REL - PL-1 Planar Subwoofer

Reimagine What a Subwoofer Can Be, and Where It Can Go, with the REL Planar PL-1: Breakthrough Design Fits Almost Anywhere and Mounts on Walls, Goes Down to 31Hz While Energizing Entire Rooms

The difficulty of attaining visual and acoustic integration, the most common reservation about subwoofers, is put to permanent rest with the REL Planar PL-1. A breakthrough of engineering, architecture, and sound, this truly pioneering subwoofer opens up the possibilities for countless listeners to experience what a high-grade subwoofer will do for their music and movie experiences — all the while giving them the freedom to put it practically anywhere. What you perceive will be gloriously transformed. You won’t hear impact from a single direction, but a fully energized space. You don’t hear a subwoofer. You feel a system that works as one.

Bringing flexibility and performance into unprecedented balance, the 41.6-pound PL-1 is designed to live anywhere you want. Mounted on walls (brackets supplied), behind seats, tucked away in a corner, next to a center-channel speaker: You decide. Its incredibly slim 19.4 x 20.6 x 5.7-inch (HWD) footprint defines unexpected and unobtrusive. It can be paired with the REL optional Planar Cart-1, which easily moves it around so you can determine the exact placement that feels right. It and its sibling PL-2 enjoy an independence unique to their category.  

Operating in close relationship with the wall behind it, PL-1 works seamlessly across two-channel music and home theater applications, extending low frequencies without disturbing balance, timing, or detail. In stereo, it restores the critical foundation by adding weight, scale, and connection without ever standing in the spotlight. In multichannel setups, it redefines placement. Positioned along rear walls, behind seating, or alongside center channels, PL-1 distributes bass evenly throughout your room to create a spectacularly balanced, immersive field of sound. The result isn’t just impact from one direction, but a room fully energized. You don’t hear a single subwoofer. You feel a system that works as one.

Able to go down to 31Hz (-6dB in room), PL-1 boasts two 6.5-inch FibreAlloy cone long-throw drivers and a single 10-inch wall-firing passive unit. All three drivers are housed in a steel chassis for optimal control, speed, and resonance elimination. A 300-watt Pure Class D amplifier provides all the fuel PL-1 needs. A High Level Connection that replicates the sound being fed to your speakers for an ideal bass-to-speaker blend, separate input for .1/LFE theater-effects bass, and separate volume control for set-and-forget convenience give you smart flexibility. As for wireless ability? PL-1 comes with a pre-mounted Airship Direct receiver. Each PL-1 also ships with a cloth grille, right-angle power cord, control panel cover, and wall-mounting template and hardware. 

No prior subwoofer has ever offered the combination of form, freedom, and function like PL-1. To learn more about it or its sibling PL-2, give us a shout at 312-433-0200. 

Analog Filters and Connections 
REL uses 100% analog input filters that sound natural in that way that only analog can. They feature a lift circuit called PerfectFilter that elevates and extends the lowest notes so they remain as clean and extended as the middle bass. Nothing is more annoying than a subwoofer that barks at you in the midbass (think of your neighbor’s annoying boomy subwoofer or speakers) then fizzles out when the deep bass that supplies the sense of scale and drama comes along. Planars also include a High Level Connection that replicates the sound being fed to your speakers for a perfect blend of bass to speaker along with a separate input for .1/LFE theater-effects bass. A separate volume control that lets you set and forget eliminates any need for a remote control.

Wireless Convenience 
Being able to free up your quality of life means eliminating the visible clutter normally associated with state-of-the-art sound. REL is nearing its third decade of zero compression, super dynamic bass just like it sounds when it’s hard-wired with copper cables. Airship Direct was developed in tandem with the company's latest Serie S models. The receiver fits into a clever recess in the end of Planar’s cabinet, giving you access to the On/Off and pairing buttons (yours arrives paired from the factory). It's a wireless system that not only sounds and looks great and, apart from plugging your new Planar into the wall and pushing the on-off, requires no thought.