Revel Owners Thread - Page 84

I have auditioned both (not in the same room) and I never thought the Gallo's were are good as the Salon2.
That said, when it comes to producing a quality soundstage, setup and pre-amp matter most. No matter what speakers are being used.
In my current setup, it took me 2 1/2 months before I found the right locations to produce the soundstage I was looking for.

Well, placement is all about specific room acoustics. And depending on how close in design two different speaker models are, or how completely different they are will determine if their best locations for soundstage are anywhere close to each other.
In my case I have two speaker systems that are more/less identical; 24" tall, 3-way w/8" mid-bass drivers.
When I found the perfect location for one, I also found it for the other. The main difference is one was designed in the mid 70s, the other in 2000, with the newer one being all Ti drivers.
If I had the Salon2 in here, that location may or may not work.
I also found that changing between my HK3390 to my Parasound P7 improved the detail throughout the soundstage.

I heard this wall of sound on the YG Acoustics speakers. I suspect it's an artificial effect from phase problems - as I haven't heard it in other great systems.

Just a general question for everyone concerning speaker wire- what is your connector of choice? I am purchasing some pre-terminated Blue Jeans speaker wire for setup in a new place, and was going to go with bananas at the receiver/amp end. On the speaker end, anyone have any experience/preference between spades and bananas? I have F12s along with stand-mounted M12s, then a C12 center. Previously I had spades on the speaker end which seemed to work fine, but some people seem to like these new locking banana plugs that are available. Thoughts?

Edit to add: my rear speaker runs will be 40-50 feet. Should 12 gauge wire be adequate? I found this article at Audioholics that seems to offer some insight, wanted to see what you all thought as well.

Thanks!
Edited by thrand1 - 10/30/12 at 1:12pm

I use wire nuts. Seriously. But I can do so as I built my speakers so there are no terminals, I just have the wire going out of the speakers, spliced and wire nutted to the cable from the amp. You can use pretty much anything, or for that matter nothing, electrons don't care. 14ga is adequate. Keep in mind that AH sells cable. This will tell you what you need, with no economic incentive to oversell you:
http://www.bcae1.com/images/swfs/speakerwireselectorassistant.swf

I purchased my speaker cables from Blue Jeans and had them terminated with bananas at both ends. I chose the ones with the tapered expansion mandrel that are twist-threaded to tighten into the female receptacle. They are very robust . I have been using them for over two years now and have noticed no mechanical degradation. The gold plated finish has remained as good as new. I test many of my own prototype and production amplifiers in my home system so these connectors get more of a workout than most.

Pre-terminaton by Blue Jeans is recommended. I have terminated some custom lengths myself and can tell you from experience that it is difficult to get both insulated wires into the banana ferrule as cleanly as they do. They probably have a production jig for this.

The surface contact area of the male to female is enhanced by the machined mandrel and twist lock. When combined with the convenience factor, the bananas are an attractive option IMO.

Regards,

Dennis

I bought BJC welded locking banana plugs for my LCRs. I had one of them break, two of the three tongs broke off.
The other plugs are finicky. I've stopped using them, going back to the RS banana plugs.
I like the idea of locking plugs, but they don't work very well, imo.

Just bought an Outlaw amp to try with my Revels. F12, C12, S12 5.2 setup. I ended up landing a 7500. It should make em' sing pretty good. Anyone used the concertas with Outlaw, ATI???

I ran a pair of Revel M22s off a JBL AVA7 for a short time (I believe the AVA 7 and Lexicon GX-7 are akin to the Outlaw 7125, the 125 watt version of your amp, all made by ATI). I now use the amp for a 5.1 JBL Performance/Synthesis system. Solid, well built stuff. You made a great choice.

Awesome! From everything I can find, you are correct. I believe that the lx7 lexicon is the same as mine. Now I am thinking of picking up another processor to try too. I know I can use the 4311 with the amp, but have some extra funds and want to try some things out while I can.

I came across the thread of Revel owners and I am one also. I currently and for 7 years have owned Revel M20 speakers, C30 center channel and 2 B15a subs. I have a Krell amp which I would like to change to something warmer sounding. I would like an amp which does not produce a lot of heat but I don’t want a class D amp. It can be a 3 channel or 5 channel amp as I sold off one pair of M20s and I only own two pairs now, deciding not to go 7 channel. What amp would be a good match with the M20 speakers? Any ideas?

I find Parasound amps to mate well with all Harman brand speakers. As to if you go with the Halo series or the Classic series would be determined by how much you want to spend. There is the Halo A 3, 250w 3 channel amp; Halo A51, A52 5 channel amps. If you do not have a Parasound dealer near you, you can buy online through Audio Advisor.
http://www.audioadvisor.com/products.asp?dept=199&sort_on=title&sort_by=&view_all=true

I personally run my Revel 7-channel system with a Lexicon CX-7. It never, ever gets hot--even driving Ultima2 Salons--and has plenty of power to drive them beautifully. So, I can vouch for the Lexicon amps. Several years ago (7 or so), I had an Anthem MCA-5. I don't recall that getting overly hot. I also used to have Proceed Amps (and those did get very hot!).

I guess I will take a look at the Parasound amps. The TV room is a family room not a man cave so I can't add a lot of sound treatment to the walls.

Setting up the main speakers L/R with a good amount of toe-in will reduce the amount of early first reflections off of the side walls. I do that where I am now. Not because the side walls are close, but because all the structures here are all concrete/tile.
Also the Parasound Halo gear being Titanium in color will look good in that room. Although now Parasound offers the Halo series in black as well.

^^^ +1 and upholstered chairs are better than leather, imo.

I read that the A31 is available in black, but are the other Halo amps also available in black? I hadn't seen that anywhere.

Other models will be coming out the next couple of months, from what I read.

Great, thanks for the info. I'll keep an eye out for them. I love the silver look but always wondered how the Halos would look in black.

Well, I ordered a Denon 4520 now and it arrived yesterday. I am going to hopefully get a temp setup going today/tomorrow to do some testing and see if the amp section in the denon falls far behind my outlaw amp. If, in the temporary positons, there doesn't seem to be much difference, I will set everything up better and do a detailed comparo. I love the idea of using the Outlaw amp, but if it doesn't benefit me, I can sell it and fund half of my sub purchase. I probably could have just gotten the 4520 from the start and skipped the outlaw, but then I would always wonder. This way, I will know.

Never buy an amp for its looks, buy it for its performance! And you could have spray painted the front black.
Although, I certainly would not.

How does the current Salon or Studio compare to the first generation? I remember hearing the first generation Salon with Levinson monoblocks, their reference pre-amp, transport, DAC, and Transparent Reference cables and it was probably the 3rd best system I've ever heard. Very dynamic with extreme resolution!

Also, is it true that the cheaper Revels are now made in China and the expensive ones are now made in Mexico?

I think all the Revels are made in Mexico. Never heard otherwise.

This is a point I still don't have definitive confirmation on. My Revel Performa M22s were made in the USA. My Revel Ultima2 Salons were made in the USA. However, both models are several years old.

The Concerta line is for sure made in Mexico; however as of a Home Theater review on the Ultima2 line, they said they were still made in the USA. One poster in Audioholics said that now even the Ultima2 line has been moved to Mexico; however, I've never seen anything official to that effect and the last official thing I saw (including my own pairs) is that they are made in the USA. So unless I see something official from Revel, I'm assuming that at least the Ultima2 line is still made in the USA. Again, that may have recently changed; but if it did, it's a more recent change over the past few years.

Just looked, can't find any such info.