Dual mono with REL Subwoofer

[PeppaPig]

Today, I was at the REL dealer for over 5 hours. At first, I heard the No.25 followed by the S-series 212/SE and finally the G1 MK II. The No. 25 is outstanding but waaayy too big for my very difficult 'square 18-Ft x 18-Ft dedicated room'. And, I wasn't impressed with the 212/SE but the G1 MKII completely floored me. It was devastatingly good and was mated to Wilson Sasha DAWs that I auditioned. 


I heard classical, organ, opera, smooth jazz, 60's, 70's & 80's rock and was awestruck at what a pair of G1 MKIIs were doing to the overall sonic experience. They sell in the US for $ 5,500 each, meaning $ 11,000 + taxes for a pair. It is indeed a lot of money but I also realise that this would be the single 'massive upgrade' I can do to my existing system and can also sell off the 2nd 440-Pro set and revert to bi-wiring from bi-amping. Hmm! I will have to start saving up of this now ... a pair of G1 MKII when setup right using the High Level input of the Devialet is soooo addictive !!   

Hi may I ask which part that 212/SE disappointed you? the 212/SE has extreme good review everywhere... can you pls share some details?

The quality of the low freq from 212/SE is nowhere similar to the G1 MK-II or No.25. I was just speaking to John Hunter (Chief Designer & Owner of REL Acoustics) and these were his words when I put forth your question to him, "the 212/SE is very good with a huge capacity when it comes to quantity of bass .. meaning it can goes really very loud but for music, it cannot compete with the G1 MK-II or the No.25 as the filters are very different between those Reference series models & the 212/SE. 

Go and hear it yourself, (forget the reviews).

Also, from my chat with John, I am told the speed of low freq, the very fast filters, 70% lighter drive unit weight of the Carbon drivers in the Reference series all work in tandem towards a very seamless integration.

Hi I had a chat with John Hunter as well, what he told me is 212/SE probably is the end of REL journey for most of the people. He also said G1 and No 25 is designed to be stack of 3 each side. He told me subs that sits low will never sound good, the height factor of 212/SE contributes a lot. Which means if you go for G1 or No 25, it is designed to be stacked, you need to get at least 2 or 3 each side.

The G1 MK2 used class AB amp, 212SE used a Class D 1000Watt amp like the No 25 has, I heard other users compared G1 and 212SE and they found 212SE is much faster than the G1 MK2 due to the Class D amp.

I haven't heard the G1 or No25, but I heard the S5 Carbon, S5 SHO and 212SE. the S5 Carbon used same driver as G1, it does sounds better than S5 SHO, more output, but its no where as good as the 212/SE, can I say that carbon driver doesn't help that much as we expected?