Opinions on Revel Performa F32?

I agree with R3fico. I find all Revels speakers to be on the harsh and fatiguing side. For roughly the same price I found a demo pair of Hales T-5's and they absolutely blew the Revels away.

Even the local dealer who sells the entire Revel line-up was impressed with my Hales combined with a Mirage 12" sub.

Hmm... R3fico, where did you hear the F32s and what equipment were they using with it? I'm only asking because the ones I demoed were very impressive. I wouldn't be surprised, if a pair of these made their way into my system one of these days.

My father owns a pair of F50s, M22s, C50 and B15 and it's an awesome system. If you like the Revel sound, I think the F32 or F50 hits the sweet spot. That's of course if you don't have the $$$ to move up to their Ultima line.

I haven't heard the Hales T-5s, but I really doubt that they "blow the Revels away". Go listen to them again.

Dmitrydr, for that price range, you should demo these speakers in no particular order:

B&W 703
Von Schweikert VR-2
Von Schweikert VR-4jr
Spendor SP-1/2
Martin Logan Aeon i
Vandersteen 3A Signature
Thiel Audio CS 1.6
Thiel Audio CS 2.4
Magnepan MG 1.6
Magnepan MG 3.6
Totem Acoustic Forest
Totem Acoustic Mani-2

Just a few suggestions, hope you find the speakers you like.

i would never review or add my comments on speakers that are brand new/just out of the box..... we all know that revels MUST be perfectly placed... i heared them in a show room and felt they needed more space - bottom line i dont think you can place speakers next to them - they need room to breath.. at least that has been my experience - so you must have a good room for them to sound their best... so it is not the speaker for everybody... and i like that!!! being from the b&w camp... dm series then nautilus

ditto with the first two comments. I couldn't listen for very long without the harshness driving me away. Metal domes are not the ticket. Find some used Dunlavy Athenas for a few $K and you'll be happy for a long time.

My guess is the harshness is coming from upstream. The F32 is a fantastically revealing speaker. It has a similar signature to my other speaker the $10k Aerial 7Ts. Both speakers are fleet footed with nuance and have ruler flat responses. Like the Aerials, my F32s are detailed, sweet and dynamic when driven by either VTL or Krell. The two speakers sound remarkably similar.