Best €2500 sub purely for music?


I recently was lucky enough to try a demo between a two rel 9tx and one s510, and I though the s510 was vastly superior. My only hesitation for being one was that the EU pricing of rels are kinda steep, and maybe im not someone best suited to use them? To explain, I use a minidsp shd preamp to control my entire system. With that I always use a high-pass filter with a extremely sharp roll off of -48db. Anything above 60hz is given to the speakers. I found this to sound night and day better than trying to cross any speaker with their natural cutoff. This is antithetical to how rel designs their subs. Lastly, it only has phase adjustments of 0 and 180. Its for these reasons why im asking you if there are any alternatives to the s510 you recommend between €2k and €3k IN EUROPE (so no svs or rhythmic or any other US brand of any sort) that might be more appropriate for a purely hifi application?

My speakers are German physiks hrs-130's. They're omnidirectional, but what is important here is they a sealed design that is extremely precise and fast, but its not enough SPL for synthetic music. The lesser rel's arnt as fast as it, so I ask for something equivalent to the s series. I only want one, and my room is 30m^2. I will be using the full Dirac calibration of the shd to integrate it, so subs with on-board dsp is completely irrelevant, and I'd rather not spend on a feature that's useless to me. What other options are available here? 

endymion_joshi-godrez

@ronboco 

I can see how you don’t need subs with the Avior II. I had a pair of Atria II that were good with out subs and could play down to 28hz at -3db. I did pair them with JL F100v2 subs and they sounded great. They filled out the bottom end.

 

with that being said I have moved up to the Cygnus and removed the subs. The Cygnus plays down to 20hz. In my room I actually have to cut 32hz by about 10db. They play low and clear. To get more from subs I would need to go to #31s. After upgrading my speakers that is a long way out. 
 

I am not sure where you are located but if you are coming up to axpona you are welcome to come check them out. 

@creditingkarma 

I attended Axpona last year but will not be attending this year. I would love to come hear your system! It looks amazing and I’m sure it sounds incredible! My dealer has the Cygnus in their main room.  Hopefully I will be able to come out next year. If you are ever in Colorado you are more than welcome to come over for a listen. 
 

Regards 

Ron

Not the most popular, but I-can attest that the B&W DB3 is VERY musical and fast.1000W CLASS D amp. Has rooM correction and the sub is controlled by an amp on your phone. Balanced and RCA imputS. It is seamless whichever speaker I use with it. A bit pricey compared to the others mentioned, but for me its worth it, especially the remote app to make adjustments on the fly,

["e_j-g (PS John Hunter himself calls the subwoofers, all the technicians I’ve talked to called rels subwoofers and the marketing on their website called their products subs. The company itself disagrees with that distinction)."]

The folks in West Berkeley are a nice bunch. I suppose when you buy the brand you can call it what ever you want. The original designer Richard Edmund Lord (REL) termed them a Sub-Bass System as seen on his Operating Instructions and referred to in the links below. Their measured performance confirms little functionality has changed since the 2007 sale.

https://www.manua.ls/rel/studio-iii/manual

https://www.enjoythemusic.com/superioraudio/equipment/0704/relstadiumiii.htm

https://www.paragonsns.com/products/rel-acoustics-studio-iii-sub-bass-system