Rel or MJ

[Alasdair Mackay]

I have a choice of a Rel400E or MJ ref1 any advice on which to buy. Both about £350.00 each. All help appreciated.

 

[HiFiRuss71]

Are you limited by size and is £350 the max.

Russell

 

[Dynaudio Desire]

Are you limited by size and is £350 the max.

Russell

I feel a BK Monolith coming on.

 

[HiFiRuss71]

I feel a BK Monolith coming on.

Without a sub, I can't imagine that you 'feel' anything.

Russell

 

[skinnyfat]

Without a sub, I can't imagine that you 'feel' anything.

Russell

nasty

 

[Dynaudio Desire]

Without a sub, I can't imagine that you 'feel' anything.

Russell

I have got 2 15" bass bins each with an output of 500 watts. And soon to be adding a 18" 1000 watt active one. So dont worry Russ I know how to feel my bass

 

[HiFiRuss71]

I gotta see a picture of these squeezed into your bedroom. Post some.

Back to the OP's original query. What are your space/cost constraints and how did you arrive at this shortlist? Don't worry about the front or down firing issue you raised in the other post - it's a cosmetic concern only.

Russell

 

[Alasdair Mackay]

Are you limited by size and is £350 the max.

Russell

Budget about £600 Room size about 6m x 5m. sub at present Jamo. Not bothered about size

 

[Nimby]

Go on Russell! You know you want to!

 

[Knyght_byte]

GO FOR THE REL QUAKE!!!

err...i mean Monolith DF or SVS PB10...

ahem....

i'm going off to the PC Gaming forum....anyone wanna walk with me?...lol

 

[mainaman]

I have a choice of a Rel400E or MJ ref1 any advice on which to buy. Both about £350.00 each. All help appreciated.

Well,i have the ref1.I use it in a 5m:3m room.For optimal coupling to this smallish room and to match my insensitive speakers i use just 30% gain and the sub-channel level is -5 db.Also it cant go very low and it is not very even as well-i am talking about my room.And it needs a hard floor or a good isolation.But it is fast and musical and i know that it would drive a bigger room like yours better.It can still shake the house and the neighbours house with certain program material.I havent heard the Monolith though.It looks better on paper and has rave testimonials.

 

[HiFiRuss71]

Nooooo! I can't resist!

If your budget were a strict £350 and these were the only two choices then IMHO, neither of these would be a really bad choice. It is worth noting that the REL is now three generations old and that the Ref 1 is now in MkIII guise. £350 is great for the most recent variants second hand, but only reasonable for earlier versions. Thing is, there are supperior subs for about £400, or less, available brand new.

I haven't heard the REL and so I can't really comment on it although I did demo the Q201E and Strata some time back. I have heard the Ref 1 MkIII. I demoed it with a view to replacing my Ref 200, which was originally bought in preference to the RELs. In the end I took a leap of faith and bought a BK Monolith (Ref 1 on steroids) which was half the price of the Ref 1 and is a far more capable sub in every respect. It's worth noting the similarity between the MJ and BK subs. BK are the OEM manufacturer for MJ. As such the driver, the cabinets and in some cases the amps are identical for products that cost less than half the price. That's the benefit of selling direct and cutting out dealer profits.

Before the usual hecklers get stuck in, BK are not the only option. Have a look at the SVS subs in the Powerbuy section. For the same sort of money you can get the massively popular SVS PB-10 ISD and the NSD, it's MkII. You could flip a coin between this and the BK and still get cracking value for money whatever. It's a bit cheaper, but doesn't offer real wood veneers or a down firing version. This may matter, it may not.

Nimby will say that they're not big. Nimby turns whole houses into subwoofers so I'd councel that his opinion, on this matter alone, may be slightly distorted. They ARE big. But you have a decent size room and so they won't dominate.

If the size of these two doesn't matter then there is the SVS PB-12/NSD at £450 containg a bit more of everything. If it does then there's the soon to arrive SVS SB12/plus at about £600 or less. The size of the BK and SVS subs can put people off and this is offering the SVS quality in a compact box at the expense of ultimate low end extension. Personally, I'm dribbling at the prospect of a pair of these.

SVS have come from a postion of a relative unknown to (not that it really matters) occupying 3 out of 5 best buy slots in the Home Cinema Choice buyers guide. If you don't know about them, you're about to.

Russell

 

[Alasdair Mackay]

Russ and all helpful advice. I have gone for the MJ Ref 1 Mk 111 decided I would buy new in the end as everthing else I have just purchased is new, just getting some driving practice in. I am over the moon with my Denon 4306 and 3910 but a bit ****** off with Denon as 4 times now they have said they would send me the upgrade for my 3910. Who knows it may turn up on Thursday I can then use the Denon link. Anyway thanks for all the help.

 

[HiFiRuss71]

Russ and all helpful advice. I have gone for the MJ Ref 1 Mk 111 decided I would buy new in the end as everthing else I have just purchased is new, just getting some driving practice in. I am over the moon with my Denon 4306 and 3910 but a bit ****** off with Denon as 4 times now they have said they would send me the upgrade for my 3910. Who knows it may turn up on Thursday I can then use the Denon link. Anyway thanks for all the help.

It is a good sub, and at £350 its about the right price. If you are ever near Cambridge, PM me for a home demo and I'll upset you.

To get the firmware update for the 3910, you're probably better off taking it to a dealer who actually understands why you'd want the update. AV Land or Creative Audio are two such dealers. I'm a great believer in getting the original dealer to perform such updates, after all they made the profit and you have some come-back if it goes wrong.

I presume you're after the Multiregion/DL3 firmware. Creative did this for me for free but if the player came from elsewhere I believe they'll do it for about £15, but don't quote me. Denon do not officially recognise that they sell MR players, so you may be better off taking this route. I sent a stream of E-mails to Denon about my 3806's weird upconversion characteristics and never received a sensible answer. They're probably best ignored.

Russell

 

[Alasdair Mackay]

Russ. Thanks for help I did not buy the second hand one I have just purchased a New MJ Ref 1 Mk 111, should be hear on Thursday. Oh and it was,nt £350.00 LOL.