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Revel F328Be's Have Arrived! / Contradicting Specs?

Well I'm only about 8 hours in with my new Revel F328Be's & I am enjoying them & they are flat out awesome. They are replacing a pair of KEF R11's in my main system which I will be moving to another system as I still think the R11's are fantastic performers. That said, the new F328Be is in another league right out of the box. More finesse, more muscle, more detail than the R11 which I think will even widen as the Revel's continue to break in. And I wish we could post pictures here because I was floored by how they arrived...they come in a heavy duty flight road case, one for each speaker with custom lettering outlining the Revel F328Be. Each case & speaker weighs over 200lbs so when the 19 year old delivery service kid showed up with no dolly, ramp or even a box cutter to unwrap the cases I knew I would be helping to get these in the house.
On a side note, I know these speakers are brand new but Revel does appear to have some contradicting specs that has left me wondering what the true specs are? For example...
-The Revel site has not yet published the frequency range for the F328 so I asked several dealers & they both came back & said the Revel rep said 26Hz - 40khz at -6db. However the manual that came with the speakers states 32Hz - 40khz at -6db? Per the manual it also states the low-frequency extension is 25Hz (-10db); 32Hz (-6db); 44Hz (-3db)
-There is also a discrepancy with the weight of the speaker...the site says 90 lbs. but the manual lists each speaker at 112 lbs which I find much more accurate after moving them around yesterday.
-The speaker dimensions are also off between the site & the manual...the Revel site lists it as 13.5" wide & the manual states 11.83". And depth on the site is listed at 17.6" while the manual states 16.56". (both the site & the manual list these measurements with grille included).
Just thought I would get this info out so you can keep it in mind if you are considering the F328Be. I want to also publicly thank Jay O'Hanlon from XTend Technologies in Cleveland for his outstanding service & assistance, I would highly recommend Jay & XTend. Thanks
spookyfoot

Showing 4 responses by cd318

cd318
2,636 posts
 
@nakam,

'I've had these now for about three months. They're so-so. Certainly not worth $16K.'


For many people, including myself, the Revel F328Be's would be dream speakers. 

Did you expect more or perhaps you feel certain rival speakers are just plain better at $16k?

Or could it be, even after 3 months, just an acclimatisation issue?
cd318
2,636 posts
 
@dreas,

Now if any speakers are going to help you escape that nagging feeling that there's something wrong with your sound, or that something about it could be better, it's those Revel 328s.

I've been listening to headphones a lot recently and when I sat down to listen to my Tannoys I was a little surprised at their bass overhang on certain tracks. Time for more experimenting with positioning I think. Now where's those Marley CDs?

Of course no speaker is perfect and I'm still struggling to get kenjit's words out of my head, namely that the KEF Blades would be acceptable for background music only.

Now the Revels vs the Blades could be a good head to head matchup.
cd318
2,636 posts
 
@james633 

"I have not found a speaker that does better than the subs 60hz and down."


I bet no one else has either.

Most speakers, if they actually go that low (flat to 40Hz or lower) will, to some extent or another, tend to blur that critical area into a kind of a mush.

The good ones will still let you hear that old adage that 'bass can play tunes'.

I've never yet owned a speaker that did bass really well. Merely adequate.

Anyway, there's a good New Record Day video of the 226BEs against a few of its rivals here.

I intend to check it out more closely over headphones later myself, but it sounded ok on a quick listen before work this morning.

Spatial Sapphires/X5s, Q Acoustics Concept 500s, Klipsch Heresy

https://youtu.be/yUVfZeUEz_w
cd318
2,636 posts
 
@james133,

"At one point my ears felt a hair tired and I pulled up a DB meter on a phone app and I was at 95db average for a minute with peaks over 100! I could not believe it. I am an 80db listener and they did not seem too loud or strained."


That’s usually a very good sign - low distortion at relatively high volume.

I’d rather have that anyday than listen to more distorted sound at lower volumes.

Smartphone speakers are usually a particular pet dislike of mine.
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