Revel F208s vs Cremona M vs B&W 803/804 D

I also just listened to the JBL Synthesis 1400. Good speaker bit the vertical horn is definitely a weird look. Sounds great, but just afraid of getting a brand like JBL.

Do you think my source and amp don't justify the speakers I'm looking into? Confused as I thought the A51 is a premium component. I understand that the AV7005 may not cut it as audiophile, but it has balanced outputs and can be upgraded later.

Or are you saying that the cremonas are just more forgiving in general, including recordings not in hd?

What about Aerial Acousics Model 9? How would those fit in?

Thanks

Thanks for the great discussion guys. I have done a fair share of listening to Revels this past week. I auditioned the F208s, the F206s as well as the Salon2s. I think they are all amazing speakers. The only thing if didn't like amongst all three was that they didn't sound musical to me. They would all be top picks if I just cares about HT, but given my main reason purpose is for audio listening, I for now have decided to stay away from Revels. The Revels did sound a bit better using a Levinson amp then a Classe, as you would expect.

I think the JBL 1400 arrays blow away the F208s for music.

But for now, I have decided to audition some Linns as well as some B&Ws before making up my mind.

I will also look into the Tribute and S8 speakers you mentioned.

I liked the Cremonas and Olympicas as we'll. Beautiful sounding and looking speakers indeed. The Olympicas are apparently a LOT better, but way out of my budget.

Re: the F208s, when doing an ABA comparison using two separate set ups, both the Linn and B&Ws had a broader and more dynamic mid range and upper range. Guitars, female vocals, etc sounded alive in these speakers compared to the F208s. The F208s seemed to color the music - one guitar demo played like the guitar was playing backseat to the bass and drums. And the vocals sounded machine-like and not real.

The F208s excelled in bass response and quickness. I think they would beat most speakers for high impact home theater sound effects.

But again, for my purpose, for listening to music, instruments, and soundstage, the F208s didn't get me there.

Although they are excellent speakers, for a $5k sticker price, I'd rather by the $3k Linn majiks or a used pair of B&Ws.

Just my personal opinion.

I compared the 1400 project arrays to the F206. To clarify, the 1400s were for $9,000, for floor models. I also just realized that this was not a true ABA test. The sourced components were on the same rack, but different. The source components for the JBLs we're much better, so may justify the better sound.

The F208s I listened to were on a different day, different system.

So basically, I would completely disregard my above comparison between the JBL 1400s and the F208s. Apologies our or that. I will let you guys duke it out between what's better between these two Harman brands.

I do think the Revels are great speakers, and if I had to pick between Revel and JBL, then I would take the F208s in a heartbeat.

But I do insist that on the Classe setup I listened on, the 804Ds blew away the Revels on music playback.