Various things got in the way so I only managed a couple of hours over at Colins on Thursday, had to take a Teams call while there so only had a chance for a coffee, catch up and a handful of tracks. I met Colin via pfm a few years ago, we’re about 20 mins from each other so I‘m familiar with his setup, goes without saying but it is an extremely impressive room/system.
Initially with the subs switched out of the system, then with them switched in a few familiar tracks were played, Blue Nile, Peter Gabriel, Lady Blackbird and a few others which Colin picked, the stand out individual moment was a Talk Talk track where the bass-line was just so much more evident, bigger and deeper than either of us had heard before.
The main difference I notice when at Colins compared to my room is the sheer scale of the sound now he has the MBL speakers, with the RELs in the system it gets even larger; more air and space around instruments, wider, deeper and taller soundstage. I’m familiar with subs in 2 channel systems, been using them since the ‘80’s and as usual it wasn’t the bump and thump that impressed me it was the improvement in the mids and top end, timbre, tone and the ability to follow what the players are doing, how hard a piano key is hit, a string is plucked is easier to pick up on. The RELs are dialled right back, there’s no vibration to the floor/seat coming through at all yet with them in the mix there’s a definite and significant improvement in the context of the gear, diminishing returns and all that.
I’ll hopefully be heading over again during Xmas break for a longer listening session with nothing to get in the way. Overall the RELs are a worthwhile improvement, I didn’t think they’d make much if any difference to a system with big MBLs but they do.
I’ve mainly used subs with stand-mounts and in surround setups, my Logans have basses with subs built in and EQ, now I’m mulling how to cable things so I can share my AV subs 2 x SVS 3000, I’m off to Edinburgh next week to demo a couple of amplifiers, might have a chat about a sub upgrade too, maybe to a pair of S/812.
If anyone is up Aberdeenshire way they’re welcome to visit my home and hear my Luxman/Logans, tea making is crap but I‘m good with the coffees
Gus