I heard a pair of F208s and F206s at the dealer in Wilmington, NC Sound Decisions. The dealer Eric was very accommodating and friendly. Highly recommended retail shop. I was very impressed with the speakers, especially considering the price. They are true high end speakers at budget hifi price.
Bass port is tuned a little low for my taste, making very low bass tones a little warm, but that's how Revel is, even Salon2 is a bit porty for the sake of WAF. There was mild warming from the port on very low signal but otherwise the bass is very clear and well integrated with the midrange. The 2 woofers have a small amount of dynamic compression compared to larger woofers, but it is only noticeable on familiar tracks with large dynamics and little recording compression, like symphonies and aggressive chamber music. I don't think the F308 will change that much, since another 8" woofer doesn't raise acoustic impedance. The bass is very satisfying if missing a slight bit of VLF detail. I listened to organ tracks and it was very entertaining, although fundamentals were mostly missing a few did come through. The overall sound of the organ and the top to bottom integration makes it hard to focus on minor flaws of omission when such glorious huge music is playing. The mid bass is my favorite aspect of the sound quality, giving the speaker a full, musical, satisfying feel on all kinds of music. There is no thin sound at all. As expected from Voecks and Harman floor bounce and baffle step aberrations are engineered away into oblivion. Above 50Hz bass tone is clear as day. Most people will be thrilled with the performance of the bass. Even people spoiled by big woofers will adjust easily because of the great overall voicing and 'musical' feel.
Midrange is just awesome. Tonal detail and texture comparable to the best Accuton speakers. I could easily hear the sonorous resonance of the interior of a solo violin body. EQ is perfectly balanced and neutral. Vocals very expressive and intimate. Symphonic brass sounded real.
Tweeter likewise awesome. No hardness, no fake tone, natural effortless sound. Brass, violin, vocals were very detailed, but there was no distraction from too much fake detail as is common from other brands in this price range, like the top Polks I owned for a couple weeks last year, which are just childs' play compared to these Revels. Treble here is not quite as resolving as Usher "Be" tweeter but also not as distracting with hyper detail. Treble on the Revels is better than Quad 2905 which have a plastic coloration. A little more resolving than the quads, but still not SQ distracting.
The speakers can play very loudly without falling apart. They sound full enough in the bass to play softly. There isn't much change in the sound from low to high SPL. Use a remote control so you can dial in perfect volume for each track.
The waveguide makes great sound-staging width and height. Depth was hard to judge with the speakers close to the wall. This closeness may also be partly responsible for the warmish low bass. We did not try the port bungs and no sub was used. The crossovers were invisible. Driver integration is excellent.
In another forum a poster complained that these don't project the staging forward. I also tend to like speakers that come at me a little, it's exciting on chamber music and jazz combos. I could hear what he was talking about, the speakers don't come at you. They are just there, doing their thing, not begging for attention, or showing off. But also not recessed or wall flowers. The high resolution is well balanced top to bottom so it allows you to get as involved as you want, or back the attention away to allow conversation or reading. My Ushers with tube amps would not allow any conversation, they commanded all attention. There is no midrange bump or smiley face EQ to distract the attention from the music.
I was consistently focused on the music, I had to concentrate to switch my focus to the sound quality, especially above 100hz. That's what I look for in speakers, they promote the music listening experience more than their own impressive sound quality. The F208s are excellent speakers for listening to music and for music lovers who want the most detail possible without distraction. Just very neutral and clean, with body and solidity.
We used two systems of electronics:
Dealer's electronics were PS3 as CDP to Anthem prepro and 180W amp. This sounded excellent. Treble not perfect but VG. The speakers liked the power reserve and sounded relaxed and confident.
Then we switched to known electronics that we brought. Laptop, M2Tech Hiface adapter, Twisted Pear Buffalo2 with transformer output into DIY integrated amplifier 65W8R, 130W4R. All JPS SC3 wires.
With the Buffalo DAC the treble smoothed out and a lot more detail and more natural tone. More midrange texture and more spatial cues, typical of JPS wires. The smaller amp is tonally very accurate, but occasionally sounded a little stressed on dynamic peaks of uncompressed classical music. Compressed rock played very loud with no sign of stress, although the feeling of confidence was less than the 180W8R/300W4R amps. They are supposedly 88.5dB, but they do like current. I think 100W is the lower limit. The fullness of the midbass is evident on all music and both amps. It makes thin recordings or small amps still sound good. Many speakers fail on this, with that annoying suck out at 100-200Hz. It's like a 6SN7 tube built in to the crossover voicing =)
The F208s had only 15 hours on them according to the dealer, and they were not positioned precisely. Off center imaging was better than most, and the off axis tone stayed very good at 30 degrees. I did not notice any room acoustic issues (other than maybe the LF warmth) which is rare for me because I am sensitive to that in my own room. The room was medium size, about 20 x 18. Speaker baffles 2 feet from front wall, 9 feet apart, couch in center of room, about 11 feet from speakers.
I have owned Quad 2905, Usher Be20, Gemme Katana, Legacy Focus 2020, Feastrex D5nf, and lots of DIYs. I would miss the LF dynamic power of the Usher and Legacy, but these Revels are comparable to all of these and I would love to own a pair. Hopefully with price of only 4500 they will be easy for me to buy a pair soon, and eventually add some sealed subs if I think I need more bass for the organs and symphonies.
