Shout out to Revival Audio Atalante 3 speakers

This thread is a bit old but I just received a pair of Atalante 3's that I picked up from The Music Room. My normal speakers are Cube Nenuphar Mini's V2. These are single driver, no crossover speakers that cost about 12k. I love them but single drivers sometimes beam higher frequencies that leads to sound coming right from the driver, like wearing headphones. Through careful positioning I've been able to get the Cube's to disappear but I've been wanting to try some standmount speakers in my room to see if the imaging can be better, and I may use them in another room as well.

I hadn't heard about these speakers and then saw a pair come up at The Music Room. I quickly did some research, including reading this thread, and decided to purchase them.

I received the speakers a couple days ago and dug out my sand filled Dynaudio stands, unhooked the Cube's and hooked up the Atalante 3's. My system right now is an Auralic Airies G1 streamer > Holo Audio May KTE Dac > Holo Audio Serene KTE preamp > Line Magnetic LM845 Premium amp. I also have a pair of REL S510 subs and a Project The Classic EVO turntable w/ Soundsmith Carmen MKII MI cartridge and Hegel V10 preamp.

Build quality on the Atalante's is very good. Simple "box" construction, but well finished and build quality is consistent with the price. The cabinet feels relatively solid. While not as fancy looking as the Sonus Faber Sonetto 2's that I tried a few months ago, I think the build quality here is better. Something about the SF's felt a bit cheap to me. They were very light for their size and seemed a bit hollow. The sound disappointed as well as it seemed a bit lifeless IMO. Not so with the Atalante 3's.

I've only listened for about 2-3 hours so far. I can see these are very well balanced speakers. Detail is very good and they have a nice lively sound but aren't bright. I haven't turned up the volume much as I've mainly listened while working in the evening. However, bass sounds full and very good texture for a speaker at this price. Imaging and soundstage are also very good so far. I haven't played much with location and my speakers are about 7-8' apart and about 8-9 feet from the listening sofa. They're about 2' out from the rear wall and one speaker has a side wall about 6' away, the other is open to the side, so they have some space to breath. The most I can say about the imaging is the speakers have disappeared in the room, which is what I struggle with a bit with the Cube's. I'm not really going to compare these with the Cube's as those cost significantly more and do sound better. However I will say these are very enjoyable and, like the Cubes, seem to do everything really well with nothing really standing out as "off" or as a major compromise. The biggest criticism I can give is while the tweeter is presenting very good detail and air, it may be just a touch edgy. However, that could be because I have primarily been listening to the Cube's for the last couple of years and their treble is very natural, open and refined. Not to say the Atalante's aren't, but they're just a slight step down in refinement. Again though, when thinking about some standmounts I've spent some time with (Sonetto 2's, KEF LS50 Meta, Usher 718BE, and Clearwave Duet 6 which uses Accuton ceramic drivers) the Atalante tweeter is amongst the best in that group. Considering the group consists of a berylium tweeter, a ceramic tweeter, and a concentric tweeter with some spaceage damping material, that's a compliment to the Atalante.

I'm going to keep these speakers in this room for a couple of weeks and I plan on giving them some time this weekend at some higher decibels to see how they do, but right now I'm thinking I scored a great deal on these and I initially concur with everything I had read about them.

@abd1 Nice take on your Atalante 3s. I used to own the Clearwave Duet 6s as well but feel the Atalnate 3s to be a nice step up from them. I used to have Tonian Labs TL-D1s and their clarity and see thru is very hard to beat. Saying that, I found the Clearwaves to have a darker presentation, like there's too much smoke in the venue. 

With the Atalantes, they have all the resolution and about 95% of the detail but just enough "smoke" to calm down the treble. Unlike your findings, I detect no abnormalities in the treble. No harshness, etch or anything that I would consider irritating, unless I turn the volume way up and then it's only SPL levels that get to me (being in a smallish room). It may all boil down to system synergy (I use a Technics SU-G700M2 and matching SACD player).

I completely agree with you on the balance of these speakers. You can tell they were designed by a person steeped in speaker design. They are the most unoffensive sounding speakers I've heard to date, and I mean that in a good way. Everything I play sounds good, to my ears, without the highlighting of certain qualities at the expense of others. 

Let them break in for a good time (about a month or so) and you may find them even more enjoyable. I related to the dealer how impressed I was after a week and he said to call him back after a month and then tell him what I thought. He was right. 😄

All the best,
Nonoise

@nonoise I struggled saying the highs are edgy because I don't think that's fair. I think that comes from me being so used to the sound of the Cubes which are so natural sounding in the highs. I don't really want to compare because the Cubes are 5-6x the cost of the Atalante's but to me they are similar in that they are both very well balanced speakers. When listening to the Atalante's nothing jumps out as being "off" or excessive in either a good or bad way. I think just the highs I'm used to are a bit more open, refined and natural but they probably should be from a speaker costing 5-6x more. I am initially overly impressed with the Atalante's.

Speaking of the Duet's, I think those are fantastically built speakers. Considering I got my pair for under $1k they are the best bargain I've ever had in HiFi. But, they need a lot of current and tend to open up at higher volumes. They aren't very efficient. However, once they're in their zone they sound very accurate, detailed and open. Maybe a even bit boring and less engaging, but very accurate. Im using them in a condo with a devialet 200 and its a good combo. I don't do a lot of critical listening there at all so they're more than up to the task.

My wife just informed me she's going out of town in late february for a week. That means I get to set up speakers in other parts of the house while she's gone! I'm going to set the Atalante's up in the tv room/office with a Primaluna Evo300 amp that I'm not using right now and probably just use a Bluesound Node as a streamer/dac/pre and see how they sound. Should be fun.

@nonoise you still off the merry go round and have these?

Apparently the genius behind this brand, Daniel Emonts, was chief designer at Focal and Dynaudio, but in particular he was responsible for the Dynaudio Heritage Special, one of my favorite sounding bookshelf speakers.

If the Atalante 3 can get close to that sound for 1/3rd the price, that would really be something. These are cheap enough to just buy on a whim.

@agisthos 

Yup, still off the merry-go-round with no urge to upgrade. Its pairing with the Technics SU-G700M2 still has me scratching my head as to how lucky I got.

As for how close they get to the 3X more expensive Dynaudio Heritage Special, that's been pointed out by a couple reviewers who had or still have those speakers. 

They're not perfect by any means but you can say that about any speaker as they're all compromises of one kind or another. It's just that these speakers are tuned to a level that I never tire of listening to them and never find myself analyzing anything. I just plop down on the old sofa and enjoy the music. 

If I ever upgrade, it'll be when I get a bigger place and it'll be their big brother, the Atalante 5. I don't see any reason to look elsewhere.

All the best,"
Nonoise