Feelings when listening Rel ST Series subwoofers

Yes, that's a much better explanation that my feeble attempt. In my music system the Strata III disappears. It just supports the speakers seamlessly. But in my home theatre setup I expect to hear dinosaur stomps and cannon blasts with dramatic effect. That's why my wife calls it "rumble vision". The sub there needs to kick in and be noticed, as opposed to a delicate blending.

Enjoy,
Bob

You may also find that you prefer the non-ported Strata as opposed to the ported Storm. I felt the Strata was more accurate...it was close...but it seemed quicker and a bit more accurate head-to-head.

Troutki, your comment is quite interesting, since Storm is more expensive than Strata.

By the way, we should wait to listen to the new Strata 5 (www.rel.net)

When I purchased my Strata III, I was sitting in the store with the coin ready to buy it or the Storm. I listened head to head on the demo system, and found that the Strata better suited my tastes. The Storm goes a bit lower probably due to its porting, so it maybe a bit better for HT....i have never compared the two head-to-head for HT so I am just speculating.

I wouldn't go with the Storm III. If you are getting the sub for mainly HT, then I would do nothing less than the Stadium III. The Stadium III will give you that visceral bass that pressurizes most any room unless very, very large which then you may need more than one. The Stadium III does retail for $3,000. It is also an incredible sub for music. If that is out of your price range then I would recommend either the Paradigm Servo 15 or their step down PW2200. Very good HT subs at better price points, just not as refined as the Rel subs for music. The Strata III is a nice sub that will do well for music but really lack for HT unless your room is pretty small. It may simply come down to which activity is more important HT or 2-Ch music.