Nearly one thousand days is a long time to wait for anything. This is how long it has been since Hifi Lounge has held one of its famous open days. I was eager to attend one of these events again and enjoy Paul and Wendy Clark's renowned hospitality. The buffet was laid for lunch, and Paul's deal with the Devil at the crossroads secured yet another day of brilliant weather.

Paul and the guys from REL put together four challenging systems. I say challenging because a shortage of demo equipment meant that the subs used were not necessarily the optimum choice for the partnered systems. Unlike many demonstrations, where there is no opportunity to hear the before-and-after improvements, Rob Hunt from REL was more than happy to demonstrate the systems with subs on and off. To my mind, a proper demo. I arrived early, and Rob talked me through and presented all the systems.

As a bit of background, REL is unique in having both high and low-level connections for their subs. The high-level connection is a Neutrik connection at the sub end and bare wire or spades at the other end, depending on the cable purchased. The 'other end' can be either the amplifier speaker terminals or the binding posts of the speakers themselves. Rob suggested that the amp terminal connection produces a better result. The low-level input is generally for the cinema .1 connection and has a separate set-up control from the high-level connection. Both connections can be used in AV cinema systems where the stereo speakers are used as front-left and front-right.

I'll go through the systems from smallest to largest.

T ZERO Mk III

In his office, Paul has a small system which certainly couldn't be described as cheap! It consists of a HiFi Rose streamer feeding a HiFi Rose amplifier into a pair of Wilson Tune Tots.

The REL T Zero Mk III is a diminutive sub, costing a few hundred pounds.

Its small size can be seen being dwarfed by an album cover. However, the inclusion of the sub added a low-frequency punch to the system and proved to be a useful addition. The little REL is good value for money in a system costing close to £20,000 overall.

T7X WIRELESS

The upstairs room at HiFi Lounge has exceptional acoustics. Today it was graced with a BlueSound streamer via a Chord TT2 with M-Scaler and an Accuphase E280 integrated amp, driving very fine (sorry for that) Fyne Audio F1-5 speakers.

In this system, REL placed their T7X sub-woofer, configured for wireless operation, with the sender connected to the Accuphase amp.

This made it easy to switch the sub in and out, again to great effect. The sound quality was exceptional, more than should be expected from such small main speakers. The addition of the T7X provided an improved bass and opened up the soundstage and mid-range.

The sender and receiver units can clearly be seen in the photos. No doubt, a wireless connection will suit people who don't want cables trailing across the floor.

S/812 & HT/1510

The last two rooms included two speakers with which many audio enthusiasts would question the need for a sub-woofer at all. The first of the rooms used the talented PMC Fenestrias, and the second the all-mighty Wilson Audio Alexx V. What Rob was demoing here is that any system can benefit from the inclusion of well-integrated subs. In the first of these rooms, he made life very difficult for himself.

In this room, Rob chose to place the sub for the right-hand channel centrally between the main speakers – normally not recommended, and the sub for the left-hand channel in the corner, at the rear of the room, behind a couch - another questionable location. If that didn't make set-up difficult enough, the right-hand channel sub used a high-level connection, and the left a low-level connection taken directly off the amp. The rest of the equipment was a Melco server into a dCS DAC and Chord electronics.

Rob demonstrated that even difficult placements can work effectively, and the switched-in and switched-out results followed a similar pattern to the smaller speakers.

REL CARBON SPECIALS

The final room was home to an eye-wateringly expensive system consisting of a Taiko Audio server, dCS DAC and supporting dCS equipment into Dan Dagostino amplification. Topping the system out was the phenomenal Wilson Alexx V speakers in a fantastic shade of purple. On paper, this would be a difficult system to improve. Adding to Rob's challenge was that no Reference Series subs were available. So instead, he used a pair of REL Carbon Specials in a straight stereo configuration using the high-level connections.

To be honest, other than the limitations of the room itself, this system sounded fantastic with or without the subs switched in. However, the fact the system sounded better with the subs switched in was undeniable.

Rob told me that REL worked closely with Wilson Audio for many years. So it is not surprising that Wilson Audio has its own range of sub-woofers.

WRAPPING UP

Rob spent a lot of time chatting to the day's visitors, explaining how subs work, what they are for and how they are best used. He is clearly passionate about REL's products and offered helpful insight into position, wiring and tuning them for different types of systems. Rob emphasised that REL subs are designed to have the same speed as the main speakers, which enables them to integrate seamlessly when correctly set up. Furthermore, you shouldn't hear them directly in use, but certainly notice when they are switched off.

As you can see, Rob is pretty animated when talking about his favourite subject.

Thanks to Paul and all at HiFi Lounge for another superbly hosted day.

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