Revel M105 Bookshelf Speaker Review

[GelbeMusik]

Hmmm, I am not a fan of piano finishes but you really don't like these that much?

Yes, I'm used to particle board. IKEA always has such a variant: "particle board, natural", means p/b unfinished. Yepp, it's a running gag, at least in German, when it shows up in a row with "Australian bubinga, replica" or "polypropylene, white".

Here I think the rounded sides are just utter hoax. Or shall it resemble an airplane? If so, why?! The cock's comb on top; do You know why`? As Japanese cars were mentioned: I've learned that the design of that product follows magical rituals, true! The more writings on it the better. Each writing is, per se, felt as a bann against mishap. Symbolism? Icon?

As said, a straight rectangular box would have done it perfectly. I possibly care too much about design, though. Or I don't like nonsense, especially with product that actually makes sense.

 

[amirm]

It is pricewise prohibitive, and I argue by intent.

Please note that these speakers are sold through "luxury" dealers so have significant margin. While I did not see much of this before, since Samsung take over of Harman I see a lot of price discounting on Revel products (and for that matter, rest of Harman line). So please don't compare their "list price" to what you see on Amazon for a budget speaker.

 

[ROOSKIE]

Yes, I'm used to particle board. IKEA always has such a variant: "particle board, natural", means p/b unfinished. Yepp, it's a running gag, at least in German, when it shows up in a row with "Australian bubinga, replica" or "polypropylene, white".

Here I think the rounded sides are just utter hoax. Or shall it resemble an airplane? If so, why?! The cock's comb on top; do You know why`? As Japanese cars were mentioned: I've learned that the design of that product follows magical rituals, true! The more writings on it the better. Each writing is, per se, felt as a bann against mishap. Symbolism? Icon?

As said, a straight rectangular box would have done it perfectly. I possibly care too much about design, though. Or I don't like nonsense, especially with product that actually makes sense.

Beyond the sleek look which sells well in general, the conventional thinking is that the curved sides help with internal standing waves and with resonances.
I read an interview with a Harman engineer who stated that they use some pretty high tech analysis with lasers to shape the cabinets to minimize resonances.
In any case they match the whole Revel line which has been around awhile so who knows what the Performa4 will look like. Might still be a few years away.

 

[restorer-john]

While I did not see much of this before, since Samsung take over of Harman I see a lot of price discounting on Revel products (and for that matter, rest of Harman line).

That will cause a fair bit of trouble going forward for those "luxury" retailers of Revel. Yamaha destroyed huge dealer respect in the 2000s when they did the same. In my opinion, they never recovered their elite status and ended up thrashing it out through the big box retailers with junk lines (HTR-xxx etc) they never would have even considered putting the Yamaha badge on previously. Maybe that's where all the money was/is, but the brand respect has taken a long time to rise back up.

 

[restorer-john]

I read an interview with a Harman engineer who stated that they use some pretty high tech analysis with lasers to shape the cabinets to minimize resonances.

Curved side speakers sell to women or men chasing the WAF factor. There's also a great story with inert cabinets from kerfing/laminating and reflections, minimal baffle width etc. An easy sell and they look good. It's just a lot more expensive to manufacture, but less so than it once was.

 

[Jimbob54]

It will be due to the cheap adhesive or the badge on the speaker is a single spigot and rotates about the pin. Some companies worked out a long time ago that two pin badges don't twist...

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I suggest Amir adds badge pin count into the overall weighting for speakers. Possibly the single most important metric that should be graphed.

And thus began the pin wars. Single pin editions of otherwise brilliant kit becomes unsaleable. Pin trees replace soya as the most prolific crop.

 

[ROOSKIE]

Curved side speakers sell to women or men chasing the WAF factor. There's also a great story with inert cabinets from kerfing/laminating and reflections, minimal baffle width etc. An easy sell and they look good. It's just a lot more expensive to manufacture, but less so than it once was.

Yes more expensive to manufacturer but since they are thus sold in higher volumes due to the desired look do they really cost the buyer more?
That is the question and I doubt it as a fantastic Revel monitor is $1-2k a pair and sells in good volume for the form factor but square box crap from other manufactures cost much more.
I understand the partner approval factor and also I do believe the Revel engineer was not talking market bs about their reasons and that doesn't seem their style.

 

[dwkdnvr]

Please note that these speakers are sold through "luxury" dealers so have significant margin. While I did not see much of this before, since Samsung take over of Harman I see a lot of price discounting on Revel products (and for that matter, rest of Harman line). So please don't compare their "list price" to what you see on Amazon for a budget speaker.

I haven't been to an actual B&M dealer in ages, but you're confirming what I've seen as a recent trend - that apparently Revel products are now available routinely discounted against list price. I had been heading down the route to a rather ambitious DIY speaker project, but once again we just can't seem to leave well enough alone and are uprooting our lives just as some stability seemed imminent. Just picking up a pair of F206s and a C208 might be rather attractive if they are available at a decent price.

 

[GelbeMusik]

Curved side speakers sell to women ...

Hmm, physics: a glossy side, curved would distort the mirrors image. Less fortunate, as I said

Nothing else to complain. But, if it wasn't a wide dispersion design, which it is not, I would take care of the 5kHz bump. In case one listens close, the bump might become objectionable, because the room cannot flatten it out then. And so forth. There are limitations.

 

[Laserjock]

@Amir thanks for the ongoing efforts! May I request that you post the speaker dimensions? The pics are great, but want to know how much speaker am getting for the money!

My Walnut M106 are pretty much spot on except for the height which is about a half inch shorter without any spikes or attachments.
The depth includes the grill which is about three fourths of an inch space from the front edge.
Of course the width is the widest portion which seems to be pretty much as spec’ed.
Chris

Performa3 series specs

 

[Rick Sykora]

You can start a PM with me (and @pozz) if you'd like. But given the backlog of items I have on my plate for all of the non-speaker stuff I'd agree with pozz that this would be back burner. Or maybe it's just Friday afternoon and I don't feel like thinking about more work ...

Out of curiosity: what is the use case to see length / width / height / weight on ASR? I'm thinking about cost/benefit and not sure I see the benefit part. I spent a fair bit of time building out the product page URL feature -- plus maintaining the data -- to handle this type of request so that dimensions (and other info) are one or two clicks away ...

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Thanks. Will do. No biggie as agree the data is clearly available elsewhere. It is more of a convenience thing. Btw, weight is not very important to me.

The primary use case is simple. Before I even consider a speaker, need to know that it fits in my room. If I know I want a bookshelf speaker, it is a start, but it could be tiny or might be larger monitor. At this point, I need the dimensions to drill down to the set of speakers that might fit.

 

[BYRTT]

@Amir thanks for the ongoing efforts! May I request that you post the speaker dimensions?.....

.....Here I think the rounded sides are just utter hoax. Or shall it resemble an airplane?...

Sorry couldn't resist..

 

[amirm]

I have mixed feelings about the change from 200 Hz to 80 Hz in the compression test.

Yeh, I got buyer's remorse after making the change. I will test again at 200 Hz....

 

[Laserjock]

Sorry couldn't resist..

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That’s with landing gear down...

 

[Rick Sykora]

'cause I hate it when "reviewers" fill the text with stuff like that.

here, no text involved, just include this in your next speaker review because a little panther told me measurements matter...

 

[bluefuzz]

'cause I hate it when "reviewers" fill the text with stuff like that.

It would be useful to be able to filter by dimensions in the speaker comparison charts. The size of a speaker is after all probably the most important buying parameter after price - especially for the significant others of the buyer ...

A speaker that has ruler flat, low distortion output from 50 - 15000 Hz at 96 dB is unexeptional if it's a refrigerator sized box with 15" woofers, but impressive if it's a 20 cm tall 2-way bookshelf. Also some of the out of production/vintage speakers take some serious google fu to find their specs.

At least tell us how tall the golfing panther is ...

 

[jonfitch]

The M105 is a god-like speaker for the price and the tweeter is insanely good. True story, after I bought a pair of used M105s to play around with I ended up selling my $8000 Dynaudio C1 MKIIs.

If it weren't for the low frequency distortion I would say it's a better speaker than even the M126BE. However the bass performance of the latter is just so much better that I still put the Be above it, albeit slightly. The LS50s also have much better bass (qualitatively) than the M105, so I think it's the woofer that's dragging down the overall performance. I would love to see how well a 5¼" CMMD driver would perform over the standard aluminum driver.

 

[Robbo99999]

It will be due to the cheap adhesive or the badge on the speaker is a single spigot and rotates about the pin. Some companies worked out a long time ago that two pin badges don't twist...

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[5th element]

They should really have notched out that 5k resonance on the woofer!

 

[GelbeMusik]

They should really have notched out that 5k resonance on the woofer!

Really? It would affect the in-room response. Not the least, I actually doubt it's the woof. Could be an interference of waveguide and baffle dimensions, but who knows, and who cares.

Of course the technical design isn't perfect. I personally would have taken care of the bump. Seems they love to give 'it' a bit of a smack up there, see IL-10. Quest for brilliance, clarity, stiffness, a lighthouse in the vast space of frequency range, but ever so dim? The woof is critical with its overload characteristics. Or not, depending on perspective. It will fall apart sharply, not gradual as is more common. Lots of higher harmonics when driven beyond design boundaries. A sub might not enhance the overall available level too much.