Rel Acoustics No. 31

No.31

matches the No.32's stroke length, but somehow manages to look more slender, crouching closer to the floor - almost feline in its grace. The elegant plated handles recessed in an ellipse are retained, as is the string grid that allows huge amounts of air to explode into your room without creating the noise that fabric grids can. No.31 has the curvilinear radius to the side walls that defines both its performance and its character. But the reduction in visual and actual three-dimensional physical mass is remarkable. No.31: when the best is to be delivered in a smaller space.

No.31 allows the same vertically stacked line set as the ultimate No.32. It delivers a transformative performance that no competitor has been able to. For those who have been looking for the ultimate music and theatre experience, Line Arrays unlock the final dimension of system reproduction. Audiophiles have been chasing three-dimensional sound for years, but they've missed the simple fact that image height - not depth - is the missing link. By creating products that are designed to be stacked 3 (or in exceptionally loud rooms, 5) units high while retaining individual crossovers and gaining control of each subwoofer in the array, REL has created a masterpiece that finally delivers what most seasoned audiophiles have been chasing for the past 40 years.

Remote control

Take control of your No.31 by grabbing the REL Reference Remote Control. You will immediately be struck by the perfect fit in the palm of your hand, the result of careful thought and many generations of trial-and-error adjustments during prototype development. The second reaction to it is the awareness of its mass, which conveys its quality, permanence and immutability. It tells you, "I am a thing of substance, of quality. Pay attention, what you do next matters." If you've owned a REL before (and a full 90 % of Rel Reference owners are), all the familiar controls are right at your fingertips, right where you want them. High (or low if you're using active speakers) level gain sits comfortably on the right, crossover rests in the centre, and .1/LFE gain is muted on the left.

Below are three metal rocker switches that handle the critical setting functions. The remote control on/off button is at the bottom. It is both as out of the way as possible and stays on once it is switched on and used during installation without being accidentally switched off. In the centre is the phase control. This is only used initially to determine the correct 0 or 180 degree phase. In addition, the top access to the Dual Parametric EQ marked with A and B allows the flattest, deepest bass and, at the other end of the bass frequencies, fine-tuning of the crossover behaviour. This gives you the perfect blend of subwoofer to main speaker and any remnants of room-generated boom and resonance can be gently trimmed away.

REL's reference remote control reminds you of the perfect butler - always impeccable, indispensable when called upon, and then quietly set aside until a future time when perhaps additions or further improvements to one's system further require its services.