Cutting The Cost Of Cinematic Bass

Richard Stevenson is surprised to see subwoofer specialist REL branching out in a new movie-focused direction. But he isn't complaining

- Richard Stevenson

IT MIGHT COME as a surprise that REL has never created a subwoofer purely for movies. Music or ‘music and movies’, yes, but not LFE alone. The £500 HT/1003 is REL’s first foray into pure-bred home cinema heroics.

The story goes like this. When the late Richard Edward Lord wheeled out his first sub-bass systems to an audiophile audience in 1990, they were designed to extend the low-frequency response of stereo music setups. Key to this was a high-level connection, where the sub derives its input from the speaker terminals of the stereo amp.

Every REL woofer since has had these connections and the commensurately complex filter network. Until, that is, the HT/1003, which has an LFE line-level input only. The reason behind this move is also hinted at by the plain vinyl-wrapped finish and single colour option. It's to keep the cost down.

Still, despite a relatively affordable £500 price tag, the HT/1003 aims to hit REL's usually impressive standard. The power plant is a hopefully potent 300W amplifier, the sealed cabinet is heavily built, and its front graced by a gorgeous, REL-designed, glass-fibre 10in driver.

Bass bargain