Revel M55XC Outdoor Speaker Review

[MZKM]

So another example of a speaker that scores very high subjectively (golfing panther), but ranks very low on the Olive preference score.

However it seems unlike some prior cases like this, distortion can’t explain the preference for this one, since distortion is rather high.

Any theories on what could explain this @amirm?

Or perhaps was the recommendation for this model given relative to other outdoor speakers (which as others have said are generally pretty terrible sounding)?

I wouldn’t mind having some decent outdoor speakers and it seems these are certainly among the most promising in that category. They certainly have the best spinorama out of all outdoor speakers I know of - #1 out of a grand total contestant set of 1!

P.S. Looking more at the spin, it really doesn’t look as bad as the score suggests. In fact, if you EQ’ed it to a target curve, I bet the preference score would skyrocket up their with the best of them.

The nearly flat predicted in-room response. The formula assumes full toe-in, you wouldn’t do that or these, as they will sound bright.

 

[richard12511]

The nearly flat predicted in-room response. The formula assumes full toe-in, you wouldn’t do that or these, as they will sound bright.

Can you recalculate for what it would look like with no toe in? Might help explain the subjective/objective discrepancy, here.

 

[amirm]

Any theories on what could explain this @amirm?

The speaker has almost no bass out in the open. In that regard, it would lose big to any speaker with bass and its score would be as reported. So my subjective listening test in the same condition as measured, match.

As noted repeatedly, this is an on-wall speaker. I am not yet setup to measure them that way. So we have to imagine the bass improving to fill in the gap there. I was able to listen (almost) that way and that is how I rated the speaker.

I thought this would be obvious.

 

[richard12511]

The speaker has almost no bass out in the open. In that regard, it would lose big to any speaker with bass and its score would be as reported. So my subjective listening test in the same condition as measured, match.

As noted repeatedly, this is an on-wall speaker. I am not yet setup to measure them that way. So we have to imagine the bass improving to fill in the gap there. I was able to listen (almost) that way and that is how I rated the speaker.

I thought this would be obvious.

Is it possible for the NFS to measure them that way?

 

[richard12511]

Actually, thinking about it, shouldn't an outdoor speaker be designed with more(not less) bass? There will be no room gain outside.

 

[amirm]

Actually, thinking about it, shouldn't an outdoor speaker be designed with more(not less) bass? There will be no room gain outside.

You don't stick it out in the open. You mount it on a wall. This means all the energy that normally would go to the back, i.e. bass, would now project forward increasing bass.

If it is going to be on a tripod outside, yes, you better use a far bigger speaker and tons of power.

 

[bigguyca]

These were mine. As Amir said, using them in a home theater install 7.2.6 setup. 3 M106 for LCR, 2 S16 for side surrounds, 2 M16 for surround back and 6 of these M55XCs for atmos. I wanted a decent measuring atmos bookshelf that I could point towards the main listening position and one that included an integrated mounting system. The mount is excellent and I have one pair above my screen one pair on the ceiling behind the main listening position and will have this paint mounted above me on the ceiling. These actually test how I hoped for my use. Reasonable frequency response for their size when mounted against a wall (a few inches), and very good directivity making them very eq friendly. There are compromises of course which is expected with a small sealed bookshelf, but it does the job nicely. I was considering the M80XC but they were just too large for my room. I have taken a couple of in room measurements, I’ll see if I can dig them up as they do measure better where they are mounted or up against a wall.

Since you did some research here may I ask what other candidates you considered? That's not to say anything against these speakers.

When I've looked for these sorts of speakers I've developed few candidates. I'm looking to mount the speakers in similar locations to yours. In particular, the availability of built-in mounting points is a must. An example candidate is a Neuman speaker that was recently measured here, but it's not clear that it would have enough output.

Your thoughts or those of others here would be appreciated.

 

[amirm]

Is it possible for the NFS to measure them that way?

We can approximate it by building a wall behind it that is much larger than it. The trick is to make it large but not too large for the measurement rig.

I could use some kind of plywood for the back but then need a way to mount it to the measurement stand. So it is fair bit of work for a single measurement. At some point I will build one.

 

[ROOSKIE]

Go look at measurements for typical outdoor speakers, if you can find any. They are terrible. So the rating relative to the competition is valid, IMO.

I am planning to use their big brother as height speakers and they should do quite nicely in that application as well as on the back deck.

I'd be real interested in how Focal's outdoor gear measures up. Something tells me they will be pretty good.
Especially this one, https://www.crutchfield.com/S-qfDPHBK1k4i/p_091OD706V/Focal-Chorus-OD-706-V.html

 

[Tks]

No upper bass energy? Good, I dread upper bass honk.

The problem though, if you're going to not have any bass, I don't want to see that level of distortion at 96db tbh. Especially seeing as how this is supposed to be an outdoor speaker. Bass amount seems to be one of the biggest drivers in how woofers distort seemingly. So a speaker that has natively lots of bass, I would assume it would distort more to some degree than non-EQ'd speakers that lack bass.

Reading just the text, before the graph details, I thought to myself "oh no bass? Perfect, add a sub, and this thing's going to be distortion free with a liberal crossover point", then I see the cross-over point needs to be higher than any sane bass crossover should be.

I'm wondering though, if you EQ'd out some of the higher mids/treble, would that come back as less distortion overall?

 

[Dj7675]

This may or may not be helpful A couple of notes. When mounting atmos speakers you of course end up putting them in places that will make them measure worse that a speaker normally would when placing them ideally for stereo listening etc. For example front eight is in the literally at the top of the front wall at the ceiling. My top rear speakers are mounted above the second row and pointed at the main listening position. I have also had other speakers at these locations and measurements were much worse. Below is the mx55 at a few different locations ... front height, top rear, center, and front wide. When you put it in difficult places such as on ceiling and front height, the measurements aren't great as you would expect. However if you look at the center and front wide, you get pretty good results. I'm please with the results for my use as atmos speakers. Measurements are at my listening position, moving microphone method.
Edit: In particular on the front center location note the better bass extension getting down around 80hz. I can't locate the L/R measurements as they extended even further with more bass and had less high energy as I did not point them at the listening positing when measuring those locations. If you don't need a small speaker with an integrated mounting system to put it on a wall or ceiling, there wouldn't be a reason to get it over an M16 for example. But this speaker has a specific purpose.. to mount it on a wall or ceiling indoor or outdoor and it does that very well.

 

[Dj7675]

Since you did some research here may I ask what other candidates you considered? That's not to say anything against these speakers.

When I've looked for these sorts of speakers I've developed few candidates. I'm looking to mount the speakers in similar locations to yours. In particular, the availability of built-in mounting points is a must. An example candidate is a Neuman speaker that was recently measured here, but it's not clear that it would have enough output.

Your thoughts or those of others here would be appreciated.

Others on my list were:
JBL Control X
JBL Control 25AV
JBL SCS 12 Coaxial
RSL 34E
Polk Atrium (Can't recall which model.
Revel In Ceiling

Hope this helps with your shopping.

I think one speaker type missing in the Revel line is a front ported M105 with an integrated mounting system for aiming the speaker.

 

[JohnYang1997]

Idk.
Only possibility is the low price and the ability to take eq.

 

[JohnYang1997]

And we need in room response no matter how inaccurate it is. We need to know what you are actually hearing Amir.

 

[tktran303]

This is the downside of a robotic measurement such as the NFS.

The at-the-Amir’s ears listening position measurement is only approximated, not actually measured.

You need a manual, measured, ungated, full frequency sweep, to get a an approximation what’s reaching his ears, at his actually listening position.

But then this measurement includes all of his own room’s modes, with artifacts in the trace, peaks and dips, warts and all.

Neither is perfect. But together they give some indication.

As I’ve said in the past, the data is the data.
How you interpret it, is what matters.

 

[ROOSKIE]

I think one speaker type missing in the Revel line is a front ported M105 with an integrated mounting system for aiming the speaker.

Just a thought on the M105 for the DIY handy. You could pretty easily move the port to the bottom. Plug the hole in back and your good. Even if it is sitting on a mounting shelf/bracket you could put a port sized hole in that and still set the speaker on it. Anyway prolly not a lot of folks want to this but it really would not be hard for those who do want a M105 mounted right against a wall. Beyond that I would guess even 2 inches of clearance is enough on a stock M105 if that works.

 

[amirm]

You need a manual, measured, ungated, full frequency sweep, to get a an approximation what’s reaching his ears, at his actually listening position.

Don't have a gated one but in the process of measuring distortion with Audio Precision, I did measure its frequency response as well:

This is inside my "photo booth" so probably has a bit more enforcement than it would on one wall. Still, you can see how even the response is.

 

[Dj7675]

Just a thought on the M105 for the DIY handy. You could pretty easily move the port to the bottom. Plug the hole in back and your good. Even if it is sitting on a mounting shelf/bracket you could put a port sized hole in that and still set the speaker on it. Anyway prolly not a lot of folks want to this but it really would not be hard for those who do want a M105 mounted right against a wall. Beyond that I would guess even 2 inches of clearance is enough on a stock M105 if that works.

Interesting idea for sure. I did locate some pretty good wall mounts that could aim speakers and tilt them down. However, I didn't find anything that could mount them safely on a ceiling. I previously had made a mount to mount some DIYSoundgroup Volt 6 speakers on the ceiling. I never felt comfortable about them being 100% safe which led me to look for a speaker with a good mounting system.

 

[Absolute]

Based on the frequency response it looks ear-piercing to me. Looking at the directivity, I'm impressed.
Splendid work on that, Revel, splendid.

Now, this may be perceived as a little bit of an outlier in the tuning of all Harman/Revel products. I wonder how much a back-wall fills in the lower frequencies to align it more with other Harman speakers. Note to other speaker manufacturers; here's the Harman secret formula for excellent Amir-reviews;

 

[richard12511]

View attachment 74903

Other than this speaker, crazy good consistency. Also crazy just how crazy bright these are.