swapping my velodyne spl1200r for a REL storm5..?

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bass-boy68

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Jun 8, 2012
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Hello all , Hey now I'm considering swapping out my SPL1200R velodyne in favor of an REL Storm5 , A couple of obvious things to consider are , 1. the velo is a past winner of the EISA sub of the year , 2. its a 2008 model 3. it has a 1000 watt amp with a 12" driver and hits 18 hz as opposed to the REL which is a 2004-5 model witha 200watt dc mosfet amp with a 10" driver. Both are sealed and both are remote controlled.

Now to be honest with you all , back in the day I had the REL and also had the PV1 from B&W at the same time and I loved the REL, It went lower and also loaded the room like nothing I had heard before and can say that I have not since come across a sub system that works in the way the REL's do,Creamed the PV1 by yards!

So I have heard people and some reviews give the Storm bad raps! but I am a bit bemused , I have seen that they do these tests with the sub out into the floor and not loaded as requested for best results, blah blah blah....so im interested in what you guys think.The SPL1200r is a good unit but i found the REL to be good also for movies and especially music in the way it loaded or should i say prressureized the room!.I imagine the velo will have a little more kick and the REL a smoother compliment to the bottom end while still able to growl , just not as loud as the velo , but for a listening range thats not concert level i think the REL would be fantastic.Please comment if you have experiences with REL's and velo's

Please...your thoughts or experiences please , opinion away guys ,3 days till decision time.

regards

shane
 
It's a few years ago now, but I preferred the SPL1200R to the Storm 5. I felt it had a tighter bass, especially after EQ was applied....both good Subs though.
 
thanks for your reply , im torn as i know the sub is older( 10 yerars ) but I remember it being so much more musical and also had some grip down low for movies. but my velodyne is a pocket rocket.I think id be losing some punch down low but gain a smoother and deeper measure of sub-bass,I do think that when they test these REL's they do it against the recomended corner loading that is advised. my experience is that when loaded these subs gain so much more energy so tested in the middle of a floor space is not a true reflection as the manufacturer says to corner load for optimal performance.whew!

but thankyou, i dont disagree with you.
 
Figures and numbers dont tell the whole story and i also find that the subs from rels yester year to be pretty good (and what hi fi gave awards left right and center for them). Yes the test above say's its not clean down to a certain BLAH BALH but can you really tell NO! its a about punchy, tight bass (tight bass isnt always clean bass) and rel's do that! There quirky and very british/welsh there is a character to them .

The velodyne i have now the newer version of yours the 1200 ultra is good for movies but for muisic i have not been so impressed. Though currently i have a sub sat system so i think its down to the speakers/sats not making enough noise for proper stereo preformance....

Considering that BK made most of Rels subs back in the day and everyone rants and raves about BK now! so whats the difference as BK are pretty much making carbon copies of the q series of subs (quake= the gemini and so on)

Persoanlly rather than looking the older rels get the 400Bk sub woofer Its basicaly the Q400 rel made in the early 2000's its very musical and comes in some lovely colours and has a much more powerful mosfet amp 400watts 800 peak i think. (though as a company i dont really like BK they can very awkard to deal with espcailly with returns)

There is somthing about mosfets over digital amps they carry a certain warmth to there bass which i like! Also the storm had a bigger internal volume which made it deeper than the velodyne though the velo hits harder.

Sorry for my bad spelling in advance im not so good at it!
 
millennia_one said:
Figures and numbers dont tell the whole story and i also find that the subs from rels yester year to be pretty good (and what hi fi gave awards left right and center for them). Yes the test above say's its not clean down to a certain BLAH BALH but can you really tell NO! its a about punchy, tight bass (tight bass isnt always clean bass) and rel's do that! There quirky and very british/welsh there is a character to them .

The velodyne i have now the newer version of yours the 1200 ultra is good for movies but for muisic i have not been so impressed. Though currently i have a sub sat system so i think its down to the speakers/sats not making enough noise for proper stereo preformance....

Considering that BK made most of Rels subs back in the day and everyone rants and raves about BK now! so whats the difference as BK are pretty much making carbon copies of the q series of subs (quake= the gemini and so on)

Persoanlly rather than looking the older rels get the 400Bk sub woofer Its basicaly the Q400 rel made in the early 2000's its very musical and comes in some lovely colours and has a much more powerful mosfet amp 400watts 800 peak i think. (though as a company i dont really like BK they can very awkard to deal with espcailly with returns)

There is somthing about mosfets over digital amps they carry a certain warmth to there bass which i like! Also the storm had a bigger internal volume which made it deeper than the velodyne though the velo hits harder.

Sorry for my bad spelling in advance im not so good at it!
Click to expand...

That's mythology mostly, but I agree the BKs are very good. The measurements do tell you everything, they tell you that the Storm is so puny it can only manage one in a teacup! Check out the bass compression and distortion, ugh. People that say they aren't everything usually don't understand them.
 
I completly understand thank you very much the lower the better its not that differcult really! Myths maybe? but thats what my ears hear and you who are you to tell me otherwise.....And if you go by spec sheet/review that can be scewed infovour of any sub out there then you put to much faith into reviews. Unless you telling me you where there! then ill eat my words. As the old saying goes you need to audition everything you buy.

What they fail to tell you is the background nosie level outside.... Bus going by, train, plan passing by hell even a deep voice could put this test off. Anything that produces bass can put that test off.... As far as i can tell those reviews arent worth there salt. It has to be preformed in an austically dead room which is what they do at the factory or at it design stage!!!!

So test yourself without a mic can you really hear the compression NO. Distortion is just a side affect of internal volume and insuffiant bracing which agian can be scewed by open air factors but granted it seems to have a problem at high volumes but he is pushing these sub beyond belief and some things just arn't designed for reference and or large spaces (there aren't many commercial subs that can do reference one or 2)..... I mean come on!

No sub reaches its claimed tech spec (SVS maybe) But in room no! everyones room is different.

You Love BK but not Rel there one in same. And they pretty much make the the storm in the flovour of the downward firing 400 HUMMM!.... But hey hold those reviews close to you heart who am i to tell you other wise. But hey this isnt helping the OP so lets do that.
 
I had the Velo 1200 Ultra on home demo - the SVS SB13 is miles better if you want a better sub than the velo.

It gives the sonic presentaiton you describe in the first post - it presussises the whole room really well. Its also miles better than the BK XLS400 which I found similar to the Velo in performance - the velo was cleaner but also sounded like a small sub to me after the SVS

One negative of the SVS is its so smooth its not as punchy sounding as other subs - two is better than one but its not really its fortei - it trades that off for accuracy and articulation and smooothness

SORRY THESE COMMENTS ARE AIMED AT HC AND HIFI NOT JUST HIFI - WHICH IS WHAT I GUESS YOU WANT IT FOR
 
ellisdj said:
I had the Velo 1200 Ultra on home demo - the SVS SB13 is miles better if you want a better sub than the velo.

It gives the sonic presentaiton you describe in the first post - it presussises the whole room really well. Its also miles better than the BK XLS400 which I found similar to the Velo in performance - the velo was cleaner but also sounded like a small sub to me after the SVS

One negative of the SVS is its so smooth its not as punchy sounding as other subs - two is better than one but its not really its fortei - it trades that off for accuracy and articulation and smooothness

SORRY THESE COMMENTS ARE AIMED AT HC AND HIFI NOT JUST HIFI - WHICH IS WHAT I GUESS YOU WANT IT FOR
Click to expand...

A bigger sub is always going to be better than a small one. It's those laws of physics again.
 
TrevC said:
A bigger sub is always going to be better than a small one. It's those laws of physics again.
Click to expand...

To an extent, yes. Very large subwoofers can have problems of their own (that's why you rarely see consumer grade subwoofers larger than 15 inches). When larger diaphragms move back and forth, they can struggle with timing and not be as fast as the smaller ones. The subwoofers being discussed do not have this problem, as far as I'm aware.
 
thanks guys , meow meow meow , im hearing the test results and am cautious , its second hand and in great condition , 700 nz dollars and have the chance to sell my velo for 30% more , i will use it for home cinema but mostly hifi.i was going to wait and get a REL S5 or SB/PB13 ultra later on as think they are value for money.I had the PV1 when i auditioned the Storm5 and it cleaned the floor of the PV1 in spades , so much more depth and pressurized the room lock. but i did find that it had to be placed in corner for optimal loading ,positioning was key as is with most subs but when it was locked in it really sang. im not sure and only have another day , should i hold on and sell my velo for a good price and then purc hase a better sub in 5 months time over the unsure storm.just dont see them often at all and i fell in love wirth it years ago so there is an emotoonal connect , thats about the best possible compliment one can give to any peice of hifi kit i think.

kinkd regards guys
 
FWIW. I wouldn't change to the Storm 5. At best it's a sideways move, but probably a backwards one.

I would wait until you can go for something better ie. Velodyne DD range or something from JL Audio.
 
bigboss said:
TrevC said:
A bigger sub is always going to be better than a small one. It's those laws of physics again.
Click to expand...

To an extent, yes. Very large subwoofers can have problems of their own (that's why you rarely see consumer grade subwoofers larger than 15 inches). When larger diaphragms move back and forth, they can struggle with timing and not be as fast as the smaller ones. The subwoofers being discussed do not have this problem, as far as I'm aware.
Click to expand...

Nah. Even 15" bass units can go up to 3kHz, so bass speaker limitations aren't a problem with low bass. The subs that sound 'fast' are the ones that aren't really all that good at producing decently high levels of low bass, the PV1 and awful Storm 5, for example. Slow bass is an illusion, it's room resonances that are the problem. The Antimode fixes them.
 
15 inches fine, but you won't see many, say, 24-inch ones.

When the diaphragm vibrates, it needs to get back to its original state. If it gets the next signal halfway through its relaxation phase, it can sound a bit weird. Larger diaphragms are slightly more difficult to control (due to Physics) due to their sheer size. Similar to control when shaking a small vs very long stick.
 
bigboss said:
15 inches fine, but you won't see many, say, 24-inch ones.

When the diaphragm vibrates, it needs to get back to its original state. If it gets the next signal halfway through its relaxation phase, it can sound a bit weird. Larger diaphragms are slightly more difficult to control (due to Physics) due to their sheer size. Similar to control when shaking a small vs very long stick.
Click to expand...

Not really so I'm afraid. A speaker so heavy and slow that it can't even accurately respond to the rise and fall of a low bass sinewave can't really be described as a speaker at all, and if that was the problem distortion would rise with frequency, which simply doesn't happen with a sub.
 
Hello all , im feeling that you mostly dislike the performance of the Storm5 ,my time with it was a nice memory but as i know with memory recall it can be embelished , so that being the case , what are you thoughts on the S/5 and the newer 212SE , it looks great and imagine it sounds beastly in a velvet glove...the only concern with the S/5 is that 12" passive which i think should be changed to the alloy as per the 212SE having 4 2 active and 2 passive. are their any experiences with the newer REL's , thanks guys , my heart is still into the storm but deminishing fairly quickly , my freind bought a SB13ultra on my recomending and we both think its awesoe and my velo does not compete but its still a good wee sub ,thanks to all for your feedback.
 
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