Rel Studio Subwoofer

Norton,in today's ever expanding world "anything" can be rectified.You just have to be vigilant,and stubborn.Don't even ask me to relate the last 18 months of my life,as to this subject!Trust me...ANYTHING can be accomplished,with stubborn vigilance.
Don't give up,regardless of outcome.You deserve to get the "promised" performance of your investment.
The REL stuff has gotten a good rep,for a reason,and I am one person(though why take my word for it,as I am a total stranger)who NEVER expected this level of "quality" bass integration,with a main speaker like I have.Believe me,I am a fanatic!Sad,but true.
As I stated previously,my audio pals(some extremely experienced hobbyists)were almost militant about my NOT going the sub route,but like Richard Dryfuss,in the movie Close Encounters,I simply "knew" something!
What I DO know,now,for a fact,is that the REL products are very effective "music" subs.I don't know about home theater etc,and don't care.They are extremely well made,designed,and WORK great!I am talking about "pitch" definition,in bass frequencies,which is hard to accomplish,but I want it!Unless as you have stated,you have no patience.Then it may be time to go the I-pod route -:)
Best.

Sirspeedy, Yes I have a mp3 player and it sounds fantastic for what it is but it would NEVER replace a good home stereo.
I started in the early 70's buying what I could afford and always, to the chagrin of my S/O, had a significant amount of money invested in ''hi-fi'' equipment. That's what lead me to REL. Trying to put together a great system and since there's is a complete lack of hi-fi shops around now, my only choice was to read and study online forums and reviews. Everything I read about the REL was positive. But after bringing it home and hooking it up I thought in the back of my mind I could have done better for that significant amount of money. It sounded OK with music but when i did play the occasional movie it did not keep up with the soundtrack of action movies. It would "bottom" out and did not have the output I was looking for but since I bought this sub primarily for music I kept it and made do.
I guess in conclusion since I never really was satisfied to begin with when I found out that it was going to take that much money to fix it lead me to where I am today. I still think Sumiko just charged me the handling fee and didn't even try to fix it since they couldn't even give an idea what was wrong with it just that it looked "stressed". Not very good public relations. That and nobody would ever call me back after I left a voice mail. I would never buy any of the products they deal with again and I'm still without a sub.

I'll stick with my REL once it's repaired. I have yet to find a sub that blends so well in my room when listening to 2 channel. It's awesome with movies also.It really pressurises the room when the right movie is played.

Norton,sorry for your situation.
Best of luck.

Sirspeedy, Thanks for all the positive input on the Rels. I lost out on the Studio however did manage to pick up a Stentor III locally so no shipping and according to seller is only two years old and only used about one year and it looks great. I hope it works out sound wise I know the sophias only go down around in the 30hz range Rel states the Stentor goes down to -6db at 11hz I think there would be a lot of info between 11hz and 30hz. And I will also keep in mind "Nortons" warnings on possible repair nightmares should they arise. It would be interesting to find out how his problem plays out for future reference. P.S. The unit also came with a ASC sub trap that the seller had the sub on top of not sure about that? And thanks again everyone for there input.