Which sub-help please

Dred,

Sorry - I misread your original post. The Velo SPL8R is an 8" sub. I know it well, since I own two of them. They offer fine performance for the tiny cabinet size, but....

Trust me on this, I've done extensive direct comparison. If you can accomodate the larger cabinet - the Rythmik is a clearly superior performer - provided you use external DRC like the Velo SMS-1. OTOH a 12" Rythmik and an SMS-1 will cost almost $1200, so it's not really a fair comparison to the SPL8R. Still, IMHO, it's worth the price tag if you can swing it.

Marty

(((If you want to really take the bass load off the main amp, then you have to look at bass management. I'm pretty sure the REL does not support BM internally. The SPL8R has a passive (I believe) first order high pass filter, but you'd probably prefer either an external BM controller or a sub that provides BM with higher order filters.)))
He is running a clean trube pre amp
What makes you think he would prefer a BM system which
would then have his pre amp going through a 50 Cent integrated circuit and lower input imp?
Cheers Johnnyr

JohnnyR,

As far as I'm concerned, the real question re: bass management is not what Dred's preamp is, but rather at what frequency he wants to cross the signal to his subs. The simple truth is that subs will (almost certainly) be better able to adddress destructive room effects in the octave or so cenetered around 80hz. This is easily (and dramatically) demonstrable with RTA - and we're not talking subtle here.

For best results (in the vast majority of rooms), these frequencies should be handled by the subwoofer(s), even if it means compromising the "purity" of a tube pre-amp. As Bob notes, this will usually require bass management, though your point about the generally poor quality of built-in bass management is taken.

Marty