Like cars, subwoofers come in a variety of flavours, from cheap and utilitarian all the way up to huge and very expensive.
This sub-bass system (you don't simply call RELs ‘woofers') is definitely in the posh-yet-compact Porsche bracket. The R-305 is a good-looking boom-box indeed. Even the non-cognoscenti will take one look and know that this is no budget product, but rather one made to a standard, instead of solely to hit a low price-point.
Don't get us wrong, we love a cheap-as-chips massive enclosure, with a darn great 15-inch driver in it and the ability to push the windows out – but after a while, like getting tired of a 1.8-litre screaming turbo-nutter hatchback, one does tend to hanker for a bit of refinement, class and sheer sexy engineering. Not to mention melodic rather than monotonic sonic performance. This is where this REL comes in...
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Design and build
The R-305 is a sealed cube box with a deep piano black finish. Deep grooves in the case add to its classy look. A bulky and purposeful-looking grille sits on the front and a brushed gunmetal colour plate occupies the back.
The box has just a power switch and four sockets on it. One is the mains, one is the famous REL high-level input and the other two are phonos. As with all REL products – and it has to be said, emulated by others – the subwoofer can accept both speaker level and LFE or low-level phono inputs simultaneously. This means that you get an input for simple stereo use as well as the .1/LFE feed found on all proper home cinema systems, so that even the basso moments overlooked by soundtrack engineers will get to your sub bass system, and, moreover, it helps blend the bass and subsonics to your main speaker's output.
In our view the best method is to use the .1/LFE phono, rather than the simple low-level phono, as that way you get independent control via the gorgeous control module mounted underneath the box. Held off the floor by four solid-metal triangular feet, the control module is connected via a computer-style connector that fixes into the brushed-metal casing by retaining bolts. The simple controls are behind a thick slab of clear glass, intended to keep fiddling to a minimum and to protect said controls, which comprise a 0-180º phase toggle switch and knobs for gain of the high-/low-level input and the .1/LFE input, as well as a crossover point selection knob.
