Revel Owners Thread - Page 138

My favorite speakers in the world are in-walls.

I have not heard anyone who has ACTUALLY listened to the Revel in-wall & in-ceiling say anything derogative.

The only people saying anything remotely negative regarding in-wall have never seriously listened to the Revel.

Although the in-wall speakers are not Salon2-quality, I'm sure Kevin Voecks thinks highly of his in-wall Revel speakers nonetheless.

I was just kidding. I have no use or desire for in-walls for critical listening.

I guess I can buy some on clearance for my bedroom but I'm not worried about it. Avkv, I like the guy but I don't pay attention to the sales pitch.

I love my Revels tho.

Just got the Emotiva XDA-2 DAC / digital pre-amp.

Talk about time not standing still. It sounds better than the Theta Casanova my good buddy was letting me borrow until I get a new pre/pro to replace my crappy Onkyo 708.

It's nice to get even purer signal path for my Revels and it makes the streaming audio sound even better.

Not bad for $399 retail.

Hi guys,

I'm sorry to bother you all the time with my "what Revel should I get" questions , but I got an offer for a used F50, for a very affordable price.

What are the opinions about this? Is it a lesser speaker than the F52? It has titanium tweeter, and basically the same enclosure. Have any of you heard it, or compared it to the F52, or F12? Would it be an improvement over the F12? Just to place it in context it would cost me 1/3 the price of a new F206 here in Europe, but I understand that it is an old speaker, and as I read somewhere they used to have some corrosion problems in the drivers?! Can anyone chime in on this?

Thanks for the answer in advance.

Hi, I know they say EMO is a good preamp but your the first one I've heard say that it outperforms such a high end brand like Theta. Most of the reviews for the Emo preamps say they are a good value. Although I've never heard one if someone told me it sounded as good or better than my Maraantz I'd probably think they are sipping too much Emo kool aid

It's a DAC mostly and the theta is from 1997-1998. It does sound better and in fact a lot better. Time is unkind to digital equipment.

My iPhone is light years ahead of my old brick Motorola cell phone too. .

Not worth it. IMHO

I didn't realize the Theta was that old. You can't beat the price on the Emo

I almost bought a used pair of the F50's but I'm really glad I didn't. As far as they sound I'm not sure about that. I guess it would depend on the price.
Edited by comfynumb - Yesterday at 6:58 am

It's a lesson learned and a reminder that time is unkind to digital.

Even with speakers, that's why i am against someone getting the F50s etc....newer is not always better but it often is.

I am drinking the Emo kool-aid lol. Still doubt it's better than your top of the line marantz.

It doesn't matter how "old" the speakers are as long as they sound great.

The Salon2 will still sound great 20 years from now.

Hopefully I'm good on a pre/pro for about 4 years. I need a pair of subs, I want to go with 15" passive ones. I might get the ones off parts express and put them together and try one of the pro audio amps to power them. Then a new amp for the Revel's

Respectfully disagree with the first sentence.
Probably agree with the second sentence.

What sounded "good" 20 years ago might not cut it today.
One never knows what advances might occur in that span of time.

I still own speakers that I thought sounded great in the 80's that pale in comparison today.

Trying to put together a home theater and trying to decide between these two setups:

1
REVEL CONCERTA LCR8
Two In-ceiling rear speakers (which would be good?) (they will have to be right up against the back wall where my seating is)

2.
3 x revel C763L
2 x which in ceiling rears would best match these (they will have to be right up against the back wall where my seating is)


Thanks for any advice! (freestanding and in walls arnt an option, its not up to me...)

Hi Guys

This is my first post.
I joined this forum some time ago and perhaps should have been picking your educated brains on a number of things for my Home theater Build.
Last week I noticed some Duntech PCL-15 speakers at a local auction. These speakers came from the parliament House were used for the occasional announcement. So they have been in a good controlled environment with little use.

Although old speakers, these were rated highly for there accuracy. On the First auction I got 6 speakers (3 pairs) so I went home and put together the items that I have collected.
Media Center , XBMC (PC & Soundcard) output to a Media Matrix x-Frame 88 & 8802 (DPS with 16 in / 16 out) & Amp Australian Monitor RMa750 6 channel 100w.
In a 5.1 setup WOW, WOW WOW so clean. What makes this so nice in my view is, the Same speakers Should respond the same and provide a true surround as a sound moves between speakers.

Blown away I decided to build a 7.1 and since I knew the chance of getting these speakers again would be impossible, I went back to the bidding. I only wanted 2 more but ended up with 4. So my total is 10 x PCL-15 speakers.
Back in the day it would cost a over $1,000 for a pair. I spent a total of $1150.00 and I feel I have made a good choice. Perhaps the only addition will be a Sub or 2 later when my wife has appreciated my choice. These speakers don't have the smooth lines of the modern speakers but I suspect they will make up for it in sound. "Hear is hoping"
I have 3 x RMa750 6 channel amps and the Media Matrix in total 16 in / 16outs and can be wired in the DPS environment in any manner with EQs etc "you name it".
So in the near future I will be testing and playing to get the best I can out of this set.
Years ago I built speakers, amps & simple mixing desks for band support. Its been a long time since I have had anything decent to play with so this write-up comes out of excitement.

I expect to have some questions and look forward to being involved.

Cheers to all.

Were they Revel speakers? And are they still in great condition (drivers, XO, wiring, etc)?

Revel speakers are all designed to be ultra accurate to the original source. If a speaker is +/-1dB accurate and have smooth off-axis response, how are they going to make a more accurate speaker?

Wider soundstage or better imaging? How do we know what was the ORIGINAL soundstage and imaging? All personal preferences that vacillate from song to song and person to person.

And probably 99.99% of all comparisons are not comparing apples to apples - the speakers are not in their individual ideal placement, room, setup, etc. So one setup may significantly favor one speaker over another. One song or album or recording may favor one speaker over another. I actually listen to different speakers depending on the songs and albums I listen to.

And most comparisons are done by pure memory + biased, not instant switching or DBT.

If you think a speaker will sound better because they are newer, then that's exactly what you will hear.

Well, some people think newer speakers will sound a lot better than older.

I think if they sound great, then they sound great regardless.

So enjoy!

AcuDef-
Could you share your thoughts on the 52's that you used to own in comparison to Songtowers, HT2's and Ascend Sierra Towers? Much appreciated.

I never owned any of those.

I've heard the F52 at a dealer, but not in my house. They sounded great in many ways.

I own the Phil3, which should sound very similar to all the Salk, including Soundscape. They sound great as well.

I've never heard the Ascend.

But really, any comparison will be biased as you would expect. If you are asking me which one I would PERSONALLY prefer and buy, I would say the F52.

Some songs/albums/recordings sound better on some speakers vs others. So when we use the same exact song to audition and compare, it may favor one speaker over another, but another album or recording may favor a different speaker. My speaker may sound great in my room, but perhaps not as great in your room or setup or processor.

Some songs/albums may sound better on my Salon2, and some songs/albums may sound better on my Orion, etc.

It's probably the same way w/ F52 vs Salk vs Ascend.

http://audiophilereview.com/audiophile/the-25-ultimate-audiophile-speakers-of-all-time.html


Take it with a grain of salt, but it's an interesting list.

I can't believe Bose didn't even make the list.

Basically whomever gave them the most money got the highest ranking in the top ten.

If the reviewers owned the speakers personally, the speakers also got top ranking.

Oh yeah, I can imagine the back room deals and in house fighting over that list

The speakers I was referring to are Harbeth HL MLIIs from 1980 so that is older than 20 years.
I also have a pair of Harbeth HLP3ESs that while mini-monitors ala the LS35A, absolutely kill the older, bigger Harbeths.
At the time I bought them I thought they were fantastic, not the end-all be-all but certainly fine speakers and a fine example of English 2-way design.

I guess I should clarify my statement.
I'm not a believer in the retro-speaker thing.
Old Advents, Bozaks, JBLs, Altec-Lansings.

Speaker technology has come a loooong way in the last 20 years, imo.
There are very few designs that have stood the test of time fundamentally unchanged.
Magnepans are an example that comes to mind and even these have been gone through changes but are essentially the same design and technology.

Like all technology, there is a plateau of technological refinement. It's just a question of when it is attained.
Take the PC for example, performance has essentially plateaued for several years now but the real change is in price vs. performance.

Certainly the Performa3 line is a prime example of price vs. performance.
That's not to say that refinements aren't going to happen and the "Ultima3" won't out perform the predecessors.
I think my Studio2s have reached a level of performance that barring some unforeseen break-through will satisfy me until I win the lottery.
Which won't happen because I know the statistical probablilities