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Revel F208 Tower Speaker Review

warthor

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It’s a slippery slope. But if you wanted to upgrade to the F226Be, your net cash outlay is probably around $2k. So not terrible.
So about $5000 for the f226be is to be expected? I would love to get the be series but that is a bit steep for me!
 

Lsc

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So about $5000 for the f226be is to be expected? I would love to get the be series but that is a bit steep for me!
It definitely isn’t cheap and Revel seems to have really priced these Be’s high considering the cabinet (which generally is a large part of the cost) is the same. They probably didn’t even have any tooling cost with the F226Be.

These are all “luxury” items so it’s usually just a matter of priority and time. No one needs the Be. But, although I got the F228Be, I really think even with the double msrp over the F206, the F226Be is a gem. When dialed in with the Be, I can’t find any reason to upgrade anymore.

Full disclosure for me: ever since I heard the Studio2 back in 2009, I always wanted speakers with beryllium tweeters so that was always my goal. If it’s not your goal then nothing that I’m saying pertains to you. Not everyone has the same goals.
 

Lsc

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I was planning to use that on a subwoofer :) (only a half-joke joke)
That’s a good idea!!! I’ve been waiting fix my check but they aren’t sending it to me and they don’t give a reason.
 

jaykay77

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Random question about the 208's - and apologies if this is a dumb question as I'm very new here. I'm looking at pairing the 208's with the Musical Fidelity m6si which I think is 220 wpc at 8 ohms. Would this amplifier have enough juice to power these speakers? I'm torn between getting these where I'd be in the middle of their recommended watt per channel recommendation ... or the 206's where I'd be on the high-end. I'm just concerned the 206's won't have enough "oomph" for that room.

I don't think they publish 4 ohm wpc for the Musical Fidelity m6si but on Crutchfield they say it's 400 wpc at 4 ohm. I'd be listening in a largish room (19 x 17) with a high ceiling but never listen at a very high volume - mainly jazz/classic rock/soul r&b/classical. I wouldn't be pairing these with any sub so they'd need to be adequate by themselves bass-wise.

Any help would be MUCH APPRECIATED as I don't know how to interpret these graphs and buy new stereo equipment about once every 10-15 years!

-Geoff
Hi!

I have the m5si (it’s such a great amp) plugged into my f208’s. I have a medium sized room and it has plenty of power for my speakers.

On another note - this amp has seriously great bass with all my speakers except for the f208’s.

Leads me to believe these towers just don’t put out a ton of bass! It’s ok. They make up for it in every other aspect. I have a giant hsu sub that fixes any bass issues.
 

Sal1950

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Leads me to believe these towers just don’t put out a ton of bass! It’s ok. They make up for it in every other aspect. I have a giant hsu sub that fixes any bass issues.
Hard to answer your question without some in-room measurements and knowing your references and expectations.
Amir's measurements do show them falling off very rapidly below 50 hz but still should supply more than enough bass for most types of music.
Have you done any measurements using different room positions and the boundary switch on the rear?
But a good subwoofer will make a great addition for deep bass music and HT use.
 

DonH56

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Random thoughts:
  1. The room (and where you listen in it) has a lot of influence on perceived bass.
  2. A number of speakers have a modest to moderate LF boost to give them more bass sound. The boost is usually above the deep bass, say in the 100 Hz to 200 Hz octave, and when you obtain a speaker that is flatter through that region it sounds bass-shy.
  3. The F208 has an impedance dip around 100 Hz that may tax the amplifier.
 

daftcombo

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A number of speakers have a modest to moderate LF boost to give them more bass sound. The boost is usually above the deep bass, say in the 100 Hz to 200 Hz octave, and when you obtain a speaker that is flatter through that region it sounds bass-shy.
Interesting. Can you give a few example of such speakers?

Like Revel M16 for instance?
1615924240608.png
 

DonH56

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Interesting. Can you give a few example of such speakers?

Like Revel M16 for instance?
View attachment 118556

I don't have examples off-hand, but a look through reviews will highlight plenty of them. Yes, the M16 seems to fall into that group. While smaller bookshelf speakers seem to do it the most (in addition to rolling off the tweeter to extend the bass, making many of them very insensitive as well as prone to bass overload), there are a number of "tower" speakers that add peaking as well. Many (many!) years ago it was a revelation when I heard really deep bass and got rid of the mid-bass "hump".
 

jaykay77

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Hard to answer your question without some in-room measurements and knowing your references and expectations.
Amir's measurements do show them falling off very rapidly below 50 hz but still should supply more than enough bass for most types of music.
Have you done any measurements using different room positions and the boundary switch on the rear?
But a good subwoofer will make a great addition for deep bass music and HT use.

I didn't really have a question.

My observation is these speakers don't quite have the bass I expected....but it doesn't really matter.

They are the most balanced sounding from top to bottom i've ever heard.

Bottom line - I just listen to the music without fussing with moving shit around, switching amps out, dirac, audyssey, blah blah...lol. I love them and looking at the next move - should I do the berylliums? My yam ns 1000's have and the detail is insane.
 

Vovgan

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The F208 has an impedance dip around 100 Hz that may tax the amplifier.

Hi Don,

Does it mean that if I offload all bass say below 200 Hz to subwoofers (via AVR's internal crossover) the dynamic range that my amplifier can produce will likely increase?

Thanks!
 

DonH56

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Hi Don,

Does it mean that if I offload all bass say below 200 Hz to subwoofers (via AVR's internal crossover) the dynamic range that my amplifier can produce will likely increase?

Thanks!

Yes, but such a high crossover will make it easy to locate the sub and could mess up imaging in the mid-bass. Always trades...

Look at equal loudness curves for an idea how much louder bass needs to be to sound as loud as treble. recordings do not necessarily follow this, but chances are what you listen to is similar. Notice how much higher the curves are at 100 Hz and below compared to 1 kHz and consider that 10 dB increase in power requires 10 times the power from your amplifier. This is one reason adding a subwoofer can benefit the entire frequency range; greatly decreases the load on the main amplifier -- and speakers!

HTH - Don

1619354401324.png
 

Rottmannash

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I'm considering adding a sub (or two) to my F208s. Can't use wired connection due to space constraints. Are there any wireless systems you recommend?
 

bo_knows

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Yes, but such a high crossover will make it easy to locate the sub and could mess up imaging in the mid-bass. Always trades...

Look at equal loudness curves for an idea how much louder bass needs to be to sound as loud as treble. recordings do not necessarily follow this, but chances are what you listen to is similar. Notice how much higher the curves are at 100 Hz and below compared to 1 kHz and consider that 10 dB increase in power requires 10 times the power from your amplifier. This is one reason adding a subwoofer can benefit the entire frequency range; greatly decreases the load on the main amplifier -- and speakers!

HTH - Don

View attachment 126218
Hi Don,

I'm counting on the same thing with my Denon avr-x8500h and KEF R500 front speakers.
According to the soundstage measurements, distortion starts to shut up around 60Hz on KEFs.
If I use Audessey's 80Hz crossover point, and send the rest to the subwoofer, it will eliminate that distortion. It looks like R500 impedance still drops down to below 4 ohms around 150Hz so no help there.
The question: wouldn't bass start to rattle everything else in the room (and depending on the sub, increase distortion) if we were to hear the same loudness in bass and play music at 85db SPL at 1Khz? According to this chart, the bass would need to be in the 100db SPL plus range.
 

DonH56

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Hi Don,

I'm counting on the same thing with my Denon avr-x8500h and KEF R500 front speakers.
According to the soundstage measurements, distortion starts to shut up around 60Hz on KEFs.
If I use Audessey's 80Hz crossover point, and send the rest to the subwoofer, it will eliminate that distortion. It looks like R500 impedance still drops down to below 4 ohms around 150Hz so no help there.
The question: wouldn't bass start to rattle everything else in the room (and depending on the sub, increase distortion) if we were to hear the same loudness in bass and play music at 85db SPL at 1Khz? According to this chart, the bass would need to be in the 100db SPL plus range.

I typically like to cross over an octave (factor of two) above the -3 dB point of the main speakers. Most speakers start distorting badly at that point, especially given the significantly larger power handling needed to reproduce low bass.

As for your room, things that rattle can be removed or treated (modified) so they no longer rattle. Or you can turn down the bass, but I'm pretty sure they'll pull your audiophile card for doing such a thing. :) There are endless threads on "I got a sub, now everything is rattling, what do I do?"
 

Alice of Old Vincennes

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Hi Don,

Does it mean that if I offload all bass say below 200 Hz to subwoofers (via AVR's internal crossover) the dynamic range that my amplifier can produce will likely increase?

Thanks!
Don't ever do that. If your amps can't handle the 208 then you need to bypass mains with 2 channel. Crown xls works.
 
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Lsc

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Hi Don,

Does it mean that if I offload all bass say below 200 Hz to subwoofers (via AVR's internal crossover) the dynamic range that my amplifier can produce will likely increase?

Thanks!
It’s a good idea and is something that a lot of people do regardless of how bass capable their main speakers are. But the crossover range is probably around 60-80hz as an average.

I used to go back and forth between 60-70hz with my F208 and then my F228Be until I settled on 70Hz.

The other thing that I like to recommend but everyone has different priorities is to get out of the receiver business and into separates especially if someone has speakers that are at the quality of Revel performa3, Be etc. All in due time at each own’s pace of course and depending on their goals.
 

Vovgan

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It’s a good idea and is something that a lot of people do regardless of how bass capable their main speakers are. But the crossover range is probably around 60-80hz as an average.

I used to go back and forth between 60-70hz with my F208 and then my F228Be until I settled on 70Hz.

The other thing that I like to recommend but everyone has different priorities is to get out of the receiver business and into separates especially if someone has speakers that are at the quality of Revel performa3, Be etc. All in due time at each own’s pace of course and depending on their goals.

After I changed my speakers from B&W floorstanders to Revel M106 bookshelves and my small REL T7i sub for a pair of REL S510 I experimented with crossover and was surprised to find that 200 Hz is the best, especially in movies at high volume.

I have f208 as surround speakers (strange setup, I know) and now I’m waiting for another pair of f208 to replace the M106s (wanted to buy 228 but Iwas concerned that white drivers will distract while watching movies), but I’m curious maybe I should still keep crossover at 200 Hz if that will allow me to play movies louder on my Denon x6500 without clipping.
 
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