Sumiko is the company that bought REL a little while back, and even though this subwoofer series has development history going back three years – with many attempts at designing the components before Sumiko was happy – this may well be the first real post-'golden goose' REL. The goose that laid the golden subwoofer eggs was of course Mr. Richard Lord.
Everyone in the industry has immeasurable respect for Richard Lord, and after all it was the long history Richard created that Sumiko was buying. RELs were, after all, sub-bass systems, not mere subwoofers. Lord remains the figure everyone wants to impress, even after his retirement. If a product wouldn't have excited Richard, then they'd feel they have failed. Sumiko did start working on products in advance of actually getting involved with REL, but that's a bit like building up a sprint in anticipation of taking over the baton.
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The background information we were given about this product was largely about the idea of using a passive radiator to get the effects of a larger-coned sub into a smaller space; and about how the passive and actively-driven speaker cones were developed independently, as they do different jobs.
The T1 is a solid-looking spud. Though it no longer has the soft limiting control, nor any auto-on-off switchery in its innards (both to save cost and to make statements about lack of compromise), it still features the rare and special dual-input concept. You hook up the single RCA feed – either into the LFE/.1 channel socket if you are using your own front-end's crossover, or else into the other single RCA socket, simply marked ‘low-level input' – as well as using the high-level input speaker lead Speakon. High- and low-level inputs share a gain knob, with the LFE/.1 input getting another.
Most front-ends with crossovers offer level control so you can still control relative levels of high- and low-level input. This crossover has the third knob on the back. Apart from that, it has a simple phase-flip switch, and the mains switch and socket alongside the dual-cut heat sink. There's a healthy 335W RMS amplifier – quoted to easily reach 440W in moments of effort.
