambridge told me about MJ Acoustics, who make all their gear in England. The friendly guys at MJ recommended two Reference 400 MK1 units at £1,350 each.

However, another PMr recommended BK electrical Monolith DF units, and only one unit; not two.

I have spoken to both these makers, and one doesn't really have anything great to say about the other. BK proudly stating that they started up MK Acoustics and have been doing this for 25 years. Whereas MJ Acoustics say that is rubbish and that MJ products use superior components etc.

BK look appealing when it comes to the price and one of their guys recommends either 2 x XLS400 units or 2 x XLS200 units. The BK Elec are one third the price of MJ Acoustics gear.

2 x BK will cost me £848 whereas 2 x MJ will cost me £2,700.

Both companies are saying sonically and build quality wise they are better than the other.

Who do I believe?

MJ will allow me to buy 2 of their units and if I'm not happy after a few weeks they will refund, less shipping costs.

However, this is a nice offer from MJ, but BK don't offer the same service so I have no way of getting a demo of BK as they don't sell via dealers.

Advice or opinions, anybody own or heard either of these two British brands?

Oh, anybody remembering the other post, I have somebody coming to my house next week to evaluate my system and if it is all ok and it is simply down to my personal taste of liking heavy bass, I'll be investing in two subs.
 
The use of multiple subs can offer great benefits,especially in a well set up AV system,for many yrs i had great succes using THREE subs with a Yamaha amplifier that had individual left/right subs,plus a seperate sub on my pre-amp,solely for music use but came into effect during AV duties!!!
 
I can only comment on BK; I bought a Monolith DF a couple of years ago for a home cinema system. The sub. was very well made, nice veneer, and the company itself was a pleasure to deal with. The BK certainly produced oodles of bass; as it happened a bit too much for our holiday home, and was replaced with a pair of Neat Motive 2s.

A bit of a bargain for what you get. Two is always better than one when it comes to subs so if you can accommodate a pair I don't think you'll be disappointed. They're very popular on the S/H market so if you want to move them (saleswise, not physically. They're blo*dy heavy!) it should be easy.
 
Anyone else have comments on MJ vs BK?

Like I said, the MJ pair will cost £2,000 more than 2 x BK.
 
The difference between the two brands is that one of them sells through dealers who add 40% to the price, and the other one doesn't. They both use similar drivers and amp packs to everyone else in the industry. The truth is that there really is no difference between most subs. It's as simple as rap the wood with your knuckles to check the build quality and look at the published specs, there's no magic in moving lots of air, you need a high x-max, a stiff box and powerful amps- everything else is window dressing.
 
Get two second hand Rel 200s.....fit them, forget about it.....built in UK as well.

Regret selling my second one now......
 
All the RELs and orginal MJ Acoustics and even some ATCs were designed and built by our friends and subcontractors www.ls-design.co.uk who also designed and manufactured the Naim radio for the Bentley Arnage. Martin helped on that one.

Ash
 
Just Ordered a BK sub the other day. Good company to deal with so far and the products are built to order in the UK, which swayed my decision. G
 
BK, in the past made sub's for rel.

Rel where bought over by sumiko audio who are American, who now make their subs in china, not sure about the quality as iv never seen the later models.
 
Robert M said:
BK, in the past made sub's for rel.

Rel where bought over by sumiko audio who are American, who now make their subs in china, not sure about the quality as iv never seen the later models.
Click to expand...

I know REL get more returns these days.

I'll ask BK if they are happy for me to return for full refund, after all, the Sale of Goods act states goods bought online can be returned for ANY reason within 14 days.
 
Another satisfied BK customer here. I bought a Monolith DF about three years ago for a home cinema setup. It gives plenty of controlled bass and integrates surprisingly well with the other speakers when playing stereo music.
 
Writer,

Do any of these subs have room correction built in? Subs now are far more than a woofer/amp a box (don't agree with SQ here). If you don't want to spend weeks humping these subs around your living room looking for the perfect locations, some kind of smarts in or out of the box might be a good idea. In my case I have velodyne optimum 8 with DSP room correction built in. Another option is to use the KRK Ergo, designed for studio monitoring.

Dan
 
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