REL Subwoofer Rattling

I have an REL T7 that I’ve owned for nearly 3 years. It was a wonderful addition to my system. And I was happy with it...until it started rattling about a year and a half ago. I searched these forums and the rest of the Internet and the only recommendations made were to tighten all the bolts and screws securing the woofers and back panel. I did this and it solved the problem. For a month or two. Initially it only noticeably rattled during TV and movie watching. Then around 6 months ago I started noticing it in my music that had moderate to heavy bass. Today I decided to open it up to find the cause of the issue.

First, make sure you don’t do any of your own work before contacting REL. YOU DON’T WANT TO RISK VOIDING THE WARRANTY IF YOU HAVE ONE! If you’re ok with doing some work yourself, read on. The second thing I highly recommend is disconnecting everything on your sub. Especially the power source.

I began by unhooking my subwoofer and removed the passive driver. It was the front firing woofer on my REL. look at your manual to find out which woofer of yours is passive. This is important because there is no wiring on this woofer. It comes right out and you don’t have to disconnect anything. Be careful removing the woofer as you do not want to damage it. I finally figured out that I could turn the woofer clockwise around the ring of the woofer to break it free from the seal. Mine was not glued in any way.

Once I removed the woofer I tapped around the entire box and shook it a little to find anything that was loose. That’s when I found a component on the top of the box was moving pretty easily. It’s secured to the box by two straps that are screwed into the box. In the middle of the component is a 1/2" bolt securing the component to the straps. I tightened this bolt. It was quite loose. I did not tighten until I couldn’t turn the wrench. I only tightened it until it didn’t move so freely. It still moved when I wiggled it by hand, but it didn’t seem to move when I shook the box. I put everything back together and hooked it back up. I’ve tested it with movies and music and so far I don’t hear any rattling! Hopefully that’s the last I’ll hear of it! I hope these instructions helped you!