Revel Performa F30 Floorstanding Speakers Reviews

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Overall Rating
 5 of 5

Value Rating
 5 of 5

Used product for
3 Months to 1 year

Visitors rate this review
4.58 of 5, 12.00 votes

Price Paid:  $0.00 from Local used

Summary:
Great speaker! Deep full soundstage. Excellent at imaging with highly dynamic impact and power. Extended lows that do deliver the full "grunt" of a bass guitar, solid and tunefull. I've had many different speakers here and was looking for one that incorporated the strengths of each one. These come closer to anything I've had yet. I was going to go with a pair of Vandersteen 3A signatures but the Revels seemed to image better and provided more detail. Tweeter control on the back is a great option, if you have a bright room. The binding post are the most user friendly I have ever used and bi-wiring is a snap. Build quality is top-notch but these are bulky, heavy, and require some effort to set up and move around at 95lbs each. I would recommend a solid state amp with some good clean power. I have looked, and for a full range loudspeaker I can't find anything better in this price range.

Strengths:
Bass, depth of soundstage, dynamics, detail.

Weaknesses:
Big bulky, not real pretty but sound makes up for it

Similar Products Used:
PSB Stratus Gold i , Vandersteen 3A (not sigs), Vandersteen 2ce sigs, Meadowlark Osprey, B & W 604 S3, Von Schweikert VR 2, JM Labs Cobalt 816 S, Magnepan MMG, Gallo Nucleus Reference III, Dynaudio Audience 52se, etc..

Price Paid:  $2495.00 from Audiogon.com

Summary:
The Revel F30's and my associated equipment represent my first hi end purchases. I have been exposed to (and spoiled by) friends hi end equipment. The f30’s took a while to break in (200+ hours), but have yielded excellent results. I do not want for anything; deep bass, crisp real highs and the most convincing mids I have ever heard. My best friend has a pair of Revel Ultima Salons ($20,000 speakers), and the F30’s share some ‘house character’ with the Salons; namely their Mid range and Tweeter. I am getting 90%+ of the sound of the Salons, everything except for the deepest psycho-acoustic bass notes. The bass I am getting is definitely helped by the fact that I am driving the speakers with a Bryston 4B-ST; a renowned bass monster. I considered buying these as interim speakers with the long range goal of upgrading to perhaps Aerial Acoustics 8B’s. Now at 500 hours of listing time I have decided to keep the F30’s indefinitely. One note; you want to use good equipment with these speakers because they will yield what is put in them (sh*t in = sh*t out), and an amp that can produce good bass. Equipent used: ARC LS3 Preamp Naim CDX CD Player Bryston 4B-ST Amp Kimber Monocle-XL Speaker cables Kimber Hero Interconnects

Strengths:
Mid range-outstanding Great upper range good bass detailed fast accurate

Weaknesses:
Lacks the deepest psycho-acoustic bass notes Break in time dependent on positioning Needs a large room

Similar Products Used:
Similar Products Used: Have not owned but have extensive experience with: Revel Ultima Salon Dunlavy SC-V B&W CDM-NT

Price Paid:  $2500.00 from Audiogon sellar

Summary:
The Revel F30's and my associated equipment represent my first hi end purchases. I have been exposed to (and spoiled by) friends hi end equipment. The f30’s took a while to break in (200+ hours), but have yielded excellent results. I do not want for anything; deep bass, crisp real highs and the most convincing mids I have ever heard. My best friend has a pair of Revel Ultima Salons ($20,000 speakers), and the F30’s share some ‘house character’ with the Salons; namely their Mid range and Tweeter. I am getting 90%+ of the sound of the Salons, everything except for the deepest psycho-acoustic bass notes. The bass I am getting is definitely helped by the fact that I am driving the speakers with a Bryston 4B-ST; a renowned bass monster. I considered buying these as interim speakers with the long range goal of upgrading to perhaps Aerial Acoustics 8B’s. Now at 500 hours of listing time I have decided to keep the F30’s indefinitely. One note; you want to use good equipment with these speakers because they will yield what is put in them (sh*t in = sh*t out), and an amp that can produce good bass. Equipent used: ARC LS3 Preamp Naim CDX CD Player Bryston 4B-ST Amp Kimber Monocle-XL Speaker cables Kimber Hero Interconnects

Strengths:
Mid range-outstanding Great upper range good bass detailed

Weaknesses:
Lacks the deepest psycho-acoustic bass notes Break in time dependent on positioning

Similar Products Used:
Revel Ultima Salon Dunlavy SC-V B&W CDM-NT

Price Paid:  $3700.00 from AV Driver Intl.

Summary:
I got these speakers (along with a C30) when the woofers of my Veritas 2.4s kept on conking out. A factory problem Energy has since quite admirably remedied. I wasn't exactly blown away but for what I could afford I would be a hypocrite to say that I wasn't at least moderately satisfied. In my customized room, the F30s gave me excellent detail from 300Hz and up but I was still looking for the tuneful bass of my oft busted 2.4s or the dynaudios of my dynonut buddies. A breakthrough came with the addition of the AVP2 upgrade for my Proceed AVP. I could suddenly distinguish the different notes on upright bass. Still, I was looking for more weight. Unlike our audiophile friends who have given up on commercial recordings for the absolute pursuit of sound quality, I still listen to a lot of rock and electronica for which some playful 40Hz is needed to really get your party going. That breakthrough came with the replacement of my Levison 23.5 with the Levinson 332. Same specs but I suspect the latter of having an edge current wise. Still, the upper registers were detailed but a tad forward, Balanced Music Links from Transparent widened, and deepend up the soundstage and helped smooth out that little bit of grain left. Now, I'm not even thinking of upgrading. Why? I'm no longer distracted by the system. I can just sit back and enjoy the music wether it be Tchaikovsky's Requiem or Tom Middleton's Sound of the Cosmos. For that I have to give it a big fat 5.

Strengths:
Detail, Detail, and more detail

Weaknesses:
1. System Matching for treated rooms as they were designed for use in the usual untreated US domicile. 2. It isn't very pretty now, is it. Then again, that's what eyelids are for. 3. the giant rear port serves as way too much temptation for my 2 year old to keep her little toys away from. Thank God for nannies.

Similar Products Used:
Energy Veritas 2.4 (owned), Magnepan SMGc (owned), B&W CDM1 and CDM2 (owned) ,B&W 803 NT, Dynaudio contour 1.8 Mk2, ProAc 1sc and D15, Magnepan 1.6, Martin Logan Aerius, (all extensively auditioned fo

Price Paid:  $3800.00

Summary:
The situation: the F30's represent my first major hi-end purchase. Without the luxury of expensive pre/pros and amps I decided to begin my climb to the upper end through speakers. Therefore, my journey began. I complied a list of nearby dealers w/ similar budget lines. Audition: following many auditions and return trips the F30s were judged superior. While the Nautilus 804's were close, the F30's detail midrange was so silky smooth just plain memorizing. Worried about my lively room, the deal allow a home demo which wasn't easy considering their size/weight. However, the home audition was well worth the effort. My very lively room made the tweeters a bit forward. Revel has an answer for this, the rear mounted adjustable tweeter control. What a blessing, turned down, the speakers compensated. Roomate: following 80hrs of break-in time, the speakers began to open up and shine. Immediately the soundstage wide and the imaging 3D. Now, band members have their own stage and each instrument its own depth. Midrange is ohh so sweet and revealing. Bass is tight and goes deep (THX optimizer on Star Wars II) tweeter is delicate and adjustable. Thoughts: CD's I've owned for many many years have new nuances and more than a few surprises. Physical appearance? well, lets say my wife isn't very happy. To me, they are beautiful. The Revel F30 makes no excuses and doesn't try to make a statement. It's old school, back to the days when speakers were designed to produce the best sound possible, nothing more...nothing less. Home Theater: currently, i'm without a center channel so i remove this from the Denon menu and the F30's handle double duty. However, a center is defintely missing. A C30 is in my future plans. No subwoofer needed as the F30 goes down to 20hz. Equipment: Surprisingly, my mid-level equipment sounds great with the Revel's. Although, some AV receivers may struggle as my Denon did. Sure, not as accurate as the dealer's Mark Levinson gear, but hey who has $20k for audio? Other equipment: Denon AVR-2801 (90x5 wpc) Denon DVD-1000 NAD 218THX (225x2 8ohms) Audioquest cables Hitiachi 50" RPTV

Strengths:
Midrange detail tweeter adjustment 3D imaging (depth) tight, clean bass (goes deep) strong presence Rosewood finish Solid build

Weaknesses:
Large/heavy (difficult to move)

Similar Products Used:
Polk RT2000p (owned) B&W 804 Nautilus RBH (top shelf line) Def Tech towers (top shelf line) Monitor Audio (gold series, i think)