Anyone that knows anything about bass reproduction knows the reputation of REL sub-bass systems - so I'll not reiterate that here. The Stadium III is a very good sub. For me, it beats the other's in its $3k. price range that I've owned or heard, except for the old Entec's. And the improvements made to it from the Stad II are considerable.

However, as good as the Stad III can be, after several day's use I felt there was something not 'live' about its response - that it was too 'dry' or something, (yes, this unit was broken-in). I felt I wanted even better, so I returned it to Steve at Audioport (great shop, BTW), and I ordered the new Stentor III.

I'll post my remarks on the Sten III when the new page is created for it. But for now, I can tell you that yes, it IS worth the extra $2k. retail over its smaller brother's price. Once you've heard the 2 new top REL models...well, this audio thing is hell, isn't it?

The Stad III is a fine speaker, and I'd say rates "5 stars - Bargain, Giant killer" for Value. But, for "Overall", it rates "4 stars - very good product" when in the company of the Stentor III & Studio III.

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ADS, B&W, Entec, Sunfire, Vandersteen, Velodyne, others...

no distortion what-so-ever, extremely deep bass, "airy" sound - the opposite of thick, muddled bass. Fast and with great punch even on the very lowest notes.

nope

I use two of these wonderful subwoofers in my 26m2 living room, and they deliver a very smooth, airy and undistorted bass - as low as you could ever imagine. The sound is very dry, tight, fast, crisp, dynamic - at the same time that it is deep and powerful. These two qualities, I´ve never heard at the same time from any other subwoofer I´ve listened to.
The Rel Stadium is a high-end subwoofer, not like the usual Sunfires and other boom-boom boxes, who all sound slow and swollen in comparison. The Rel can deliver shockwaves of deep, powerful and precise bass, though - every bit as powerful as Sunfire and the others - and then some!

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none at this price, but a few Audio-pro subs and the usual Sunfires.

fast, clean, controlled, effortless, with plenty of slam and oomph when it is called for!

Absolutely nothing.. or wait.. it can hum if signal ground is not properly hooked up.

I was not prepared for what I had been missing. I had lived with my Dynaudio Contour 1.3 mini monitors for seven years without missing anything, or so I thought. Alone, these fantastic little speakers produce a detailed, smooth, crisp and effortless sound with all those hard-to-find audiophile qualities. When I came by some money, I bought the Special Edition of these contour 1.3s and upgraded my entire chain, and decided to listen to some subwoofers as well.
I had thought that it would be difficult to find a sub that could match the Contours in terms of speed and accuracy, but when I listened to the Rel Stadium III I found it to be a marriage made in heaven. And it seemed that the improvement was not only in the deepest bass, to my surprise. Midrange smoothness and overall imaging was improved as well, although I wouldn´t have thought they could get any better than with my Contours alone. Together, this combo cleanly outperforms full range systems at twice the price or more!

How does the REL Stadium III sound? Well, that depends on how it is adjusted - and getting it perfect is quite demanding! Moving it around, adjusting the lowpass filter correctly, playing with the phase-switch and more importantly, treating the room acoustically with tubetraps in all corners from floor to ceiling.
When all this is accomplished, the REL sounds incredibly fast, with absolutely no overhang or sonic artifacts what so ever. Distortion seems nonexistent and on the deep notes it can deliver such a clean, accurate and controlled output that you start to actually giggle... It has plenty of ooompfh and the presentation is dynamic as nothing else I´ve heard. The major adventage over other subs I´ve listened to, is that it never calls any undue attention to itself. You surely notice that the bass is deep and powerful, but you never for a second think "oops, there goes the subwoofer again". The sound simply is.
The REL is one of the best audio products I´ve ever come across, and I have never regretted buying it - not for a second. It never gives you that feeling of pressure waves pressing in on your ears - instead it delivers clean, fast distortion-free deep bass that sound like listening to the real thing. Listen to "The Eagles" playing "Hotel California" on the "Hell freezes over" DVD, and you will never ever give your REL back to your hifi dealer.

Similar Products Used:

Dynaudio Contour Sub (T-sub), Velodyne HGS-10, HGS-12 and many others

well defined musical deep bass

Can vibrate anything not tied down!

I use a stereo set of Stadiums with Martin Logan CLSIIz's, Innersound Monoblock amplifiers, and Innersound preamp. My old sub was the REL Storms. With the Stadiums, I can now differntiate the instrument creating the low notes and vocals are now more prominent (not sure why this is but even my wife confirmed it) Since the ML's lack any real bass the Stadiums provide the power you hear at live music events while the ESL's provide the transparent wall of sound that only ESL's can deliver.

ML's are noted for being difficult to integrate subs with and the REL's overcome this very elegantly. I had issues with correct hookup to bridged monoblock however correct grounding resulted in a very musical sound in the lower range. The bass now is more than a note but an instrument from string bass to piano or even percussion you know you are listening to instruments not just sounds.

Excellent combination with the CLSIIz's!!

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REL Storm's

DEEP Powerful bass!

Fear that my house may collapse

Brilliant with music and movies, highly adjustable to suit own needs whether for depth or slam.

It still has to run in.

Seems expensive but well worth the dosh.

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Only REL subwoofers

awsome low end/perfect integraton with main speakers/quiet when it needs to be and there when you want it..fast and clean

tedious high pass setup with supplied Neutrix cable for music listening....but well worth it in the end

System:Elite DVL-91 DVD/CD transport
Lexicon MC-1 Processor
Classe' CA-200 and CAV-75 Amps
Dunlavy SC-IV and SC-I/AV Speakers
Rel Stadium III Sub Bass System
Illuminations/Kimber/Monster/BetterCables
Will keep this short before AOL knocks me off.
This is an awesome subwoofer.Read the other reviews of the Stadium III and Stadium II. This sub integrates perfectly for music with my Dunlavy SC-IV's through its hi-pass via the supplied neutrix connector/cable hooked to your main amp with your speakers/and rattles the floor in movies from your processors sub out to the low pass in put on the REL. I leave the superlatives to the other reviews. You can download the owners manual from www.rel.net to check out how it hooks up.

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owned Infinity Modulus for years/auditioned BagEnd Infra 18, Velodyne HGS18