This broke REL’s rules, of course. But if Bob Carver (who
designed the CRM-2) found out I was running his speakers full range, he’d call
me up and politely ask if I’d lost my marbles.
When I went to set the speaker distances on the Outlaw 975,
I wondered how the latency of the Longbow wireless system might affect those
settings. So I decided to measure the latency by running impulse response tests
with my Clio 10 FW audio analyzer—first with the Clio’s output feeding the sub
directly, then going through the wireless transmitter.
REL Acoustics
Habitat1 speakers
This test indicated that the Longbow adds 17 milliseconds of
latency, relatively modest by current wireless audio standards (Bluetooth
wireless is typically 100 ms or more), but audible to some. Sound travels at
roughly 1 foot per millisecond, so the Habitat1’s latency in wireless mode is
the equivalent of moving the sub 17 feet further away. If this concerns you,
you could counteract it somewhat by reducing your receiver’s distance setting
for the subwoofer, if you’re not using the sub’s high-level input.
Music
I needed a deep yet melodic bass line to adjust the
Habitat1’s crossover for use with the Hsus, so I started my listening with the
modern jazz classic “Sweet Georgia Bright,” from saxophonist Charles Lloyd’s
great live recording Rabo de Nube. Per REL’s instructions, I started with the
volume and crossover point set as low as they would go, then turned up the
volume until the balance sounded about right, and finished by raising the
crossover frequency until the sub blended well with the Hsus. After a
half-dozen “get up, adjust the sub, then sit back down and listen” cycles, I
had it dialed in pretty well, so I sat back to enjoy Lloyd and his band.
REL Habitat1
Acoustics with connector
Rather than taking over all the bass duties, the Habitat1
augmented the sound of the Hsus in a nice way. As we heard in our mini speaker
roundup last year, the Hsu is fairly full sounding, but still, when I unplugged
the Habitat1, the system sounded comparatively thin. The extra half-octave or
so of bass the Habitat1 added made a huge difference. So if the goal is to add
bass to a small stereo system, and do it in a décor-friendly way, the Habitat1
succeeds.
While I enjoyed the sound, I can’t say I experienced any
sort of bass nirvana that I couldn’t have achieved using a standard subwoofer
crossover. The Hsus didn’t seem to blend any better with the subwoofer using
REL’s high-level connection than they have with other subs fed directly from
the Outlaw’s line-level subwoofer output. I also noticed that the bottom notes
in Reuben Rogers’ bass lines didn’t have the oomph I’m used to hearing with
traditional subs. I tried turning the high-level input control up on the
Habitat1, but it didn’t give me much more output.
REL Habitat1
wireless sub bass system
Curious to explore the Habitat1’s limits, I put on Mötley
Crüe’s beloved standard “Kickstart My Heart” and brought the volume up. True to
what we found in our mini-speaker test, the Hsus withstood the punishment,
their sound distorting only moderately even though their woofers were pumping
furiously. The Habitat1, though, was pretty much out of the game—held back, I
guessed, by an aggressive internal limiter. With the Habitat1’s limiter
apparently clamping down on the fun, the sound got thin. Again, cranking up the
level had little or no effect because of the limiter.
