Product Overview: Revel F35

[Aprude51]

I recently purchased a pair of Revel F35s, and besides feeling that I could have gotten similar audio quality for less money with active studio monitors, I'm very happy with them. I wanted to share with the forum, but know that anecdotal comments about sound quality are useless, and so I decided to summarize my research into them for the benefit of others.

F35, by the numbers

• Style: 2.5 Way Floorstander
• Sensitivity: 90dB (verified by 3rd party measurements)
• -3dB: 55hz (verified by 3rd party measurements)
• Impedance: 6 ohms (stated, closer to 4 ohms measured)

My Thoughts

• Why I Bought Them: I set a $2,000 budget for my full system (speakers, amp, streamer/EQ, room treatment), and the F35s were the best measuring speakers I could find that fit that criteria. I ended up paying $1,100 for them, new open-box. Although my room is small, I wanted to go with floorstanders for aesthetic reasons. I have a large (100") projection screen on the wall and I felt monitors looked out of place next to that.
• Alternatives I listened to: Elac Uni-Fi UF5, Buchardt S400, JBL Stage A170, KEF R3
• Appearance: The finish, which Revel describe as "automotive grade" is impressive and looks much better in person than in photos. That, combined with the curved sides, gives the F35 a very refined look.
• Audio Quality: they sound as good as their measurements imply they should. Bass doesn't extend super deep, but is well controlled.
• Other: I was happy to find rubber feet installed by standard, with spikes included as an option

Professional Reviews (w/ measurements):
Audioholics

• Very positive review
• Review of F36 (extremely similar speaker in the same line, with slightly larger mid/bass drivers)
• Includes data & charts from Harman

Home Theater Review

• Very positive review
• Review of (F36), written by Brent Butterworth. Includes independent measurements
• Excerpt: "The response plot of the F36 could be used to illustrate the ideal dispersion for a loudspeaker. Except for a roughly half-octave-wide dip in the treble, the on-axis plot is almost perfectly flat. As the microphone moves further off-axis, there's no crossover dip or anything like that, just an increasingly gradual treble roll off."

Sound & Vision

• Very Positive Review
• Includes very limited measurements
• Excerpt: "But a bargain these most certainly are: The Revel Concerta2s are clearly aimed at the audio enthusiast. Whether you’re on a budget or are able to spend a lot more, it’s your loss if you don’t have a serious listen to the F36s."

Videos

• Concerta2 Overview w/ Kevin Voecks (Revel designer)
• Cnet Review:
• Harman Concerta2 Marketing / Launch Video

Measurements (from linked reviews)

F36, frequency response, Brent Butterworth. 0° on-axis and 10°, 20°, 30°, 45° and 60° horizontal

Audioholics, Provided By Revel

 

[BillG]

Harmon Kardon group, of which Revel is a part of, consistently design excellent speakers. I'm not surprised to read that you're happy with them.

I happen to own some HK speakers also, Infinity Reference 162 and they share some design and technology with Revel, which I use in a bedroom system and am very happy with them...

 

[Blumlein 88]

I've some Revel F12's that I use in a video setup and some stereo listening. They are crazy good for the money, and just plain good speakers in absolute terms. After I think 12 years of production they were replaced by the F35 in 2015 or 2016. As Harman uses a rational design approach I'd expect the F35 is at least a little better than the previous model. So I would say you have some fine speakers there. I've lived with and heard some very highly touted expensive speakers. So my opinion of the Revels in this price range isn't one born of ignorance of what else is out there.

 

[Rja4000]

Review of

All the reviews are about the F36, aren't they?

 

[fredoamigo]

All the reviews are about the F36, aren't they?

what are the major differences between 35 & 36 ?

 

[Blumlein 88]

what are the major differences between 35 & 36 ?

Both are 2 and 1/2 way designs (like the F12).
https://www.revelspeakers.com/products/types/floorstanding/F35-.html
A pair of 5.25 inch woofers and a 5.25 inch woof/mid.

https://www.revelspeakers.com/produ...-concerta2&dwvar_F36-_color=White-USA-Current
Versus a pair of 6.5 inch woofers and a 6.5 inch woof/mid.

Rather similar in most specifications otherwise. The older F12 was slightly different. A pair of 8 inch woofers and 5 inch mid-range.

 

[MSNWatch]

Revel and other companies like NHT and PSB have been making well engineered speakers since the start and given that the Toole/Olive ideals have been known for a long time now speakers from these companies that are well over 10 years old - as long as they are in good shape - will sound great and are bargains.

 

[HammerSandwich]

Both are 2 and 1/2 way designs (like the F12).
<snip>
The older F12 was slightly different. A pair of 8 inch woofers and 5 inch mid-range.

That's a very strange 2.5.

 

[garbulky]

I recently purchased a pair of Revel F35s, and besides feeling that I could have gotten similar audio quality for less money with active studio monitors, I'm very happy with them. I wanted to share with the forum, but know that anecdotal comments about sound quality are useless

• Audio Quality: they sound as good as their measurements imply they should. Bass doesn't extend super deep, but is well controlled.

I don't think it's useless. I enjoy reading what you think about them. Thanks for the review.

 

[fredoamigo]

with 90 DB on paper ,I guess they're pretty easy for amps?


it's a pity that Revel is anecdotally distributed in France it would make a full box with a good distributor, because their ranges are homogeneous... and then it's so difficult to find speakers with good measurements in the intermediate ranges...

 

[Blumlein 88]

That's a very strange 2.5.

Oops. Yes the F12 are 3 ways.

 

[murraycamp]

Thanks for the overview. Good information.

 

[Ron Texas]

For $1,100 you can't go wrong. Just because there is a lot of noise around here about active studio monitors does not mean they are for everyone or always the best deal.

 

[617]

Unusual design. Rarely see 2.5 ways with 3 woofers. Assume the bottom two have a low pass on them. Interesting idea, hard to do with off the shelf drivers.

 

[Aprude51]

Unusual design. Rarely see 2.5 ways with 3 woofers. Assume the bottom two have a low pass on them. Interesting idea, hard to do with off the shelf drivers.

That's interesting. I didn't realize it was an unusual design, but I realize now I've never seen that configuration before. Why would it be difficult to do that with off the shelf drivers?

Here's an excerpt from the Audioholics article talking about it:
"Mark told me that to increase the F36’s sensitivity, a third woofer was used instead of a separate midrange (as in the Concerta F12). All three drivers are identical 6.5-inch anodized aluminum cone woofers but don’t have the same crossover frequency. In this configuration, which takes advantage of the higher-impedance woofers, Revel has implemented a crossover design that divides the two lower woofers with the top woofer (drivers are crossed over at 1.8kHz and 600Hz). In essence, the top woofer also supplies sufficient energy in the mid-band and then crossed higher to the tweeter, while the lower two are crossed lower to the top woofer."

Note: the F35 crosses over at 575Hz instead of 600Hz

 

[617]

It's hard to do with off the shelf drivers because off the shelf drivers are normally 4 or 8 ohms nominal. This design uses three mid woofers, likely wired in parallel, at least at bass frequencies. Two 8 ohm wired that way gives you 4 ohms, which can be manageable, but 3 8 ohm drivers is 2.6 ohms. Revel can get woofers in any configuration they want, so they could have 12 or 16 ohm woofers.

This is a crude way of looking at it of course, but in general you don't run more than two woofers in parallel because the resistance drops too low, normally a problem at crossover frequencies.

Most 2.5 ways I see are WWT, which is an easy design for the most part.

 

[Aprude51]

One related question I had - does the additional bass driver have any implications for the minimum ideal listening distance for these speakers?

As I mentioned, I've got quite a small listening room (12' long x 10' wide), and based on my measurements of frequency response the best listening position seems to be fairly close to the speakers (~6-7'). Does that allow enough distance for proper driver integration? I find imaging is good, but not as "precise" as it was with the Elac Uni-Fi, which had a concentric tweeter / midrange.

 

[617]

One related question I had - does the additional bass driver have any implications for the minimum ideal listening distance for these speakers?

As I mentioned, I've got quite a small listening room (12' long x 10' wide), and based on my measurements of frequency response the best listening position seems to be fairly close to the speakers (~6-7'). Does that allow enough distance for proper driver integration? I find imaging is good, but not as "precise" as it was with the Elac Uni-Fi, which had a concentric tweeter / midrange.

The JBLs sacrifice a bit of off axis smoothness, especially in the vertical axis, for a lot of radiating area (volume/bass) with a simple crossover (low cost.) Horizontal dispersion should be quite even, but consider that every woofer is playing at 600hz or so - that's a wavelength of 22 inches, give or take, which probably about height of that woofer array. For a given wavelength, if the size of the transducer approaches that wavelength, dispersion will be very narrow. In this case, you can think of the JBL as, at midrange frequencies, being a 5x20" woofer - very directional vertically, fairly wide horizontally. At low frequencies, it's omnidirectional, and at high frequencies it's not that different from a coax or anything else due to the fact that only the top woofer is moving.

Regarding integration, I wouldn't worry about that. Driver integration is a concern for very big speakers or normal speakers very close. You are very much in the far field at 5-10'.

These are probably excellent and dynamic speakers, but if naturalness and imaging are your top priorities there are probably better approaches. I'm sure someone more knowledgeable than me can chime in.

 

[thumbslapper]

I'm glad you posted this Aprude51 - i'm looking and starting to audition ~$2.5k floorstanding speakers as well, and am looking at:

Revel F36
Revel F206 (alot more then $2.5k)
PSB Imagine T
Focal Aria 926 (again more hten $2.5k)
Monitor Audio silver 300
Paradigm 75f

People really seem to love Revels here and the F206 has had great reviews (most reviews i've seen of the F35/36 seem to be in a 5.1 theater setup, but i'll be using them for music). I have Rega Brio R (latest gen) amp, a Topping D50 & attached Mac Mini, a Rega RP3 turntable & a REL subwoofer (I'll be replacing the NHT M5's i'm using now).

Any suggestions anyone? I auditioned B&W speakers at Magnolia, but really only liked the 800 series (the 804D3), the 7xx and 6xx didn't do anything for me, and the 804D3 was like $8500. My living room is about the same size (12x10) as yours... i wish i could find a pair of F35 for $1100 tho, you got a great deal!

 

[Aprude51]

I'm glad you posted this Aprude51 - i'm looking and starting to audition ~$2.5k floorstanding speakers as well, and am looking at:

Revel F36
Revel F206 (alot more then $2.5k)
PSB Imagine T
Focal Aria 926 (again more hten $2.5k)
Monitor Audio silver 300
Paradigm 75f

People really seem to love Revels here and the F206 has had great reviews (most reviews i've seen of the F35/36 seem to be in a 5.1 theater setup, but i'll be using them for music). I have Rega Brio R (latest gen) amp, a Topping D50 & attached Mac Mini, a Rega RP3 turntable & a REL subwoofer (I'll be replacing the NHT M5's i'm using now).

Any suggestions anyone? I auditioned B&W speakers at Magnolia, but really only liked the 800 series (the 804D3), the 7xx and 6xx didn't do anything for me, and the 804D3 was like $8500. My living room is about the same size (12x10) as yours... i wish i could find a pair of F35 for $1100 tho, you got a great deal!

If you’re willing to go used the F206 is the easy option. You can usually get a pair in pristine condition for ~$2200 shipped.

The PSB are well reviewed and measure well, but I’ve never heard them.

The F35/F36 are definitely a good speaker for music, so I wouldn’t worry about their reviews being home theater focused.