Revel Owners Thread - Page 80

I would not do it!! I might try rubbing alcohol or other mild liquid astringent.

I will dig up all the pics I have of the xover boards from my Revel Salon's to show you exactly how cheap the parts are. very basic poly caps, sandblock resistors and air core coils, all 24db octave steep slope points.

And yeah, for $400 you can have someone build you a very NICE custom xover for your speakers. Here is one link: http://www.skiingninja.com/RS850-Upgrades-p/rs850.htm He will do custom upgraded xovers for pretty much any speaker. Send him in your xover boards and he will upgrade the parts, or sell you higher quality caps,coils and resistors for you to DIY.

Chinese MDF is dirt cheap in quantity. If I can buy a single 3/4" 4x8' sheet for $20 bucks from a local lumberyard, what do you think the lumberyard buys for when bought in bulk? Same for speaker mfg's. I dont care how many layers there are of MDF, MDF is compressed fiber shavings swag. As for the Veneer.......Again, depending on thickness(and it isnt thick), how much per square foot do you think the chinese imported veneer is bought in bulk?

Lets start with the air core coils. Those are EXACTLY what you want! Iron core coils have much higher distortion than air core.

I don't know what you call basic poly caps. But when I built my XOs most of what I bought were from Parts Express, using mostly Solens, and a few Daytons. All considerably better than what JBL used back in the '70s.

As for resistors, I've used many types, including sandblock.

Just because its an air core variety, doesnt mean its a good or high quality one.

And you have yet to produce any brand names used in the Salon2 XO to back up your claims of cheaply made XOs.

But as to cheap air core, probably still better than an iron core.

And as for any caps I used, certainly not the cheapest, but not the most expensive either. Meaning Revel or any other speaker company does not have to use boutique brand (5x the price) parts to make a good XO.

You know whats interesting, I called Revel Tech Support and a rep actually told me 3M Stainless Steel Cleaner and Polish is what they use right before they ship speakers with metal drivers out of the factory.

So I guess it's a safe thing to do anyway!

To me it did not sound like a good idea....but as they say its good, then it is!

Funny thing is, I did pay $400 for a custom crossover once, from Rick Selah at Selah Audio for the NHT Xds. It was a piece of crap that buzzed and the parts weren't even matched, output wasn't level-matched between the pair, and the wrong cap values were used. And this is from a supposed "recommended professional DIYer" on this forum.

Thats too bad......one reason why I do things myself. I also concur that "more expenisve" does not garentee better, especially if parts have poor tolerances/aren't matched correctly, or built well. One reason why I prefer either simple single driver xoverless designs, or systems with independant, active xovers that remove the passive xover system altogether. Regardless, the link I gave was just used as an example and the components used by Sonicaps, Mills and Erse are definetly on the upper end of quality and very tight tolerances. I used these components for my monitors before switching over the a fully active xover system.

I hate to go against the Tech, but I have used that stuff on Stainless Steel appliances. With my experiences with it I would never use it in this application. The rubbing alcohol is not much better. Be sure to use some of these recommendations on something else before proceeding to use on the speakers.
Just My Opinion.

I agree with this........Best thing to clean the driver IMO is to use a Q-tip cotton swap dipped in mild dish detergent soap and water, make sure its damp with the solution only, not dripping water and be careful and very gentle while cleaning off the dirt from the driver. Do NOT apply any pressure on the driver itself while swabbing it clean. Follow up and dry off with a clean dry q-tip afterwards.

Has anyone done any side-by-side testing of Revel Salon2s with Salk SoundScape 12s?

I would not know about that comparison. But, I know of one person who heard the Salk Song Towers and thought they were not as good as the JBL Performance Series PT800 (cousin to the Revel Gem2). Which would then mean the Salks are certainly not as good as the Salon2. I've yet to hear a set of speakers I thought were better than the Salon2.

But what it all breaks down to is, NO speaker is everyone's cup of tea. I've heard speakers others have raved about and thought they were crap.

Yup. It would need to be a face off run by people that knew speakers really well, and included at least one Salk fanboy and one Salon2 fanboy. And a referee.

The revels are another step up in price, but the Salk folk seem to feel like those SoundScapes can stand up... So, very interesting to me if someone had done something like this. Despite the popularity of both lines, it doesn't seem like it's happened yet. I guess there will be a GTG where both speakers are represented sometime, but I might have had to make a decision by then.

Hi,
Is anyone using an M12 as a center?

I'm using an M22 as a center (and M22s at left and right). Not exactly your question, but same concept. Works great IMO.

Thanks. I have the M12s LR and the C12
I'm curious to try another m12 as center
Since my auto EQ sets them as full band.

Auto EQs are far from perfect. A speaker that is -3db @ 53 htz is hardly a full range. But running identical LCRs is always a good thing, especially when placed at the same elevation.

Running the same speakers across the front seems to the all around theme.
Any comment on the M12 getting overloaded when its being used as a center.
That was a concern the dealer raised when I suggested using an M12 as a center.

As long as its XO is set to 80 it should not be a problem. I think the thought process that the center carries more of the load than the L/R is somewhat overblown. If you are a happy camper with the M12 as mains, no reason you should not be happy with its center ability. If needed, you would only need to boost the center output 2~3db. It really depends on your room and how the center speaker is situated.
I've used identical LCRs since about '99. First with three L55s, then JBL L212s and then the newer JBL PT800s (think Revel Gem2). I have never had a problem with dialogue not being clear.

Hello
I currently have a Monitor Audio PCM 703 system with the CC-70 center. They have been good speakers but I recently had to replace the surrounds due to a woofer going out. I choose Paradigm ADP590's and have been very happy with them but now I have the upgrade bug! A local Dealer has a pair of F30 for 1500.00 and a C30 for 850.00. What do you think of the improvement over the Monitors? I have heard the revels need some power. I currently run my FL C and FR off a Marantz MM-9000 rated at 150x5@8ohms. I run my surround off my Denon 2809. Does the Marantz have enough juice for the Revels? What do you guys think of the Prices?

I have noticed that the system is more dynamic with the Audyssey off but the sound is not coherent. The auto compensates for the room and the sound is better in terms of the separation of the channels but I do loose some dynamics.
I dread trying to set things manually but I might as time goes by and I get all the speakers I need in place. Right now I'm waiting on my surrounds to arrive.

Anyone have an opinion on the price at least? I'm going to go listen to them tomorrow. I could find new speakers for 2300.00 but all the old reviews just gush about these speakers

Hey y'all been dreaming of becoming a revel owner someday... But curious to know what amps to drive the salon2, voice2, and gem2 speakers?
Revel does not lust a spec for watts only recommends to check with dealer.

I was wondering if 600w is too much power and what other owners are using to power up thier speakers.

Thanx

Too much power is better than too little. If I had a pair of Salon2 I would want to use something like Parasound JC1 mono blocks (400w).

Like 4DHD said, too much is better than too little. I'm using a Sunfire Signature Seven 400 x 7 amp with my Marantz AV7005 to power my Salon2s and Voice2. They sound fantastic. I was considering a McIntosh stereo amp, but I would probably stick with 250 watts or higher if I go that route for 2-channel music. I think the Revels could handle 1000 watt mono blocks just fine.

So none of you current Revel owners upgraded from the f-30 c-30? I can't afford Revel's new line but the f30 while dated had great reviews. I was hoping someone that has owned them might chime in.

My Revel Salon 2s are powered with a Krell Evolution 403e for home theater use. For 2 channel music the Salon 2s are driven with Audio Research Reference 250 monoblocks.

Do you disconnect one and hook up the other when switching between HT and 2 CH?