These are ugly speakers. Don't buy them if you are married or intend to ever have a girlfriend. UGLY

Transparent, detailed, and dynamic sound. Very neutral top to bottom. Beautiful design and craftsmanship.

Price of admission. A friend has the Revel Performa series, which present much the same sonic character as the Ultima line with slightly reduced dynamics and transparency. The Studios and Voice do appear to need some time to break in.

Purchased the Revel Studios approximately two years ago to replace a pair of Snell Type Ds (another Kevin Voecks design)in a secondary audio system. Have since added the Revel Voice and four Thiel Power Points for the "home theater" experience. Although I'm of the impression that many who post reviews at this web site do so to justify their purchases, much of what has been previously written is accurate. These are very uncolored speakers that pretty much give you what they are fed further up in the audio chain. I would describe them as more transparent than romantic, as they do not impart a large sonic signature of their own to the music. More detailed and dynamic than my B&W M801s. Used with an amplifier capable of delivering current as well as high resolution sources such as that of SACD or DVD-A, the sound is stunning. Not having brought home similar priced competition, I'm not in a position to compare the Studios with other popular speakers from companies such as Wilson, Martin-Logan, Vandersteen, B&W, etc. I have however heard a great majority of these speakers at A/V stores and shows, and while they all have their own set of strengths, I can only say that the Revels compare very favorably. Not being of independent wealth, I had to think more than twice before spending $10,000.00 on a pair of speakers. Given my love of music and the enjoyment derived from the Studios, I would conclude they are worth their price. Mate very well with the Revel Voice to produce a seamless soundstage during use of Dolby Pro Logic II and DTS 6.1 surround sound modes.

Similar Products Used:

B&W N and M 800 series Wilson Watt/Puppy (audition only) Focal-JMlab (audition only) Dynaudio (audition only) Aerial Model 10T (audition only)

Excellent dynamics, soundstaging, imaging. Midrange and Treble is fantastic, (and adjustable in case you think it is too bright!) Build quality is the best I have ever seen. Nice looking, but not as nice as the Eidolons, which in my opinion are the most beautiful speaker I have ever seen.

A bit pricey, but considering the price of the competition, they are a bargin. Bass is a tiny bit light, (It easily goes down to below 30hz), but that is probably fine, as the room reinforcement brings it up to par. (I think if it truly went down to 20, it would sound kind of booming, even though I have a 16'x24' room). (My H.T. sub sounds kind of boomy in the room).

These speakers are the best speaker for the money that I know of. They rival speakers that cost about double the price. (Avalon Acoustic Eidolon and the Sonus Faber Amati). One advantage I find with these speakers is that your electronics to do not have be incredible to get really good sound out of them, although my system is pretty decent. (The Eidolons especially need the ultimate electronics or they just won't come to life, and they suck power!). These sound as good with acoustic music as they do with rock. They can get loud and still sound great. (I loved my old Martin Logan Sequel II's, but they would not get loud enough, and the sweet spot was so small, that only one person could really enjoy the sound.) Their looks are VERY modern, especially with the aluminium panels. However, we just remodeled the living room and went with modern furniture, so they kind of blend nicely. The Wife Acceptance Factor (W.A.F.) was higher than for the Sequels. I do recommend having a really good, and powerful amp (200W/ch). My system: ARC LS_2 preamp ARC PH3 phone preamp Mark Levinson No. 23 amp Sony 9000ES CD and SACD player Basis TT, with RB 300 arm and Glider II. MIT 770 CVT speaker cable MIT, Straight wire, Kinber interconnects.

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Other Speakers I have owned: Martin Logan Sequel II's B&W 1400's Other Speakers considered before buying these: Avalon Opus - These sounded good, but did not "light my fire!" Something about t

Clarity, detail, natural in mid & high. Deep and tight bass. Large, deep and focus soundstage. Slim and modern looking.

No grill for tweeter and midrange woofer.

I just has upgraded my loudspeaker from B&W Nautilus 802 to Revel Studio. Nautilus 802 has a more soft and transparant mid & high, but not focus and detail. Nautilus 802 also do not has a tigh bass compare to Revel Studio. Revel studio has a very clean and detail sound, with focus, deep and big soundstage.I still has an old Acoustat Spectra 66 loudspeaker with a very natural sound but with a limited bass. I used NAD S200 to power those loudspeakers, I am just thinking about to upgrade it to a new Bryston 7B SST monoblok or ML 335.

Similar Products Used:

B&W Nautilus 802, Acoustat Spectra 66.

Looks. Has good detail

Thin, bright, not enough ooomph

Well, after paying $6k for these, I thought I got a deal, but after living with them for 7 months, using a variety of gear, I am just notahppy. Dull, flat and thin sounding. Notgood for rock. Great for classical. I am now running them with a ML No39 CD player and a SOnic Frontiers Power 2 Amp. I tried the ML 383 and that sucked with these speakers. Very thin, not enough power, no bass.

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Monitor Audio B&W

these things look like a cross between a robot and a kidney, but i have to admit i love them. a year ago i set out on a quest to find the best loud speaker i could that would fit my 10000 dollar buget. most of my friends and family thought i was heading to the funny farm in spending this much money on a pair of speakers. but if your reading this review that means that you are also in the same boat i was. most of the reviews on this sight already sum up what these speakers can do. all i can say is i love them. i listen more to my system more now then i ever did. these speakers make me want to upgrade my room to maximize there performance, but that will be another quest.

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b&w 802, energy v2.8,

Very fast, detailed sound, but without being overly dry or analytical. Excellent top to bottom balance. Adjustable treble balance. Very dynamic!

None, unless you demand room-rattling bass to 20Hz! These start to roll off in the low 30's.

I thought I would never be satisfied with the speed and lack of fine detail in a typical cone/dome speaker after using Magnepans with subs for many years, and trying out many other speaker designs. These Revels proved me wrong! They have everything you'd expect a top notch speaker to have: speed, detail, top to bottom balance, neutrality, and were more dynamic and had tighter bass and more depth than my Magnepans. On top of that, they look better and take up much less space and are not that hard to set up. I could go on and on, but suffice to say, these are the best I've ever tried or owned. They make me want to play all my favorite CD's and LP,s on them to see how good they sound. The only word of warning: Use only top end gear in front of them to get your money's worth, (I use Levinson electronics, Linn LP-12 table and Transparent cables),and if you demand room-shaking bass, go to the larger Salon model. These things make musical magic!

Similar Products Used:

B&W 802 Matrix and Nautilus, Magnepan 3.5, Martin Logan Sequel

Great balance of the octaves, very detailed, revealing of CD's you thought were good.

Grills cost 240 list and they are rectangular metal frame with cloth streched over.

What can I say, I am a guy that went through analysis paralysis for about a year. Testing, trying, questioning, auditioning over and over again.
I wanted only to spend 7000 on speakers, and of course you are tempted to try the next upgrade and you like them better. I wanted the Mezzo Utopias but at 14K list and about 8K used it was high and my wife did not like the cabinets.
I was on Audiogon and went to the chat room to discuss speakers and low and behold a guy went through the same issue as I. He wound up his discussion by recommending that I try Revel. So tempted by the fruit of another I auditioned the Studio's. I and my wife were very impressed as they had the balance and dynamics in the octives that I was looking for and a modern look that we both liked. So the store demo's were 9,800 so I passed.
Went to the web and found a guy wanting to upgrade to the Salons and he wanted to move them fast. Wha Lha, Got them for 6500.
Now the music, of course nothing sounds like it does when you audition them. But when I got them home, they were much better than what I expected. the clarity was the first noticible improvement, then the dynamics, no coloration and they were to my suprise excellent when I played at low levels. The Human voice never sounded so good. Played Richie Lee Jones, Barry White ( test for human base) Twin Peaks and James Newton Howard for fusion jazz dynamic range. All with very satisfactory result.
The guy I bought the Studio's from went directly to his contact and bought the Salons. He says the are awsome. That is as far as I would let him discribe the Salons. As for now I am completely satisfied. Time to buy more CD's.
Equipment used. Krell AV Standard Preamp processor ( will be replaced by Mark Levinson 380s in a month, and Krell FPB 300 amp.

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B&W 802' Thiel CS6, JMLAbs Mezzo Utopias.

Sound stage, accuracy, energy

None

Absolutely breathtaking sound stage and accuracy with room filling energy in a relatively small package. I will also add that although not inexpensive these speakers are a tremendous value. They sound far better than the WATT puppy at half the price. In fact, if you have already purchased WATT puppies I would not listen to the studio unless you enjoy the feeling of being totally ripped off. The Martin Logan prodigy is a tougher comparison. I feel the two are about equal and deciding between them would depend on personal preferences regarding styling and intended use (dedicated audio vs. home theater).

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Martin Logan, Wilson

Clarity, Smooth, Non fatiguing, Fast, Soundstaging, Imaging,
Terrific bass response for their size, Looks.

None

I had heard the Revel Salons at a dealer seminar and thought they sounded fantastic but they were too large for my room.

When the Studios came out I auditioned them 3 times and found them to have all the attributes of the Salons but in a more compact size.

The clarity, smoothness, coherency, and imaging of the Studios has to be heard, they are the most non fatiguing speakers I've listened to with wonderful detail and terrific bass for their size.

That they are also beautiful to look at is icing on the cake!

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Verity Parcifal Encore, BMW 802, Audio Physic Libra, Vandersteen 5.