My Journey to find the "perfect" speaker... - Page 100

Blue? What blue where? I see dark gray!

If the color of the doors in the pic below does not look deep blue with a silver "R" logo, then I'm afraid that you may be at least partially color blind.

Or his monitor is not adjusted properly...

Doh! Good point.

They still look metallic black to me. Can't wait to see the finished result though, I find the Revels sexy looking, would love to hear them one day.

Looking good Tim. I think they will turn out looking fantastic in your room too. Can't wait to see pics.


-Michael

I have been following this thread as I'm just completing a 16x27 home theater with an 11ft wide AT screen and looking for high quality speakers. There is something that I'm missing here though, because I thought that Snell & Triad were high quality speakers but I don't see them discussed. Are they not so high quality or are you folks for the most part talking about speakers for music and not so much for HT? Thanks for clearing this up for me.

Randy

Morning all -

As promised I finally have some (well a lot really ) pics of my custom, pimped out, totally sick, newly painted Revel Studio2's and matching Voice2.

But first, here's a reminder of what they used to look like:






And now, IMO, here's what Revel should have offered as an option to begin with:




(That's one of my cute pugs, Roxy, wondering what the hell is making that bright flash of light. )





I'd like to point out a couple of details that aren't totally obvious. First, while the face is still black, like the original, it is now a satin finish instead of the high-gloss. I wanted some contrast in the texture/finish between the face of the speaker and the rest of the new high-gloss deep metallic blue. The other detail is that the posts that separate the speaker cabinet from the base are now a contrasting silver with a warmish tone picked specifically to match the tone of the titanium drivers. I did this to bring out this detail of the speaker and to break-up the sameness of the previous all-black finish. And I'm still very proud of how the terminal door turned out. It transformed what was a rather unremarkable plastic door into a nice finishing touch. And yes, even though it is on the back of the speaker, in my set-up you see the back of the left speaker each time you walk into the room.

More pics to follow. . . I am such a show-off!

Here's a few more pics of my newly painted Revel Ultima2 speakers. Notice how the color of the speaker looks quite different under different lighting conditions. For the most part I would consider the finish to be understated (thanks FunkMonkey) yet much more stylish than the original finish.

Glad it all worked out Tim, definitely a classy custom job.

As beautiful as the eye candy is, how do they sound in your lovely acoustic treated room
The suspense, oh the suspense.
Hope your having a cracking day and glad you got them back for the weekend chillout

Cheers
DT

Well, I've only had a couple of hours to listen to them, so I don't want to jump the gun, but . . . the speakers and the room sound pretty damn close to perfect! Amazing clarity, a balanced sound from top to bottom and better imaging than I have ever had in my room.

Now that is what we like to hear
What makes it even better for most of us is how you 1st started finding niggles when listening to music with various speakers to the conclusion of it all coming together today.

Anyway, happy listening you 3 amigos in music heaven

Cheers
DT

Looking awesome, Tim!!! I will be anxious to see what you think of the Voice2.

6 AM out there! Pulling an all-nighter????

Yeah, funny the next thing I know the sun is coming up. Ooops!

The Voice2 sounds, um, like the center image produced by the Studio2's, which is to say, a perfect match.

This is absolutely the sound I have been after. The clarity and soundstaging are simply amazing. The room treatment has given me a much "blacker background" to work with. Sounds just seem so well defined.

Good stuff my friend, good stuff. The stuff dreams are made of.

Tim
Absolutely incredible paint job!!
Congrats
Mark

Thanks much! I love the new look. Oh and they sound OK too.

Sorry, but honestly, they don't look that much diffferent.

Should have gone with candy apple red.

Yeah, I figured at least one person would say that. And I agree, in some lighting levels the difference is minimal, but that's just what I wanted. I didn't want some Ferrari Red speakers parked in my living room. Just wanted to class 'em up a bit and bring out some of the features of the cabinet design a bit more. With that said, pictures do not do them justice.

I still expect a few moded pics with thought bubbles though.

They look great Tim, you had a very specific look in mind and you got exactly what you wanted. Very

Since you also painted the front baffle, I take it the grilles have been relegated to the attic?

Should I read between the lines on that one? Is that your diplomatic way of saying nice work, but not my style? It's cool if it is. I don't expect everyone to find metallic blue speakers appealing.

Actually, the grills will get used a fair amount, but when they are naked I like the satin finish on the front.

Hey, I'm the guy with the large brown absorption panels stuck all over the walls of my room so I'm hardly in a position to criticize anyone's aesthetic choices (at least publically).

Actually, I prefer your paint choices to the stock gloss black on black.

I don't like the black on graphite look. IMO, it would look better if they were all one color on the face, base and cabinet. Even black on black would look better to me than having that contrast between both the paint colors and the paint types. I don't find the discrepancies aesthetically pleasing. I thought you were doing the entire speaker, but I wasn't reading the thread very carefully to notice that you weren't. I bet that gray (metallic?) paint would look cool to me if the entire speaker were covered in it, or at least that was what I was waiting to see and believed would look very cool.

All that matters though is how you feel about them, and it seems like you are happy with the color combination, so congrats!

Tim they look fantastic! very cool... In my opinion you have improved on the basic black they used to be (love that Vader look ), and in a subtle, understated, and very classy way. Nice contrasting details with the logo, and feet. I really like the satin black baffles, too. Excellent job!

On a side note, I re-calibrated my monitor after some of the comments above, because I thought the blue was pretty subtle, too, and I am a little color blind (red/green) . Now everything looks better on my computer, but your speakers still look grey... in some shots You are right about the color changing depending on the angle, because I get the blue as well...
Nice choice of color my friend.

Cheers-
Funk

One man's "discrepancy" is another man's "intentional contrast". But I respect your opinion. Everyone has different tastes. I guess you'll just have take on the project too and paint your Salon's in a monochrome scheme.

BTW - the speakers are actually somewhere between blue and gray metallic, not graphite (all gray).

Hi Tim,

They look great and very unique. I would be interested in hearing some more of your thoughts on the effect of the acoustic treatments, especially with Audyssey disengaged. It would be interesting the know how much effect the room treatments had by themselves. And then again with Audyssey re-engaged to hear what effect Audyssey has on a treated room.

Also, it doesn't look like you've used much toe-in. Have you experimented with that at all? This is a quote from Kal Rubinson in another thread:

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showt...4#post14372964

I have my speakers toe'd in quite a bit.

Craig

Well, I have yet to run Audyssey calibration, so I have only been listening without. The room treatments have first and formost improved the clarity and separation of individual sounds. It is like taking a speaker that is already strong in these areas (the Revels) and upgrading them.

The next improvement is in the tonality and smoothness of the midrange. Previously the midrange could sound "shouty", especially at higher volumes, and some notes seemed to jump out above the others (peaky).

The last benefit is in the imaging. Center images are more stable (stereo mode, no center).

Once I get my rear speakers, I will calibrate Audyssey and report back on the changes (hopefully improvements). I say hopefully, because I have gotten mixed results with Audyssey. Though I think I know the best way to take the measurements now to get more consistent results.

I will play with toe-in, though it is my undstanding that toe-in is not as critical with the Revels because they have such broad dispersion.

Tim,

I don't know if you've seen it, but here is a *glowing* review of the Revels:
http://www.hometheaterhifi.com/speak...-speakers.html

He doesn't say whether he toe'd them in at all though. However, the interview with Kevin Voecks at the end is quite interesting.

Craig

Great paint job. I hope it won't change the character of the speakers. I' m thinking about changing the color in my Infinities (to black lacquer), but i' m scared shitless.

Good find! And here I thought I had read every review on the Ultima2 line. Thanks much.

Looking great to me. I prefer your paint job to the standard ultra-gloss black. They look less plasticy with the new metallic paint than they did stock from the pics shown. I am thoroughly impressed. Big congrats on coming to an end on your quest... for speakers... for some time to come.

-Michael