Revel F206 Tower Speaker Review

[Beave]

Very good measurements overall, as one would expect from a Revel speaker.

Note that the price of $1350 each ($2700/pair) is a closeout price. They were previously $1925 each ($3850/pair), but Revel is closing out the Performa3 series, with a Performa4 series not due for several months at best. I've always found Revels a little pricey, but these closeout deals make them an excellent buy.

 

[xxie]

@amirm, thanks for the review! By any chance you have the speaker impedance plot?

 

[AdamG]

@AdamG I'm curious if you have your subs besides each f206?

I don’t have these speakers. I have Martin Logan Electrostatic speaker and yes I have a sub on the outside of each speaker.

 

[AdamG]

Aah, make that, I'm curious if you use 100hz xover point with your subs close by whatever speakers you're using?

If you are still talking to me (I will assume you are). The ML’s I use have dual 8 in woofers and they do fine down to 80Hz. I have them crossed at 90Hz for Music and 80Hz for movies. But for movies I have 8 tower sized speakers and about 16 x 8” woofers and that’s not counting the center with dual 6 1/2”’s and six height speakers that are all crossed at 100 to 160 Hz.

 

[Cadillacofminds]

Lol, I'm quite certain people were posting within the last like two years on the f208 thread that an american with a relationship with a local dealer can have a pair for $2k

 

[amper42]

Pop quiz. The Revel F206 is on the left. What speaker is on the right side?

 

[DearSX]

Been curious about this speaker for a long time, especially compared to the BE line. Thanks a bunch for testing!

 

[Ze Frog]

Nice. I'd have to raise the upper frequencies though. Is the roll-off by design or just the tweeter with it being a cheaper model?

 

[Ze Frog]

View attachment 362863

Pop quiz. The Revel F206 is on the left. What speaker is on the right side?

Lol, is it the Tekton Troubadour?

 

[Beave]

The Driver Components graph has the mid ringing at 5.5 khz,..how come this ringing doesn't seem to me to be showing in the Decay graph?
Much thanks to the member that sent these!

I'm not sure what that is, but you can't rely entirely on these nearfield measurements. It might just be some bleedover from the tweeter output. And whatever it is, it's fairly low in level.

The response of this midrange driver by itself is pretty smooth in this region, with its breakup occurring around 10kHz.
https://sbacoustics.com/product/5in-sb15nbac30-4/

 

[phoenixdogfan]

This one is kind of like the neglected middle child of the Revel line, but as the measurements make clear, it's a really good speaker. Should excel in a smaller room with a couple of subs, and, used in that way, won't be nearly as dynamically limited as a lot of two way bookshelves. Thank you for the excellent review, Amir.

 

[Maiky76]

Here is my take on the EQ.


Please report your findings, positive or negative!
For the score rational your journey starts here
Explanation for the sub score
The following EQs are “anechoic” EQs to get the speaker right before room integration.
If you able to implement these EQs you must add EQ at LF for room integration, that is usually not optional… see hints there.

The raw data with corrected ER and PIR:

Score no EQ: 5.5
With Sub: 7.5

Spinorama with no EQ:

• Nothing much to say except the 4-5000Hz peak
• the PIR could be smoother

Directivity:

Better stay at tweeter height
Horizontally, better toe-in the speakers by 10/15deg and have the axis crossing in front of the listening location, might help dosing the upper range.

EQ design:

I have generated two EQs. The APO config files are attached.

• The first one, labelled, LW is targeted at making the LW flat
• The second, labelled Score, starts with the first one and adds the score as an optimization variable.
• The EQs are designed in the context of regular stereo use i.e. domestic environment, no warranty is provided for a near field use in a studio environment although the LW might be better suited for this purpose.

Score EQ LW: 6.0
with sub: 8.0

Score EQ Score: 6.3
with sub: 8.2

Revel F206 APO EQ LW 96000Hz
April112024-103430

Preamp: -3 dB

Filter 1: ON HPQ Fc 47.08,    0.00,    1.33
Filter 2: ON PK Fc 121.51,    -2.38,    2.43
Filter 3: ON PK Fc 205.07,    1.15,    2.65
Filter 4: ON PK Fc 270.20,    -1.20,    3.99
Filter 5: ON PK Fc 1295.92,    1.30,    4.98
Filter 6: ON PK Fc 4960.11,    -1.02,    4.11
Filter 7: ON PK Fc 7840.49,    1.00,    1.17

Revel F206 APO EQ Score 96000Hz
April112024-103431

Preamp: -3 dB

Filter 1: ON HPQ Fc 43.65,    0.00,    1.33
Filter 2: ON PK Fc 124.54,    -2.10,    2.01
Filter 3: ON PK Fc 206.57,    1.36,    2.11
Filter 4: ON PK Fc 271.70,    -1.28,    3.54
Filter 5: ON PK Fc 1321.72,    1.00,    4.98
Filter 6: ON PK Fc 4756.95,    -1.00,    3.36
Filter 7: ON PK Fc 8276.45,    0.54,    4.90

Spinorama EQ LW

Spinorama EQ Score

Zoom PIR-LW-ON

Regression - Tonal

Radar no EQ vs EQ score
No improvements?

 

[Music1969]

How would carpet help 2kHz dip? can anyone help me to understand the mechanism

 

[rynberg]

View attachment 362863

Pop quiz. The Revel F206 is on the left. What speaker is on the right side?

Perhaps a bigger brother?

 

[Hart]

Crutchfield is blowing out the Revel Concerta2 F35 for $400 each now. Crazy good value. Hard to beat two of those for $800....

​

 

[sweetchaos]

Thanks Amir, for another fantastic review!

View attachment 362863

Pop quiz. The Revel F206 is on the left. What speaker is on the right side?

On the right is....the Revel F328Be, currently retails for US$8,800/each....which is >5x more expensive.

source

Do I win a prize?

 

[NoteMakoti]

View attachment 362863

Pop quiz. The Revel F206 is on the left. What speaker is on the right side?

That's the Revel F328Be.

The retail cost of F328Be is US $8000 each or $16,000 for a pair.

Revel F328Be Speaker Review

This is a review and detailed measurements of the Revel F328Be floor standing speaker. I purchased a single unit through our company (Madrona) with kind discount from Harman Sales (I asked for a review sample from the PR group but was told "don't call us, we will call you."). The retail cost...

www.audiosciencereview.com

 

[staticV3]

How would carpet help 2kHz dip? can anyone help me to understand the mechanism

A thick carpet will absorb/diffuse the F208's floor bounce reflection, which contains that 2kHz dip:

 

[sweetchaos]

Wohoo, I beat @NoteMakoti by 2 minutes!

 

[JSmith]

I am going to highly recommend the Revel F206 speaker.

Excellent measurements on this longstanding model and a highly professional review as always, cheers. If I was in the need for some more speakers, these would surely be on my short list.

JSmith