why go against REL setup recommendation?

Placing a subwoofer in a corner will result in extra low-end reinforcement, at the extent of uncontrolled bass. Ideal for movies, not really suited to music. However, there is a simple solution: experiment with the placement, and use the set-up you feel satifies you most. You spend your money, you should be enjoying the experience, not following guidelines made up by others....

Satch.

The guidelines offered by Sumiko are excellent for subwoofer placement and setup. If you follow their recommednation you should be able to get deep, non-boomy bass. Of course it is possible that you room is such that corner placement is not the optimal setup, but it's unlikely. Remember, it can takes weeks of experimentation to properly setup your subwoofer.

Down firing subs, particularly heavy ones do not benefit much from spikes. Spikes benefit speakers when there is latteral excursion (front firing). This is why spikes make such a big difference for standard speakers, they couple the speakers more rigidily to the floor and thus increase their effective mass for lateral movement. The speaker moves less and becomes more efficient at moving air.

As to corner placement, there is a huge debate on this one. It generally does not yield the flattest frequency response and depending on the cross-over point may be unacceptable. However, corner placement does re-inforce the bass as has been stated and thus the woofer does not have to work as hard. Less work generally means less distortion. So the placement becomes a bit of a give and take. We do have a tutorial on speaker placement on our site. If you go to the listening room and click on speakers there is a link to download a short white paper on speaker placement.

A REL ST series sub is not a conventional subwoofer; it is a "sub bass system". Many that talk against corner placement are speaking in general. I believe the REL/Sumiko instructions start out by saying to forget all you've ever learned about subwoofers before setting up the REL. So they are probably aware of the "conventional wisdom" out there. There will always be a room where the corner does not work, however the instructions even have a couple possible solutions for boomy corners.

A REL ST series subwoofer is not designed for playing mid-bass along with, or in place of the main speakers. It is meant to play below the main speakers playing full range (a true sub bass unit). If you want to use a REL like a "conventional" subwoofer, then buy one of their Q Series models.

I read some Audiogon posts where the person goes against all the REL's and Sumiko's recommendations; and wants to use the sub against its design; and then complains the sub does not work well. We American's don't like to read instructions; we are too much in a hurry.