Revel Speakers

Chrissain,

I'm guilty. I listened to my Studio 2's for over a year before I went on the net and read everything I could find about speaker/chair placement. Cardas Audio and Galen Carol Audio have some very good tips. While my original placement was close, the speakers where almost the same distance from the side AND back walls. As I discovered, a real no-no.

Once I zeroed them in, wow! I feel this explains, at least in part, some of the difference of opinion on what a particular speaker sounds like. A good speaker properly placed in a great room is likely to out perform a great speaker in an average room. The room and placement are an enormous variable.

Unless you can hear the speaker in your room with your stuff, you just don't know. Not only that, it takes time and effort to find the optimal set up. The Ultima 2 does have an advantage I'm seeing more and more companies use. It is adjustable. A big plus, particularly if your room has issues.

The Studio 2 is so good in my room I've stopped looking. Any future upgrades will be elsewhere.

Drubin I was worried too, until I actually heard them. They are better in every way. Not a joke or hyperbole . They are lower in distortion, have better intergration between drivers, more inner definition and clarity, a much better tweeter . Their sound stage is wider and deeper. They are much closer to the sound of the ultima line than their older counterparts. Really what more could you ask for? And no I am not a dealer.

As far as the ultima line is concerned, I am around, on a constant basis, speakers that cost far more than the Salon 2s, that are not even close to the Salon 2 in performance. The irony is that for many in this hobby, they listen with their wallets and not with their ears, so the Revels are to cheap to be taken seriously.

Chrissain, I surmise that a significant reason for the excellent performance of the Salons and Studios is because of the beryllium tweeter. It's an expensive component and hard to manufacaturer. But ... it's performance attributes are stellar. There's not many companies that manufacture beryllium tweets. Other than Revel, there's Magico, Focal, Usher and Paradigm.

I happend to own the Paradigm Signature 8s (v3). Another performer on steroids that is reasonably priced.

I've read the bench test specs on many other high-priced so-called darling speakers. Frankly ... I've been underwhelmed. I appreciate that there's no substituting for a live audition, but as many have lamented, not many B&M stores around any more. So we're left to trial and error.

Anyway, the Revel Studio 2 is on my short list to try (??) and listen to one day. In the meantime, I suggest that folks with good front ends and source input materials give a serious listen to the Paradigm S8s (v3).

A word of warning. I agree with the comment above -- this type of speaker is not forgiving of bad source material and they should be driven by a very high quality, high current, high power output SS amp. I kinda lucked out with my ARC tube Ref 150. But that's a story for a diffferent day. If interested, check my posts. It ultimately came down to power, low output voltage, and a very robust power supply.

Paradigm and Revel share many of the same design goals, and both hit outside their price range.