0:21 these are the rel subwoofers we have the
0:25 t5x t7x t9x and also the older
0:29 generation t9i in the special red finish
0:31 now the question here is which one of
0:34 these is the best one for you and your
0:36 system and we'll answer that in this
0:39 video but before we go on if you don't
0:41 know well i find rel to be one of my
0:43 favorite subwoofers of all time and here
0:46 is my reasoning as to why number one i
0:48 find rail subwoofers to be very easy to
0:50 set up compared to other subwoofers in
0:52 the market one of the reason being that
0:54 it has a speak on connection essentially
0:56 allowing you to connect it directly to
0:57 your amplifier yeah
0:58 yeah
1:00 ever had those situations where your
1:01 preamplifier or your integrated
1:03 amplifier doesn't have a subwoofer out
1:05 or doesn't have a pre-out well you don't
1:07 have to worry about that with rails
1:08 level first because you can connect it
1:10 directly to the speaker binding post of
1:13 your amplifier or integrated amplifier
1:15 and that leads me to my second point of
1:17 why i love rel so much is that it just
1:20 sounds really good and you're thinking wait
1:20 wait subwoofers
1:22 subwoofers
1:24 they sound better one sounds better than
1:26 the other well the quality of the driver
1:28 the quality of the amplification the
1:30 quality of the build in the cabinetry
1:33 just like any speaker design is the same
1:34 thing there's a quality difference and
1:36 that transmits to
1:38 a performance difference and it's really
1:40 no question to rails build quality
1:42 everyone knows about how great their
1:44 build quality and sound is but then you
1:47 may be asking well how does bass sound
1:48 any different in terms of quality like
1:51 what am i exactly supposed to hear differently
1:52 differently
1:54 well if you ever experience bad
1:56 subwoofer with a good subwoofer bad
1:57 subwoofers tend to have a little bit
2:00 more slower bass sloppy bass whereas
2:02 real good subwoofers have tighter bass
2:04 fast bass lightning fast really good
2:07 grip and good tone and texture to it and
2:08 you may be thinking well this guy's
2:10 delusional that's none of that is
2:12 scientifically proven well technically
2:15 speaking we have very good hearing more
2:17 than any microphone in the market can ever
2:18 ever
2:20 do for us in fact it was proven by this
2:22 study from mcmaster university that
2:25 humans can detect 50 milliseconds of
2:27 difference in the low frequencies
2:29 compared to you know 50 millisecond
2:31 delay in high frequencies so what that
2:34 means is that you essentially as a human
2:37 being is more prone to time delay or you know
2:38 know
2:39 a little bit of time
2:42 no disalignment in the base region and
2:44 this test was actually replicated by my
2:46 research team at university of toronto
2:47 as well so
2:49 basically what this means is that as you
2:52 and i as human beings and if especially
2:53 if you're an avid audiophile that is
2:55 listening for certain things then
2:57 definitely you're gonna notice a
2:59 difference in the bass region i mean 50
3:01 milliseconds that seems ridiculous of
3:03 noticing anything but it is a fact that
3:06 we are very much sensitive to low
3:08 frequencies timing rhythm and that's
3:10 just how we are tuned that's how we
3:12 listen and so of course that's going to
3:14 impact how you listen to music and how
3:16 you enjoy music
3:18 and that's why i like rel they're fast
3:19 subwoofers they're quality subwoofers
3:21 their drivers have really good excretion
3:23 uh you know characteristics and sound
3:25 characteristics and it has that speak on
3:27 connection which is a little bit
3:29 controversial because it's not you know
3:30 it's not it's more of an audiophile
3:32 thing not actually a technical thing and
3:34 the idea here is that not only does it
3:36 allow you the convenience of connecting
3:37 it to your integrated amplifier or
3:40 amplifier like i mentioned before but it
3:41 takes on the entire characteristic of
3:42 your system
3:44 right because everything from your dac
3:47 your streamer dac preamplifier is all
3:50 going into your amplifier section and
3:51 then powering your speakers so whatever
3:54 is powering your speakers your amplifier
3:56 is powering also your subwoofer so
3:58 you're taking in the entire you know
4:00 systems characteristics sound
4:02 characteristic and sound you know
4:03 quality and i found this to be true
4:05 because it makes the system sound more
4:08 seamless meaning you don't feel like
4:10 it's a separate subwoofer
4:12 there like you don't notice a subwoofer
4:14 until you turn it off and that's kind of
4:16 what you want with a subwoofer you don't
4:18 want to know that the subwoofer is there
4:20 if you're hearing boom boom boom boom
4:22 from your subwoofer then
4:24 you're doing it all wrong that's not how
4:26 subwoofer should sound it should be a
4:28 seamless crossover like it's coming from
4:29 your speakers
4:32 that's how seamless it should be like it
4:33 should seem like you don't have a
4:35 subwoofer in the room
4:36 but it's all coming from your speakers
4:38 and conventionally speaking this is
4:39 actually harder than you think with
4:41 subwoofers and if you've set up a
4:43 subwoofer i'm sure you're aware
4:44 depending on where you put the subwoofer
4:46 in your room either to the side to the
4:49 front or to the back of your room things
4:50 change quite quickly and you have to
4:52 change settings on the subwoofer and the
4:54 sound outcome is quite different and
4:57 drastic so you need experience believe
5:00 it or not to set up subwoofers properly
5:02 well rel makes it extremely easy because
5:04 they're not that sensitive to how you
5:06 place them they will sound good
5:08 regardless and the third and the most
5:10 important reason is the price the price
5:12 is reasonable yeah price category for
5:14 each individuals each individual
5:16 scenario in different systems and we'll
5:18 talk more about that in this video but
5:19 but
5:21 take it from a guy who used to sell
5:23 high-end speakers in a high in retail
5:25 store setting and set up really
5:26 expensive subwoofers and really
5:28 expensive systems
5:30 subwoofers can be really expensive and
5:32 quality subwoofers will run you big
5:35 money and don't get me wrong they are
5:36 very much worth it because it will give
5:38 you really great you know sound performance
5:39 performance
5:42 it changes the sound so drastically to
5:44 the point you take a really good system
5:45 to a
5:48 freaking amazing system
5:51 but rel with their previous ti series
5:53 they were already competitive they were
5:55 really getting close to the high-end
5:58 market subwoofers without big money
6:00 and easy to set up
6:02 but with their introduction of the new
6:04 tx series which is what we have here
6:07 today they really step up the game and
6:09 has closed that gap even further now i'm
6:11 not gonna say that they're there yet in
6:13 terms of like yeah you plop this down
6:15 and yeah you're gonna have sound that's
6:19 like rivals a 20 000 subwoofer not quite
6:21 that's why they also have a higher end
6:22 lineup but
6:25 this lineup for the majority of us is
6:30 like 90 95 there 90 95 there and it's so
6:32 easy to set up so easy to use and it
6:34 sounds just great so
6:36 there's that so those are the reasons
6:39 why i love rel and i personally use rel
6:41 and those are the personal reasons as to
6:44 why but let's talk about how
6:45 these subwoofers all differ because they
6:49 all differ i mean the t5x t7x t9x aside
6:52 from their size also have a little bit
6:53 of different technology different you
6:56 know drivers in there and also it's
6:58 meant for different use which is not
7:01 something that's often talked about so i
7:04 tested these three subwoofers with many
7:05 different speakers that came in here for
7:08 the last about eight months
7:09 long time
7:11 and here were my findings starting with
7:14 the t5x now t5x is the most affordable
7:17 and the smallest of the lineup and you
7:19 would think huh so this is the budget
7:21 option this is for the people with the
7:24 least amount of money no not quite in
7:27 fact the t5x outperforms these t7x and
7:30 the t9x in some regards and that is speed
7:31 speed
7:33 and because these speakers are smaller
7:36 than the t7x and t9x they don't dig as
7:38 low meaning they don't extend as low in
7:41 terms of base region but mind you all
7:44 three of these do dig low enough
7:45 i mean
7:47 you don't need all the way down to 20
7:50 hertz unless you listen to pipe organ
7:51 most of the instruments that we listen
7:54 to in our music passages are already
7:56 within the frequency of what rel
7:59 provides giving you extra extension from
8:01 what you have already or supplementing
8:04 it with your speakers so unless you have
8:05 a speaker that already has a full
8:08 extension with no drop off whatsoever
8:11 then a subwoofer like rel will elevate
8:13 your base performance in your system
8:15 absolutely so at a quick glance you may
8:17 look at the t5x and be like well it
8:19 doesn't extend that slow but that's not
8:22 a really big factor it extends low
8:23 enough in my opinion for musical
8:25 passages for most of us sorry
8:26 sorry
8:28 pipe organ players out there but what's
8:31 really important and why i find t5x to
8:33 be one of the better ones out of the t7x
8:36 and t9x actually is the speed
8:39 you see t5x is very fast in comparison
8:41 to other subwoofers in the market and
8:44 it's even faster than the t7x and t9x
8:46 and the while the difference is not huge
8:49 between the t7x and the t5x there is
8:50 quite a bit of a difference between the
8:53 t5x and t9x in terms of speed and what
8:55 does that get you well when you pair it
8:57 up with speakers like panel speakers
9:00 like magnapan or modern logan or
9:02 speakers that really vibrate at very
9:03 fast paces
9:05 that has speed so you often hear me you
9:07 know review a speaker and say this
9:09 speaker is fast
9:12 well to complement that fast you know
9:15 type of sound you would want a t5x you
9:18 want tight fast bass lightning fast
9:20 that's the t5x
9:22 and it's the best option for magnet pan
9:23 speakers in my opinion
9:25 but you have to also account for your
9:27 room size as well because you have to
9:29 understand it's not infinite output that
9:32 these subwoofers will have also you have
9:33 to account if you want one or two
9:35 subwoofers because that will give you
9:37 more output and more dispersion pattern
9:39 as well my recommendation as always is
9:42 to have at least two subwoofers in your
9:44 system for the best possible experience
9:47 so with the t5x is fast and that is the
9:49 major thing and you would pair the
9:51 speaker up with mostly bookshelf
9:54 speakers in this case or panel speakers
9:57 that are known to be faster and quicker
9:59 so again bookshelf speakers that has
10:01 about you know
10:04 50 60 hertz roll off some even go deeper
10:07 these days but t5x is where i would stay
10:09 with bookshelf speakers and panel
10:10 speakers so that's what the speaker is
10:12 for but you have to also count remember
10:15 for the room's size and for the t5x i
10:18 would say small to medium sized rooms is
10:19 the best fit and that makes sense for
10:21 people who have panel speakers or
10:23 bookshelf speakers that are relatively
10:25 small then you'll be in a small medium
10:27 room anyways
10:29 that is what i suggest when it comes to
10:31 larger rooms now we're getting into the
10:34 territory of the t7x and the t9x now the
10:36 benefit of the t7x is that it's the
10:39 middle child of the t5x and the t9x and
10:42 while it digs lower than the t5x it's
10:44 slightly slower but we're talking about like
10:45 like
10:47 fast double first year so they're all
10:48 fast they're all good
10:50 but this is the middle child so this is
10:52 the middle compromise if you so will so
10:54 it will go perfectly with mid-sized
10:56 towers like the candles from k-leash
10:58 that i just reviewed
11:01 or speakers that are mid-sized but
11:03 doesn't have that quite extension or
11:05 needs help in that extension for the
11:08 full response in the base region octaves
11:12 so that's what the t7x is for and of
11:14 course it outputs more meaning it can
11:16 get louder than the t5x so if you're in
11:19 a medium to large size room see there's
11:21 an overlap there so depending on what
11:23 size room you're in medium or large and
11:25 depending on what speaker you have
11:27 that's a choice you have to make
11:29 if you have fast bookshelf speakers then
11:31 you would go with even if you're in the
11:34 middle sized room t5x in my opinion but
11:36 if you have small towers like the
11:38 candles then you would go with a t7x in
11:41 a medium sized room as well
11:44 medium large size room with
11:46 tower speakers or a little bit larger
11:48 bookshelf speakers
11:50 i will go with the t7x for extra output
11:52 and matching that speed
11:55 now next in line is the t9x and this is
11:57 the bigger brother this is for large
12:00 size rooms i would say even medium-sized
12:01 rooms depending on the speakers you have again
12:02 again
12:05 it's two plays here it's your speakers
12:07 and your room that you have to consider
12:09 now with the t9x you would pair it up
12:12 with something like the poke r700 and i
12:14 know i said that you don't really need a
12:16 subwoofer with the poke r700 and that
12:18 still stands i still don't think you
12:19 need a subwoofer with that speaker
12:21 because it has tremendous bass
12:23 but if you were to hypothetically speaking
12:24 speaking
12:26 you're looking at big towers that
12:29 outputs really tremendous amount of bass
12:32 but you want that little bit extra
12:34 extension into the lower region or want
12:37 to have a little bit more impact for the
12:39 room filling pressure especially if
12:42 you're in a large room even big speakers
12:44 may not fill the room with base energy
12:47 and pressure like you would want it
12:49 so this is what would help you increase
12:52 that scale of sound and make that
12:54 speaker even dig lower and ultimately
12:57 giving you an ultimate bass performance
13:01 so that's what the t9x is for so again
13:03 you see here the size matches smaller
13:06 speakers t5x and a small medium room t7x
13:09 in somewhere between medium to large
13:11 size rooms with tower speakers but
13:15 smallish slim tower speakers and the t9x
13:18 for the ultimate extension with
13:20 big towers or big speakers that extend
13:24 down low in large size rooms so these
13:25 take care of that
13:27 and that's what i love about them
13:28 because they have an application for
13:31 each individual speaker and again these
13:33 are all fast subwoofers it really
13:35 depends on that little difference that
13:37 makes a big difference because again
13:38 we're able to detect very small
13:41 differences and rel knows this
13:42 rel likes to do one thing and one thing
13:44 only they don't make electronics they
13:46 don't make speakers they make subwoofers
13:48 and they want to make the best of what
13:50 first they can and that's their art and
13:52 that's what i appreciate it because
13:53 you know there's a lot of companies
13:55 making many different things and while
13:57 that's nothing wrong with that
13:59 i appreciate a company that is fine
14:01 tuning their art to perfection and their
14:04 key of perfection is really what makes
14:05 this company great and make their
14:07 suborder and product great and it is
14:09 because of companies like rel that know
14:12 that these small differences matter
14:14 making big changes and getting closer
14:17 and closer to that high-end properly set
14:20 up subwoofer performance for a lower
14:23 price for the mass right and easy to set
14:25 up for people that just don't have the
14:27 time or the dedication to set up
14:29 subwoofers perfectly
14:31 so these are really good subwoofers
14:33 that's easy to set up
14:35 really getting close to the high in
14:36 price you know subwoofers high performance
14:38 performance
14:40 so that's why i love them
14:42 and when i have them properly set up
14:46 they sound really darn close to that you
14:48 know high-end performance and rel also
14:50 has higher end subwoofers but those
14:53 require more dedicated more intensive
14:55 care in setting it up than these
14:58 subwoofers these subwoofers are for
15:00 more generalized getting great
15:01 performance right out of the box easy to
15:04 set up you plug them in and boom you get
15:05 the performance
15:07 for a relatively lower cost if you want
15:09 that extra little bit like the extra
15:11 five percent or even 10 percent that
15:13 we're talking about we're talking about
15:15 even rel several first higher end ones
15:18 that require more intensive setup
15:20 and it depends on the situation right so
15:22 we've seen t5x working better with
15:24 bookshelf speakers or faster panel
15:27 speakers than t7x or t9x so it's not
15:29 always about the price it's not always
15:31 about chasing the bigger subwoofer or
15:33 bigger output or the lowest extension
15:35 it's about the quality of bass and what
15:38 fits in your situation in your room with
15:40 your speakers and that should be the
15:42 focus what complements your speakers
15:44 your system the best so now time for
15:46 bonus questions now one of the questions
15:48 you may ask is so are you saying that
15:51 should i choose t5x if i'm in a small to
15:52 medium sized room with bookshelf
15:54 speakers even if i have the money to buy
15:57 the t9x yes in fact i will get two t5x
15:59 because that does a better performance
16:01 if you can get only one i would say then
16:03 i would choose a t7x in this case
16:04 because you get more output
16:07 fast enough for a bookshelf speaker
16:08 but if you have a panel speaker that's a
16:10 different story i would still probably
16:12 go for maybe the t5x because it's the
16:14 fastest but again depending on your room
16:17 size i would either choose t5x or t7x so
16:18 put it into context you have to consider
16:20 your speakers and your room again now
16:22 the next question you may be asking is
16:23 what if i have bookshelf speakers in a
16:25 large size room do i still go with the
16:28 t5x and my answer is no
16:30 again two things to consider your
16:32 speakers and your room first thing here
16:34 is room your size of the room is large
16:37 t5x just wouldn't have enough output for
16:39 a really large size room i'd say it's
16:43 more safe to go with t7x or t9x i mean
16:44 if you don't have the output then what
16:46 does that matter right so you need to
16:48 have that output the
16:51 next you know fastest is t7x and t9x and
16:54 they're still very fast subwoofers so
16:56 you need the output first and then you
16:58 consider the speed matching with your speakers
17:00 speakers
17:03 so in this case t7x or t9x two of them
17:05 is my choice now if you're wondering
17:07 about rail's build quality in terms of
17:09 the driver design in terms of how fast
17:11 it is you know how is it so fast you
17:13 know it's made of paper but anyways
17:14 there's more details on that in the
17:16 description below i'm really enthusia
17:18 enthusiastic about wells over first
17:19 because they just sound really great but
17:21 lastly i'll leave you with this if you
17:23 are someone that has not loved
17:25 subwoofers before and you're thinking of
17:28 trying it try it because well has 60-day
17:32 home trial and so why not at least try
17:36 it my suggestion to you is try it
17:38 because i was believe it or not someone
17:39 that didn't use subway first and didn't
17:41 believe you know i needed subway first
17:43 because one of my audio buddies i listen
17:45 to him and he doesn't use subwoofers to
17:48 this day and he just doesn't say we just
17:49 i don't we don't need it we don't need
17:52 it and that's fine that's him but i
17:54 never tried it because i listened to my
17:58 friend but one day i set up a subwoofer
18:00 for my client uh when i was working and
18:03 i heard the difference before and after
18:05 and i actually tried a subwoofer in my
18:07 system and at the time there was an
18:09 older rail subwoofer and it just blew my mind
18:10 mind
18:12 it was so musical
18:15 and it can enhance the system like no
18:16 other component so having a really good
18:18 subwoofer can really benefit your system
18:22 so at least just try it 60 60 day home
18:23 trial this is a great chance this is a
18:25 great time to be in hifi especially in
18:27 subwoofer and speaker market because you
18:29 get to try it at your own home
18:31 without any consequence so
18:32 try it
18:33 that's pretty much it i'll leave you
18:35 with that thought and i'll see you guys
