Joshuamessenger said:
All of REL subwoofers have ABR with the exception of G1 and G2 and there smaller RELs the R range 328 and 528 have a Carbon fibre ABR what Its meant to be light and It acts like it’s not even there but controlling the bass?, I assume it to stop port noise and to get the low frequencies out from the driver when its inside the box
I know what you mean my feeling it’s cheap as it likes like two drivers when you’re getting one.
An abr isnt a driver, and its never meant to be, so its not really about trying to fool people into thinking a sub uses two drivers when it doesnt by adding in a second cheaper (rel drivrs arent exactly the worlds most expensive anyway) unpowered driver.
Its function is the same as a port. Both ports and pr's have advantages and disadvantages against each other. The big disadvantage of an ABR/passive radiator sub is it has the worse group delay response of any system. Group delay is well known to be a big component of the percieve accuracy of a subwoofer.
A sealed system has by far the best group delay of any system, so if musical performance is your focus, and therefore sound quality, you wont best a sealed subwoofer in that regard.