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
"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.
Yes good speakers for sure. I am surprised I don’t hear more buzz about them and I think they out perform everything I have heard in their price range.
James633, I am also running a Mac amp (MA8900) with my 328Be's. I think Mac is a great pairing with the Revels. I've had the 328Be's for just over a year now & they are truly a special speaker. I have them in a pretty large room (26' x 13') with a 22' vaulted ceiling and they can flood the whole room with deep bass. That said I like to take advantage of the EQ on the MA8900 and I keep the lower frequencies bumped just a smidge for just a little extra punch. And yes I agree about the highs, the 328Be's are super smooth on top. Hope you land on one of the Revels, I don't think you could be wanting for anything more with any of the Performa Be series, just need to try and match up the right series based on your room size & gear. All The Best!
Ok thanks for the video I missed that one, I will watch it in a bit. I ended up demoing the 328be tonight on a McIntosh MC462 and C49 preamp. First track I pulled up was Chris Jones “No Sanctuary” and I thought wow sounds like there is a sub on... and there was lol. Turned it off and it still had pretty solid bass, textured and deeper than the specs would lead you to believe. The room/setup (too small, too much toe in) left something to be desired but I still got a good feel for them.
I would say this speaker really has no faults and not just for the price, really. They are very clean sounding. 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. Just proves to me just how clean these speakers played. I turned it down to about 85 and continued.
The highs are as good as anything I have heard. I would go as far as to say the best but hard to say without direct comparison. I also feel the Mac preamp might have softened the highs as they almost seem to roll off smoothly. The mids are very clean too, nothing but the facts type of sound. All in all these are winners for sure. I think without subs the tuning might be a little flat for me but with subs high passed and tuned to taste I will really like them. I also listen to the Kef R3 recently. The 328be for the same price more or less is in a whole other class of speaker. Cleaner more detailed highs (from memory...) more dynamic mids and more texture in the bass. The bass was tuned flatter on the Revels at least in the rooms and setups I heard so take the bass comments with a grain of salt. I think I will buy a pair of 228be (unless I end up with used Wilsons... just always wanted a pair, no logic in it lol). I just bought an amp and need to recover a few months so maybe late summer. My only real complaint of the 328be is that it is too tall and the tweeter is too high. They sounded better if I sat up straight (I am 6’) and the 228be should solve that.
"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.
Little bit of an old thread but I plan to demo the 328be in the next few weeks (also at Xtend). I am really only interested in the 228be and would be running them off a McIntosh MC462 with two JL E112s subs high pass at most likely 60hz. I have not found a speaker that does better than the subs 60hz and down. I also like the tuning flexibility. I see that there are some differences in the tweeters among other things between the 228be and 328be. For those that have heard both how do they compare from say 60hz up? Is the extra cost of the 328be more noticeable than just the bass? I see some Kef talk too. I demoed the Reference 3 a couple of times and they did not connect with me. The highs were average, the bass felt kind of one note maybe due too strong of a port turning. But my main issue is they lacked dynamic in the mids. They just had no mid range snap/punch. I have heard the Salon Ultima 2 a number of times and they outclassed the Kefs in all aspects and blew the Kefs out of the water in the highs. The Salons have some of the cleanest highs I have heard without any edginess (looking at you focal...). I am hoping the 228be brings the mids and highs of the Salons at a cheaper price. I imagine the people that don’t like Revels don’t care for the flat bass. Probably my original issue to but these days I tune my bass to taste with subs anyway.
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.
I recently upgraded from F228Be to F328Be and I am very happy. My sound room is a mere 13' x 13' so in some respects it borders on overkill. McIntosh MA352 drives them fantastically. Custom length Blue Jean Cables Ultrasonically-Welded. For all the critics, I'm very impressed with them. Highly recommend.
Another question, why would someone buy a 16k speaker, think they are mediocre, and then bring up that they are made in China as way to degrade their perceived value? Wouldn't those issues prevented one from buying them in the first place? Sounds like someone with an axe to grind against Revel for whatever reason, I cannot believe someone spending 16k on speakers wouldn't have thoroughly vetted them before bringing them home.
Anyone who is not getting exceptional results from these speakers are either driving them with gear that's a poor match or they are not set up properly in their room, Details matter. The 228 is one of the cleanest, clearest, most effortless and coherent from top to bottom speakers I have ever heard regardless of cost. They simply embarrass speakers costing much more, they are a value. The only thing (most) more expensive speakers have are prettier cabinets.
I just auditioned the f228be and f328be and I thought I would have been more blown away. I’m kinda disappointed I have there outdoor speakers and love them. I was think that but just a lot better and it’s was just ehh. They seemed lifeless I have JBL HDI and there great. I felt they were lacking bass
I reference the dealer in my opening post at the beginning of the thread...no I won’t state the price I negotiated publicly. I don’t think my dealer would appreciate that & that's between the dealer & myself.
Yes I do which is why I stated I think they compete in performance with speakers up in the $25k range. Personally I negotiated a very good price with my dealer well below $16k, but I think they are a great bargain even at $16k if someone pays full sticker for them.
Reviews are starting to trickle in for the F328Be. The latest one is from www.audiodrom.net. They loved them based on the review. I am still loving them as well, best speaker I have ever heard paired in my main system. I am using them solely for music & can't imagine needing a sub, however if I were using them in my home theater set up then perhaps. After about 7 months with them they just continue to blow me away. Highly recommend if anyone is looking for speakers $25k and below they give the F328Be's a serious consideration.
mak5698, those are great questions...I will say I am a huge KEF fan & have had many sets of KEF's over the years. I absolutely love the R-11's and still have them in another 2 channel system I have in a smaller room. The treble of the 328Be's are more smooth compared to the R-11's & yes I think it's due to the beryllium tweeter. There were tracks that the R-11's could sound a slight bit harsh on the high end & I don't hear that at all with the Revels. The were a couple reasons I made the move to the 328Be's for my main system & replace the R11's...
1. My main listening room is very large (26'x17') & I wanted a larger, closer to full range speaker that could push plenty of air & fill my room effortlessly with deep bass & a big soundstage. The 328's dig a bit deeper & I am very happy with their bass capabilities for 2 channel music to the point I don't feel I need a sub.
2. I was intrigued by the new 328Be's right off the bat, their measurements, size & I've always liked the sound beryllium tweeters bring to the table.
As much as I really love my R11's, the 328Be's are a full step up in every department...ultra smooth in higher frequencies, super wide soundstage, clean midrange & superb bass response. But to be fair the 328's are quite a bit more expensive than the R11's. For the money I don't think neither the R11's or the 328Be's can be beat.
May I ask your general thoughts about 328 be compared to KEF R11 ? I am specifically interested in the treble and its soundstage. I use KEF Reference 1 with dual REL S5 subwoofers. I find that KEF reference 1 has a slightly rolled off top end treble compared to KEF LS50wireless which I felt somewhat boring so I use both together to compensate. I am happy with my current set up esepcially with the wide sound stage type of sound. But I would like to hear little bit more of top end sound. Maybe, the berrylium tweeter is the answer. Since KEF R series seems to have very similar characteristics of the reference series and Revel has such an outstanding measurement, I would like to ask your thought. What made you to upgrade ? I am curious and would like to upgrade to something better like salon2 or 328be. What do you think ? Thanks
The Revels are completely broken in with probably thousands of hours on them thanks to the pandemic. I absolutely love them. They are the best speakers I've ever had in my system hands down. They honestly don't have a weakness that I have discovered...other than I keep the grills on them because I am not a huge fan of the look of the white cones. I would love to share pictures but how do you share pictures on Audiogon lol?
Hi Steve59, I am using a McIntosh MA-8900, which is 200 watts per channel. The F328’s are very efficient and easy to drive. I have a large room (26’x17’) and the 328’s are filling it easily with plenty of deep bass.
My problems when trying to upgrade my speakers are that they never have the bass extension at home that I hear in the demos. Can you share what you're driving the f328be with?
I watched the Axpona virtual presentation with Revel yesterday on Facebook which was primarily about the F328Be. One thing that did come out of it was that it sounds like now that the Performa Be line is complete they want to turn their attention to perhaps developing a new Ultima Salon. As for me I am loving my F328Be's, it is a very special speaker and has fit it nicely with system and room.
dznutz
said"
Revel has always been a seriously disjointed company. In not surprised about these discrepancies." I guess that is why all their speakers are rated so highly and sound as good as speakers costing much much much more. I'll put my Revel Ultima Studios up against Wilsons any day of the week!!!!!!!!!!!!! We should all be so 'disjointed'!!!!!!!!!!
Any specs for bass will be dependent on your room and how and where you place the speakers. My Revel Ultima Studio's go down to 23Hz in my room as measured by my Velodyne SMS, and REW using a calibrated mic. Moreover 8 hours isn't enough break-in to hear how the speaker will ultimately sound - I find it requires about 100 hours for all the drivers to break-in, especially the woofers. I found my Revel's to add about 5 Hz when fully broken-in
The Revel site just updated the specs for the F328Be... Frequency response: 26Hz - 40kHz (-6dB) Low-frequency extension: 24Hz (-10dB); 26Hz (-6dB); 35Hz (-3dB)
Again, doesn’t jive with the manual specs but I’m betting these are the accurate numbers vs the manual for a speaker of this size. I’m about 2 weeks in & listen to them about 4 hours a day & I am absolutely loving them. Pure muscle & punishing authority while also revealing the smallest little detail in recordings. They dig so deep with bass that my large room (26’x17’ with 22’ sloped ceiling) feels like there are multiple subs in here. And the beryllium tweeter is so smooth & handling every challenging recording I’ve thrown at it without effort. I don’t know how else to explain it but they are truly special.
-6dB and -10dB are throw away specs imo. The only one that is really telling is the -3dB. If the -3dB spec is accurate, then the speaker does not do deep bass. You will need to add a subwoofer if you want to capture the spatial information that reveals much more of the hall, acoustics of the space.
No problem; there are many subs available to do so, including some from Revel.
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