I'm considering purchase of Revel f228BE vs KEF LS60's. Both are well regarded. Anyone think one is much better than the other?
I think any opinions you get will be biased. You should hear them in person. If that is not possible, evaluate their differences.
I own the LS60s and I have not heard the f228BEs. Here is why I chose the LS60s (which does not necessarily mean that you should):
1. The LS60s are all active.
- This provides the advantage of not needing separate components.
- There are no passive crossovers. The woofers are directly connected to their own amplifier in each speaker, minimizing the damping factor. This provides very tight bass.
2. The LS60s use a concentric midrange/tweeter driver. This provides better vertical dispersion characteristics - the tone does not change much when your ears are off axis.
3. Each LS60 has four 130mm (5.25") woofers, each with 6.5mm peak excursion. Together, four 130mm woofers have about 40% greater piston surface area than two 8" woofers. But, the 8" woofers probably have more excursion. I don't know what is their excursion, but it probably is a wash.
4. The LS60s extend a bit lower in frequency; 26 Hz vs 33 Hz @ -6dB.
5. The LS60s are very narrow, which worked out well for where I wanted to place them.
Here is the SPINorama comparison:
www.spinorama.org