Hello all, just purchased the Revel Concerta F12, C12 and S12 to replace my current setup of Infinity Entra. The dealer has offered me to audition the Revel Concerta B12 subwoofer, so will audition that before heading the HSU way for subwoofer.
I started with a budget of about $1200 thinking I would upgrade to Infinity Beta series and next thing you know I was looking at PSB Image series and then Monitor Audio, B&W and Revel. I auditioned the Monitor Audio, the dealer only had the stereo setup; RS8 was not sounding good at all with the song I auditioned with, GS20 had superb musicality but it was well above my budget range (one of the authorized sellers for Monior Audio has the GR20 and the matching center in silver finish at 50% off, let me know if you need info).
I auditioned B&W 680 series at two different dealers, the first one again did not have the right setup so I didn't like what I heard. The second dealer had the B&W 683 and Revel Concerta F12 next to each other, imagine my surprise! I spent nearly 2 hours listening to both with music as well as movies. 683s are superb for music and are very crisp, the Concerta F12s had beautiful soundstage and sounded a little louder.
Once we started auditioning for movies the B&W center HTM61 did not sound as good as Concerta C12, one of the professional reviews also states the same. This in no way says that HTM61 was not good, it was just that Concerta C12 was better. As far as the surrounds go the dealer did not even recommend the B&W surrounds and suggested to use Concerta S12s even if I went with B&W front and center.
I did not want to mix and match and also I liked the Concerta sound stage better. Also we watch more movies so both my wife and I agreed on the Revels. What also influenced my decision to pick Revel was the fact that my received HK AVR-630 is probably a better match for the Revels.
For music only I would pick B&W 683 for both clarity as well as looks. Also the louder you played the better B&W sounded (may be requires more power?). Concerta appearance is definitely boring and can not compete with the B&W in that category.
Just waiting for the delivery of my Revels now!
I started with a budget of about $1200 thinking I would upgrade to Infinity Beta series and next thing you know I was looking at PSB Image series and then Monitor Audio, B&W and Revel. I auditioned the Monitor Audio, the dealer only had the stereo setup; RS8 was not sounding good at all with the song I auditioned with, GS20 had superb musicality but it was well above my budget range (one of the authorized sellers for Monior Audio has the GR20 and the matching center in silver finish at 50% off, let me know if you need info).
I auditioned B&W 680 series at two different dealers, the first one again did not have the right setup so I didn't like what I heard. The second dealer had the B&W 683 and Revel Concerta F12 next to each other, imagine my surprise! I spent nearly 2 hours listening to both with music as well as movies. 683s are superb for music and are very crisp, the Concerta F12s had beautiful soundstage and sounded a little louder.
Once we started auditioning for movies the B&W center HTM61 did not sound as good as Concerta C12, one of the professional reviews also states the same. This in no way says that HTM61 was not good, it was just that Concerta C12 was better. As far as the surrounds go the dealer did not even recommend the B&W surrounds and suggested to use Concerta S12s even if I went with B&W front and center.
I did not want to mix and match and also I liked the Concerta sound stage better. Also we watch more movies so both my wife and I agreed on the Revels. What also influenced my decision to pick Revel was the fact that my received HK AVR-630 is probably a better match for the Revels.
For music only I would pick B&W 683 for both clarity as well as looks. Also the louder you played the better B&W sounded (may be requires more power?). Concerta appearance is definitely boring and can not compete with the B&W in that category.
Just waiting for the delivery of my Revels now!