REL 6 PACK ARRAY

[John T]

I've read so much about the benefits of RELS 6 Pack Array. To be honest I thought it was hyped up BS. Not to mention the imposing nature of 6 Carbon Specials kind of turned me off. Finally my curiosity overcame me. I called Tom at ONEST AUDIO. I never met Tom (a friend recommended him) I must say he was a pleasure to talk/work with. What I really appreciated about Tom was he doesn't come across as "the expert". He just shares his knowledge. I came right out and asked what do you think? He didn't say oh its going to be great! He said if you want to do it let me know. It took less than a week and 4 more Carbon Specials were delivered. Great transaction!

I got them all stacked, the connecting cables were delayed (FEDEX) 2 days so I got to stare at the imposing "stacks". Yesterday the connecting High/Low level Cables arrived from REL. Clay at REL gave me several tips. Firstly you want to individually set each High/Low Level and Crossover. The whole concept is the for the 3 per side to work in unison, not attacking each other. It takes methodical incremental adjustments. Bottom Left (anchor) last count was 18 adjustments and the right side will NOT be identical to the Left. Its a daunting process! While your doing it your thinking this was a mistake. BUT once you get them in SYNC its a "I get it moment" I used a pad with a diagram of the six stacked. As I made adjustments I would write them in and highlight the last added change. If you don't do that you will loose your mind!!

I went back to the single pair and as you can imagine huge difference! Still getting my head around this. The midrange is special, snapping of fingers, drumsticks popping off of each other, the stick hitting the skin. Its almost as if the bass is providing more delicate nuances.

With Knee Replacement surgery tomorrow I doubt I'll be doing much listening. I frantically wanted them set up and dialed in as closely as possible before the surgery. I could only imagine coming home and staring at them without knowing what they sound like!

 

[Rhapsody]

I've read so much about the benefits of RELS 6 Pack Array. To be honest I thought it was hyped up BS. Not to mention the imposing nature of 6 Carbon Specials kind of turned me off. Finally my curiosity overcame me. I called Tom at ONEST AUDIO. I never met Tom (a friend recommended him) I must say he was a pleasure to talk/work with. What I really appreciated about Tom was he doesn't come across as "the expert". He just shares his knowledge. I came right out and asked what do you think? He didn't say oh its going to be great! He said if you want to do it let me know. It took less than a week and 4 more Carbon Specials were delivered. Great transaction!

I got them all stacked, the connecting cables were delayed (FEDEX) 2 days so I got to stare at the imposing "stacks". Yesterday the connecting High/Low level Cables arrived from REL. Clay at REL gave me several tips. Firstly you want to individually set each High/Low Level and Crossover. The whole concept is the for the 3 per side to work in unison, not attacking each other. It takes methodical incremental adjustments. Bottom Left (anchor) last count was 18 adjustments and the right side will NOT be identical to the Left. Its a daunting process! While your doing it your thinking this was a mistake. BUT once you get them in SYNC its a "I get it moment"

I went back to the single pair and as you can imagine huge difference! Still getting my head around this. The midrange is special, snapping of fingers, drumsticks popping off of each other, the stick hitting the skin. Its almost as if the bass is providing more delicate nuances.

With Knee Replacement surgery tomorrow I doubt I'll be doing much listening. I frantically wanted them set up and closely dialed as possible before the surgery. I could only imagine coming home and staring at them without knowing what they sound like!

John, Congrats on the six-pack and BEST of luck with the knee surgery!!!

 

[John T]

John, Congrats on the six-pack and BEST of luck with the knee surgery!!!

Thanks Bob!! Ought to be an interesting next few weeks!

 

[Rhapsody]

Thanks Bob!! Ought to be an interesting next few weeks!

You will be up and walking around the same day or the day after surgery. Enjoy your new knee!

 

[LL21]

Amazing! Really excited to read this and glad to hear you are really enjoying it. Wow...look forward to reading more! Best wishes with surgery tomorrow.

 

[Steve Williams]

You will be up and walking around the same day or the day after surgery. Enjoy your new knee!

They had me up walking in the recovery room an hour after surgery. You’ll be fine John. In fact ill
bet you’ll ask yourself why didn’t you do it sooner

 

[bryans]

I've read so much about the benefits of RELS 6 Pack Array. To be honest I thought it was hyped up BS. Not to mention the imposing nature of 6 Carbon Specials kind of turned me off.

LOL I had the same thought when I played around with a 6 pack of S/510. Yes it takes a lot of work but WOW when it comes together. As you stated the key is setting each sub up individually.

Hey good luck with the knee surgery. Just think of all the recovery time listening sessions in your future.

 

[John T]

LOL I had the same thought when I played around with a 6 pack of S/510. Yes it takes a lot of work but WOW when it comes together. As you stated the key is setting each sub up individually.

Hey good luck with the knee surgery. Just think of all the recovery time listening sessions in your future.

I started sweating! It was so far out of balance! I kept saying to myself "what have you done"! LOL! But as you indicated when it starts to come together, WOW. I would have been miserable if the cables didn't arrive. The surgery is one thing but if I had to stare at the subs without having an inkling what they can do. It would have been increased torture. Thank You very much for the well wishes...

 

[jonathanhorwich]

Excuse my ignorance, but does one set up each sub at a different frequency and crosssover setting than the other subs. That is, does each sub take care of it's own frequencies and crossover point -- generally speaking? I have two 212/SX RELS and that alone took me months to get dialed in right, as done mainly by ear. Doing three stacked subs seems utterly daunting. But the result must be worth it.

 

[Ron Resnick]

Congratulations, John! I am very happy for you that this long-considered REL plan has been realized!

Good luck on the surgery!

 

[John T]

Excuse my ignorance, but does one set up each sub at a different frequency and crosssover setting than the other subs. That is, does each sub take care of it's own frequencies and crossover point -- generally speaking? I have two 212/SX RELS and that alone took me months to get dialed in right, as done mainly by ear. Doing three stacked subs seems utterly daunting. But the result must be worth it.

Yes it is daunting and each sub will have a different High Low Level/Crossover. One would assume they would be the same. But because of the rooms acoustics they will vary because of bass frequency. The 3 need to work in unison. The anchor, first one on the floor needs to coexist with the middle sub and the middle sub needs to coexist with the top sub. Placement with a pair may be different than 3 per side. BTW your question is far from ignorant. Each sub has to be independently set. Then listen to just one side, and vise-versa. Then more incremental adjustments. Perhaps one click higher on crossover and one click less on High Low Level. Its a very slow methodical listen and adjust. When it starts to come together everything sounds more coherent. Every room will be different. Maddening exercise!!! But worth it...

 

[jonathanhorwich]

Thank you for your clear description John. That makes sense. Thank you.

 

[arnies]

Hi John,

First, Good luck on your surgery.

Second, I have been using a Rel G1 six pack for several years now and once you have the 6 pack dialed in correctly with your room and speakers you are rewarded sonically. I've attached a very recent picture of my setup.

Thanks,
Arnie

 

[John T]

Hi John,

First, Good luck on your surgery.

Second, I have been using a Rel G1 six pack for several years now and once you have the 6 pack dialed in correctly with your room and speakers you are rewarded sonically. I've attached a very recent picture of my setup.

Thanks,
Arnie
View attachment 103388

Thank You Arnie. Beautiful Room! Its amazing the transformation that the array provides. It hasn't been 48 hours and I'm floored. I appreciate the well wishes...John

 

[sujay]

Hi John,

First, Good luck on your surgery.

Second, I have been using a Rel G1 six pack for several years now and once you have the 6 pack dialed in correctly with your room and speakers you are rewarded sonically. I've attached a very recent picture of my setup.

Thanks,
Arnie
View attachment 103388

Wow!!!

 

[KahunaCanuck]

Thanks for sharing your journey John, it only gets better from here...and it will be nice to have something to look forward to after recovery. Cheers

 

[gds7368]

I've read so much about the benefits of RELS 6 Pack Array. To be honest I thought it was hyped up BS. Not to mention the imposing nature of 6 Carbon Specials kind of turned me off. Finally my curiosity overcame me. I called Tom at ONEST AUDIO. I never met Tom (a friend recommended him) I must say he was a pleasure to talk/work with. What I really appreciated about Tom was he doesn't come across as "the expert". He just shares his knowledge. I came right out and asked what do you think? He didn't say oh its going to be great! He said if you want to do it let me know. It took less than a week and 4 more Carbon Specials were delivered. Great transaction!

I got them all stacked, the connecting cables were delayed (FEDEX) 2 days so I got to stare at the imposing "stacks". Yesterday the connecting High/Low level Cables arrived from REL. Clay at REL gave me several tips. Firstly you want to individually set each High/Low Level and Crossover. The whole concept is the for the 3 per side to work in unison, not attacking each other. It takes methodical incremental adjustments. Bottom Left (anchor) last count was 18 adjustments and the right side will NOT be identical to the Left. Its a daunting process! While your doing it your thinking this was a mistake. BUT once you get them in SYNC its a "I get it moment" I used a pad with a diagram of the six stacked. As I made adjustments I would write them in and highlight the last added change. If you don't do that you will loose your mind!!

I went back to the single pair and as you can imagine huge difference! Still getting my head around this. The midrange is special, snapping of fingers, drumsticks popping off of each other, the stick hitting the skin. Its almost as if the bass is providing more delicate nuances.

With Knee Replacement surgery tomorrow I doubt I'll be doing much listening. I frantically wanted them set up and dialed in as closely as possible before the surgery. I could only imagine coming home and staring at them without knowing what they sound like!

Pictures please!

 

[LL21]

Thanks for sharing your journey John, it only gets better from here...and it will be nice to have something to look forward to after recovery. Cheers

• Yesterday at 11:32 PM
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• #13

Hi John,

First, Good luck on your surgery.

Second, I have been using a Rel G1 six pack for several years now and once you have the 6 pack dialed in correctly with your room and speakers you are rewarded sonically. I've attached a very recent picture of my setup.

Thanks,
Arnie

KAHUNACANUCK AND ARNIE: (SORRY BOLDING SINCE I CANNOT FIGURE OUT THE FORMATTING HERE TO SEPARATE YOUR QUOTES FROM MY POST QUESTION BELOW):

I am fascinated by the REL6-pack configuration. Did you go straight to 6-pack or did you 'build up' from a single or stereo set? If you 'built up'...what happened when you went to full 6-pack? And do you have any sense about how much of this improvement is due to 'pure driver surface area...more air displacement...vs the fact that you are presumably also setting each pair at a different crossover as it seems REL recommend?

Thanks for any insights!

 

[KahunaCanuck]

I saw Arnie's pix, the room looks amazing, would luv to hear it in action!

My experience with the array setup was buying all 6 at once and dialing them in as per REL...it takes a long time to move them around, listen, adjust etc. It sounded good (about 85% I would guess), but took having someone else to help me dial in that last bit (mostly turning them down), so now I would say they are at 95%...

My best description is that each level gives you a view of another level of the bass, with it divided into low, mid and upper. As you dial these in you are just so much more aware of additional information that was just muddier before or unheard.

 

[LL21]

Beautiful setup! Thank you for providing that insight. Very, very interesting and gives me some things to consider.