REVIEW: REL HT 3D Setup...my take on the "Small vs Large" speaker setting. Also a few pics.

Where to begin? For years I always took for granted that for HT the consensus was to always set all speakers to "Small" & set XO to 80hz (give or take a little here) & that was pretty much it. EZ Peezy setup, set it & forget it.

Now REL on the other hand have been on the other side of the fence for a good 25yrs or so recommending to set speakers to "Large" w/ a sub for every speaker to get as close as possible to 20Hz-20kHz for maximum output. This mimics the Dolby Digital standard as set by Ray Dolby in theaters. The issue with this is that it's not all that practical for a typical home HT room.

REL can pull this off by the way they design their subs to handle HT & 2 channel simultaneously. Their subs have totally separate settings for the high-level & LFE, both settings have separate XO & gain adjustments for seamless integration. REL recommends a minimum of 3 subs to cover the LCR front end. Of course the more subs the better.

So I had to give it a shot using my 4 REL subs: 2-S812's for L/R mains using both high level & LFE, 1-T/5X using high level only for center speaker, 1-HT 1205 MKII using LFE only (behind my easy chair).

It certainly is more complicated getting everything dialed in for both 2 channel & HT because you can switch back & forth in the blink of an eye. For music REL likes using "Cosmo...Old Friend" on the
Sneakers Movie Soundtrack. To dial in the LFE there's quite a few, Edge of Tomorrow-Beach Assault, John Wick-Club Scene just to name a few.

So here's my setup:
L-Front JBL HDI 1600 - S812 (high level from 2 channel amp & LFE from AVR)
R-Front JBL HDI 1600 - S812 (high level from 2 channel amp & LFE from AVR)
Center-JBL HDI 4500 - T/5X (high level only directly from the speaker not the AVR)
HT 1205 MHII LFE only directly from AVR

So...How does it sound? Well in a nut shell I'm not going back to the "Small" setting & 80Hz XO. Having the 3 REL's up front & the single HT 1205 MKII mid room has really elevated the entire listening experience watching movies & TV. Very immersive sound field that places you right in the middle of the action, the entire soundstage just grew in all directions it was very impressive. The biggest surprise was the T/5X & how it really made the center speaker spring to life...it was so much more dynamic, added more body & weight to male & female voices. The center w/ the sub really anchors the entire front end. I feel there was so much I was missing with the center set to small. What a difference set to large & adding the sub. So needless to say I am extremely impressed with the new HT experience. On a side note the surrounds & rear surrounds are all set to small, 80Hz XO until I pickup a few more REL's!! LOL!

And it goes without saying that my 2 channel listening experience has been seriously elevated with the addition of the second S812...WOW!! Anyone running dual stereo subs knowns exactly what I'm talking about.