Archived Feature Product: Revel Loudspeakers

We’ve recently picked up the Revel Loudspeakers line, and are really excited to present their amazing Performa Be series of loudspeakers. We have the floor standing Revel Performa F228Be speakers (their mid-sized floor-stander), as well as the stand mount Revel Performa M126Be speakers. Like the Focal loudspeaker line up we carry, Revel has a complete line up of options for every price range, as well as playing well with in a dedicated two channel stereo environment or 5.1 and beyond Home Theater environment. Revel has always been known for their highly technical R&D development and being able to draw from a vast pool of resources from being apart of the Harman International family, but through other recent acquisitions has even deeper pockets for development. From this great development process comes their mid-priced Performa Be series with integrated Beryllium tweeters, bringing trickle down of their reference-top-dollar Ultima line to their more reasonably priced Performa series.

Design
Whether you’re considering the M126Be’s for smaller spaces, or the larger floor-standing F328Be, F226Be or F206 loudspeakers, they all have the magic of the ‘Be’ Beryllium tweeters. Revel has executed this with the most natural of sound, flowing effortlessly with the rest of the speakers. Fit and finish are outstanding, as you would expect. And the white cones that are revealed when you remove the grills are truly stunning. The model of these speakers that you choose will obviously depend on your room size and budget, but overall these are reasonably sized speakers for the size of their 8” woofers in our F228Be speakers. And the M126Be would be at home in nearly any space. Our floor models have the wood grain finish, and are a great fit for the asking price.

Sound
Our first impressions of these speakers: “Wow, there’s an amazing amount of detail there!” It’s not the kind of goosed up detail that says “Hey, look at me!” Instead choosing to naturally be part of the overall sound as a whole. While some might quibble over wanting more authoritative bottom end, bass was always extremely accurate and controlled, while sounding musical and natural. While the mids may lean towards being slightly more analytical than some of our British monitor stalwarts, they still remained extremely musical and a seamless part of the whole. The F228Be’s have a way of presenting an expansive soundstage with pinpoint center imaging that will leave you wanting more. While Revels tend to be slightly more forward leaning in their presentation, this Be line up never goes too far in any direction. When it comes to beryllium tweeters, you always get crisp detail on the top end capturing the strike of a cymbal or front end strike of a piano note. This was all there, but never felt harsh or too in your face. The other sound quality that stood out, was their ability to capture the natural room and instrument decay that is often buried by other speakers in the presentation. This can be heard much more full and present than with many other speakers, adding to the overall experience of a musical performance. This Performa Be line is extremely accurate and transparent, natural, and engaging. What about speed? Shifting to modern electronic music, the Revels were amazingly fast and effortless without being overly sterile. With the M126Be stand mount speakers, much of what was found with the F228Be’s can be found within this smaller package, sans the full authority in the bottom end. Some may want to bring one of our JL Audio eSub or Fathoms to the mix to fully flesh out this experience, while gaining a much smaller footprint for your listening space. The Revels are extremely efficient, so whether you choose to pair them with solid state or tube, they will play well with either.

Wrap Up
This is an amazing addition to our already stellar line up of speakers. Whether you’re in the market for a dedicated stereo set up, or want to build the ultimate home theater set up, the Revel Performa Be speakers will deliver hours of amazingly natural sounding music, bringing along oodles of resolution/detail, with a wonderful soundstage. But don’t take our word for it… come in soon to have your own personal audition of these wonderful loudspeakers. This line of Performa Be speakers are truly in the sweet spot of value and performance.

Specs/Features

Revel F228Be:

–1-inch Beryllium Dome Tweeter
-Mid driver: 5.25″ DCC aluminum cone with cast frame
-Dual 8″ Deep Ceramic Composite (DCC) Aluminum Cones with cast frames
-High-order Crossovers with Film Capacitors and Air Core Inductors
-5th-generation Acoustic Lens Waveguide
-Magnetically Attached Grilles
-DCC Cone Midrange and Woofers
-4 Premium High-gloss Finishes Available
-8 Ohms
-Sensitivity: 90dB (2.83V @1M)
-Dimensions: 46.6″ x 13.5″ x 14.8″
-Weight: 82 lbs

Revel M126Be:

–1-inch Beryllium Dome Tweeter
-6.5” Deep Ceramic Composite (DCC) Aluminum Cones with cast frame
-High-order Crossovers with Film Capacitors and Air Core Inductors
-5th-generation Acoustic Lens Waveguide
-Magnetically Attached Grilles
-DCC Cone Midrange and Woofers
-4 Premium High-gloss Finishes Available
-8 Ohms
-Sensitivity: 86dB (2.83V @1M)
-Dimensions: 15.2″x 8.3″ x 10.3″
-Weight: 22 lbs

You can read the glowing reviews for the Revel Performa F228Be here, and here

You can read the glowing reviews for the Revel Performa M126Be here, here, and here.