Revel Speakers

Based on e mail correspondence I had in the last year with a reviewer who is very familiar with both lines, I understand that both Revel and Paradigm share many design attributes, particularly as regards the beryllium tweeters. The reviewer also mentioned that both companies base their designs on Canada's NRC research data.

But I repeat what I said above, at least as regards the Signature 8s. Crappy music will sound crappy. GI/GO. The S8s are "current" hungry and require lot of watts from a great amp to sound their best. I've read similar comments about the Revels.

Prior to the F52s I had Wilson Sashas. I thought I wanted to get away from music and sold my entire system. After a couple of months I missed it and decided to purchase modest gear that included the Revel F52s. To my surprise my current system has been the most enjoyable to date. Now I'm looking for something that is neutral, but a little less colored than the F52s and I don't want to spend 20K. I love the fact that I can listen to the F52s all day without fatigue.

Ricred1,

Did you find the Sasha's make to many recordings hard to listen too? Did you find they spotlighted the flaws in recordings to much?

Egrady,

I've owned many, many speakers to include Sophia 2s, 3s, and Sashas. In the context of the system I had the Sasha's in they were forward. As a matter of fact I've listened to many speakers over the years and Revels seem to have the right mix of being detailed without too much coloration. I'm not suggesting for one minute that Revels are better than Wilsons. Revels are different and after many years I know I found my preference. Now the question is will moving up to F208s, Studio 2s, or Salon 2s reduce the coloration and still maintain musicality? The other option is adding a sub and better electronics for the F52s.

I went from ESL-63's to Wilson 5.1's to F52's to Studio 2's. The Quad's still have the best midrange, but they have other limitations. I went polar opposite with the WP 5.1's. While they had the bass slam, dynamics and so on, I got listener fatigue to often. They never could get massed strings to sound sweet, like the Quad's. Ultimately I settled on the Studio 2's. They the midrange magic of the Quad, with most of the slam of the Wilsons.

The Revel Ultima 2 tweeter is amazing. It is revealing and musical at the same time. I don't know how they did it. The Ultima 2's will expose much more than the F52's, but to my ears they don't go overboard like the Wilson's did.

Put it this way. I love Bruno Walter. His recordings are generally bright and bass shy. With the Quad's they still sounded very nice. With the Wilson's they gave me ear bleed. With the Studio 2's I can listen and enjoy them once again.