Revel F206 Tower Speaker Review

[caioferrari]

We are all aware of this. This is a boilerplate statement at the beginning of all Revel, JBL, and other Harman product reviews. by Amir

I know it is.

And I said he could be as biased as he wants. The product is very good and measure well, so it deserves a bias. A good one.

Do you know what irony is?

 

[fritobugger]

I know it is.

And I said he could be as biased as he wants. The product is very good and measure well, so it deserves a bias. A good one.

Do you know what irony is?

yes, I also now know what a completely unnecessary waste of words looks like.

 

[caioferrari]

yes, I also now know what a completely unnecessary waste of words looks like.

When I'm really worried about wasting words, I don't drag out discussions I find unnecessary.

 

[Sparkles]

yes, I also now know what a completely unnecessary waste of words looks like.

Woah. You have misunderstood @caioferrari. We can restate it another way for you, but honestly, you will get it after a re-read without your previous disposition.

 

[Power Pop 23]

I do not know if supplies of 'new' samples of the Revel F206 loudspeaker are finally drying up or not.......


Crutchfield dot com is currently showing inventory of new samples of the Revel F206 in Black or White but not Walnut


Music Direct dot com is currently showing inventory of new samples of the Revel F206 in Walnut but not Black or White

 

[MarkS]

The big question is whether Revel is going to introduce a replacement.

 

[Power Pop 23]

The big question is whether Revel is going to introduce a replacement.

Madrona Digital told me that Revel confirmed to them there would be a replacement for the F206 but that Revel did not say when it would be available.

 

[highender]

Perhaps you misunderstood what I wrote?

I didn't mean that harmonic distortion below 100Hz is inaudible no matter how high it gets.

I meant that once you add subs, it doesn't matter how well your mains perform below 100Hz, since they would typically be high-passed anyway in such a scenario.

Therefore, in a 2.1 setup, a floorstander's advantage over a bookshelf speaker is diminished.

Cool summary tho.

Purifi 4 inch woofer high passed at 80Hz with 102db SPL, does well indeed.

 

[whit]

For those still inclined to acquire, Crutchfield now has the F206 as "low stock." Mine should be here Wednesday. I had just got an F36 pair last week, which have proved to be far beyond the Emotiva T1s I was using. But I went for the discounted white version (black of those still at full list). The wife has now vetoed white for the living room, so those will be demoted to zone 2. I have thanked her for the excuse to upgrade further.

 

[whit]

Wow, the F206 are more better over the F36 than the F36 were over the Emotivas. This is in a acoustically difficult room, long, narrow, asymmetric, and the F206s just overcome that, with great clarity.

 

[BJL]

Bought a pair based on this review. Calibrated with Dirac, put some familiar music, and, wow! These speaker are really good, detailed.

Now I'm considering buying a third one to use as a center. Aside from having to raise the video monitor a few inches, is there any downside?

 

[starfly]

Ok I've had these speakers for 5 years, enjoyed them the whole time I've owned them.

I just moved into a new home with a better living room layout where I can now space out the speakers 10ft, and have the listening position also be 10ft away, in an equilateral triangle (a much more ideal setup). And can move them out from the walls a bit.

Running through my Yamaha AVR and after some YPAO room correction to even out low-end response, man these speakers have really come alive now. The soundstage is incredible, especially on well mastered tracks. Like a whole new speaker with this much more ideal placement. Love it!

 

[lessthanjoey]

Bought a pair based on this review. Calibrated with Dirac, put some familiar music, and, wow! These speaker are really good, detailed.

Now I'm considering buying a third one to use as a center. Aside from having to raise the video monitor a few inches, is there any downside?

If you're happy with your screen height, nope! I run an M105 there and they work well together.

 

[starfly]

Question here for owners. Last night as I was listening to some music, pretty loudly I might add, I noticed that one of the speakers sounded a bit distorted, but more like something was rattling on the inside when certain very specific low frequencies were being played in this one particular song I was listening to.

Is this at all possible? And is it something I could potentially self-diagnose and repair? Have had these speakers for 5 years so doubt they’re still covered by warranty.

 

[typericey]

Thanks for the review, @amirm! These are my main speakers and I got them in '21, solely basing on the F208 review with nothing but hopes that there will be a significant trickle down of all that measured goodness.

I still have them 3 years later with no upgrade itch. In short, my ears were/are happy with them. With this review I now have the "dyno charts" validating that I made the right decision. Maybe it will help me sleep better at night.

Revel product distribution in Manila isn't the best so I was glad to have gotten 'em when I had the chance.

I think I am mostly cured of upgraditis. I have an old OG Topping D90 with is a solid front end to compliment these speakers, and the only "question mark" left in my system is my Rotel amp which I hope to see Amir's measurements of, one day. Of course, there is still that dream/grail setup of an F226Be + Benchmark amp. Perhaps one day...

[P.S. Better late post than never; I've been dormant in this forum for quite a while]

 

[starfly]

1. Do you have mice? Or is a pet gerbil missing?

2. Take the screen off and examine the woofers. Do they have any cracks or separation in the outer or inner edges of the driver?

3. Use REW to do a full frequency scan with the speaker in question. Does the rattle show up? If not, it may be an issue with the recording.

I had a 15" passive radiator that came loose from the frame in my VMPS SuperTowers. I had no idea what it was until I opened the cabinet. It would make a scary vibration in the low frequencies. I refoamed the radiator and it worked great. If none of the hints above offer a solution you may have to look inside the speaker.

1. No, lol
2. I did inspect it and didn't see any noticeable damage. But will need to take another look.
3. Will try that.
4. I just moved them into another house, but transported them in their original boxes that are very well padded, so doubt anything happened to them then, but can't rule it out.

 

[Laserjock]

@starfly did you swap speakers left to right,
Right to left or switch speaker wires to see if it follows?

 

[starfly]

@starfly did you swap speakers left to right,
Right to left or switch speaker wires to see if it follows?

That might not work because each speaker is individually corrected for room EQ, but I’ll try it.

 

[mtaz]

These are at or near the top of my short list. Probably next would be the Arendal 1723 Tower S, but there's a lot of competition at this price point (and my budget is actually a bit higher), but I keep coming back to these. I haven't listened to either BTW; my only option for auditioning speakers locally is Best Buy.

I'd really like to have the F226be, but I just don't think I can justify the price.

 

[Cadillacofminds]

In my current situation investing in and installing absorption panels doesn't work and I don't have the space to bring my speakers out from the front wall, can I get confirmation that even with the distortion measurements shown EQing to deal with front wall bounce cancellation centered a little below 300hz can't work?