I had written this in the REL group at fb, maybe worth to add here, too.
„I have a soft spot for things British.
I do like composers like Bax, Vaughan Williams, Arnold.
Clothes, shoes, shaving stuff.
Things like queueing, fair play and most of all their sense of humor.
Fb once ran a psychological test to find out the nation which comes most closely to your mindset.
Turned out I am resembling a Brit, which made me smile.
Well, it is an American brand these days, made in China, sigh.
No. 31 replaced a Velodyne dd12, an early version still made in California.
I really liked the Velodyne, it helped those tiny TAD micro evolution one quite a lot. Adding body and a credible heft to say a bass drum. Now it supports a friend’s miniature Sonus Faber speakers, he is really happy.
Nevertheless …
Enter the no. 31. The room only has a solid side wall, the rear wall is the sloping roof of an Engadin house, more than hundred years old.
So I placed no. 31 close to the side wall, fooled around with angle and an XTZ room analyzer.
The XTZ is in my limited experience a nice control, for setting up things I returned to REL’s recommendations.
Set up isn’t finished yet, but a few things I can tell right now:
The REL no. 31 is a gas.
Highly superior to my trusty old Velodyne (no surprise), much enhanced dynamics in bass department, much better control, heft, power, you name it.
I think it looks gorgeous, elegant, unique. My wife hates it.
But, there is more to it. Speed? I do think so.
Overall dynamics, drive, drama (when in the music), but also more fine detail, more resolution in regions far above the subwoofer’s frequencies.`
The illusion of a space behind the main speakers.
To my considerable surprise those little TADs seem now faster, quite lot. Turbocharged.
Break in is real, very real.
For the measurements crowd:
https://www.audioholics.com/loudspeaker-design/speaker-break-in-fact-or-fiction
Choice of power cord does influence sound, prepare for a surprise.
Some folks deny that a pc could possibly make a differencce, as they cannot imagine why.
Well, when the Levinson 23.5 was new (I am that old), a few friends and me ran a comparison with a Krell KSA 100 and Classé Audio DR3.
When changing amps we noticed to our considerable surprise that Krell’s pc (stiff, a blue foil under the outer sheath) made at least as much difference as changing amps. I sold my KSA 100, but kept it’s pc.
The pc which came with the no. 31 is ok.
I had an old NBS monitor 1 pc here unused.
Had worked pretty well with the Velodyne.
It works pretty well with quite a few other components.
The REL did NOT like it.
Bass lacked control, coherence. The illusion of space diminished.
But most of all something unpleasant in the upper frequencies.
This effect from a pc for a subwoofer?
You think this is completely bonkers? I can’t blame you.
I did think this is completely bonkers.
Took it out and the nastiness disappeared.
I have absolutely no explanation.
Some emi/rf stuff coming from the mains into the REL and traveling the low level xlr cable up to the preamp?
I have no idea. But there it is, this odd effect.
Next try: a 12 core solid core copper cable, silver plated.
Recommended by a highly experienced friend. Dieselhorst-Martin Verseilung
en.wikipedia.org
Well, this improved drive and tonal things, overall best now.
Otoh the illusion of space is slightly diminished, again.
Right now music is too much fun to fool around with set up.
Certainly not in all systems, but in some systems not all, but some pcs DO make a hell of a difference. Give it a try, maybe you are in for a surprise.
I would be surprised if some exotic fuse in the REL would NOT make a difference after having experienced this pc nonsense.
Those who tried other fuses in their REL: please do comment.
Summary:
Three cheers to the crew at REL for an outstanding product which improved my musical experience to a considerable degree and also in some unexpected regions.
Do keep an open mind for seemingly nonsense approaches, you might be in for a pleasant surprise“