Revel F228be


So I bought a pair of B&W cm10 when I first graduated. They are fantastic and was my first high end speakers. I got my masters last year and got a good paying job. I want to treat myself with a new pair of speakers. Which speakers do you guys recommend for around $7k to $8k. I recently heard about Revel and read more about them. A lot of people have high regards for Revel as they make great speakers that compete with speakers that are much more expensive. I have seen some Ultima 2 used for around this price range as well. I have an SVS pb4000 as a sub. The amp is Rotel 1585. 

2pinacolada

@mofojo In room they have a giant bass which must be controlled not to hide the dynamics. Well set up fantastic sounding. On everything. Keep on rocking :)

Well I can help.

I own the Revel 228be (which I am selling but think they are amazing, sad but true more on this in a minute). I have owned B&W 703s (kind of like the CM10) and I own a Rotel class D amp and also have a McIntosh Mc462.

the short answer is the Revel is a great speaker. They do nothing wrong and almost everything right. Their major lack is deep bass, they have none. They roll off quickly after 50hz. I highpassed mine with subs at 60hz and as a total system it is really great. The best thing about the Revels is everything sounds good. Old crappy grunge, crappy metal, perfect audiophile tracks, everything. They are soft on the highs (but detailed), never bright or harsh. But without subs they suck imo and have no life. With subs wow, really great speaker. As you can see bass matters a lot to me. Because of the bass roll off you can put them within 3’ of the front wall and they are fine. Moving them out into the room is marginal improvement imo. I have tried many locations and they almost seem immune to location?!?

now I have never run my Rotel on the Revels. But know them both well. The Rotel is a little lean and mean and the silky sound of the Revel should handle this better than the B&Ws. The revel is very easy to drive BUT it is only 4 ohm. So not a lot of power needed but you need stable current.

As of value? They are better value than say B&W and Focal but at $11,000 I am not sure. There are good $5k speaker, there are bad $20k speakers. At used prices it is a 100% safe buy. I domed the B&W 802D4 without subs on Mac gear and came home and listened to my Revels with subs on Mac gear and though my system was objectively better (flatter more accurate) and subjectively more enjoyable due to being far less bright and peaky. The revels are so smooth even at 100db they are not harsh.

 

I bought mine as demos and was 100% content with them for two years, I still am actually. I am selling because I bought a pair of JBL 4367s and something has to go. The JBLs have a similar frequency response to the revels but bring more resolution. They also just have a lot more dynamics. I honestly feel that the JBL 4367 is end game type of quality (I should start a new thread about them). I am really surprised and impressed. While the revel is great and compares more to Focal Sopra, and Sonus Faber olympica in sound signature and quality.

If you are going to high pass your subs you could get away with the 226be as they sound about the same as the 228be. The 228be will just have lower distortion at high volume. Use their prices are pretty close though, New less so.

Do you have the space for open baffle speakers?  The Qualio IQ speakers from Poland appear to be an amazing value for $5500.

If you want something more mainstream, check out Perlisten.  They are using state of the art design and materials.  IMHO the Revels are getting a bit long in the tooth (the original Performa series is a decade old) .