Warren,
I noted you have a pair of Star Sound's Caravelle's on order. I too have talked with Robert and am intrigued by these speakers. What do you know of them? Have you heard a pre production model? What makes you so excited about them?
About your Revels. At one point I simultaneously owned Revel M20's, Nautilus 805's, Tyler Acoustic Reference Monitor, and Thiel CS 1.6s. I ruled out the 805's immediately (too thin sounding), next the Tylers (not enough detail). At first I liked the Revel's more than the Thiels. But then I gave the Thiels another 100 hours of break in (I had bought them used and assumed they were broken in), put the Thiels on Audiopoints (from Star Sound) and played around with position (eliminating toe-in, moving in from the side walls, etc.) I found that these tweaks eliminated the hardness in the treble that the Stereophile reviewer noted, and improved the sound all round. I ended up keeping the Thiels and selling the Revels. Still liked the Revel's alot, but the Thiels were a bit smoother and, to your point, more efficient.
I noted you have a pair of Star Sound's Caravelle's on order. I too have talked with Robert and am intrigued by these speakers. What do you know of them? Have you heard a pre production model? What makes you so excited about them?
About your Revels. At one point I simultaneously owned Revel M20's, Nautilus 805's, Tyler Acoustic Reference Monitor, and Thiel CS 1.6s. I ruled out the 805's immediately (too thin sounding), next the Tylers (not enough detail). At first I liked the Revel's more than the Thiels. But then I gave the Thiels another 100 hours of break in (I had bought them used and assumed they were broken in), put the Thiels on Audiopoints (from Star Sound) and played around with position (eliminating toe-in, moving in from the side walls, etc.) I found that these tweaks eliminated the hardness in the treble that the Stereophile reviewer noted, and improved the sound all round. I ended up keeping the Thiels and selling the Revels. Still liked the Revel's alot, but the Thiels were a bit smoother and, to your point, more efficient.