Revel F208 Tower Speaker Review

[Rottmannash]

You have two pair or bypass the HT somehow for 2 channel?

No HT bypass. When listening to HT run the L/R pre out from the RZ 810 to one of the inputs of the Freya+. Per the suggestion of a clever member here I turn the Freya+ volume to max then use the Onkyo volume. After running Audyssey the levels are fine.

 

[Alice of Old Vincennes]

Even for home theater with 2x 18" subs? Any reason why? I just don't want to miss out on the extra goodies from the Be series, especially the center channel. I can only swing the F226Be or F208 so I have to consider between those. Thank you

Bass above 80 hz is beautiful to behold. Especially, Revel low distortion bass.

 

[Alice of Old Vincennes]

I have owned 6.5 and 8. No comparison. We are not talking about about rumble in the jungle. Clean upper bass.

 

[amirm]

SVS makes wireless adapters for their subs.

If it is like this full band ones, they did not perform as well: https://www.audiosciencereview.com/...-soundpath-review-wireless-transmitter.21356/

 

[CatDad]

Bass above 80 hz is beautiful to behold. Especially, Revel low distortion bass.

I have owned 6.5 and 8. No comparison. We are not talking about about rumble in the jungle. Clean upper bass.

Thank you! This is definitely something to consider then! I probably haven't ever felt good midbass. The F208s seem like an amazing value. As others have mentioned, it may only be a 5% increase in performance going up to the F226Be from the F208s. I foresee it being marginally better (maybe 20%?) If we are talking about the F208 vs the F228Be though. I cannot afford the F228Be so they are not in the mix. Also, since I use this room mainly for home theater, I may see even less of a difference between F208 and F226Be due to the home theater having so many sounds going on! Such a tough decision! I'm still waiting on a dealer to get in touch with me to find out price differences. Maybe this will clear it up more easily.

 

[CatDad]

Can anyone shed more light on speaker efficiency? I'm considering the F208 which have a sensitivity of 88.5db and the F226Be that have a sensitivity of 90db. I am going to be using a 200w per channel amplifier. Will I not get as much dynamic range on the F208 vs F226Be because of this? I don't listen at reference so I am not worried about being able to crank up the processor to Reference or beyond Reference. I'm really leaning towards the F208 since this is mainly a home theater setup. Thanks

 

[richard12511]

Can anyone shed more light on speaker efficiency? I'm considering the F208 which have a sensitivity of 88.5db and the F226Be that have a sensitivity of 90db. I am going to be using a 200w per channel amplifier. Will I not get as much dynamic range on the F208 vs F226Be because of this? I don't listen at reference so I am not worried about being able to crank up the processor to Reference or beyond Reference. I'm really leaning towards the F208 since this is mainly a home theater setup. Thanks

Main difference seems to be that the F208 plays lower, so if you don't have subs, that's probably what I'd go with. F226 might actually play louder though when subs are in play, given the higher sensitivity and the fact that power will be the spl limiter.

 

[CatDad]

Main difference seems to be that the F208 plays lower, so if you don't have subs, that's probably what I'd go with. F226 might actually play louder though when subs are in play, given the higher sensitivity and the fact that power will be the spl limiter.

Thank you so much, Richard. You have been great at answering my concerns! I have great 18" Rhythmik subs so that's not a problem and makes this decision so much more difficult.

 

[alashikata]

Thank you so much, Richard. You have been great at answering my concerns! I have great 18" Rhythmik subs so that's not a problem and makes this decision so much more difficult.

If you don't have the amp yet, you may get Parasound A21. The sub gives an other level of bass if you like the floor shaking on your feet

 

[Sluraad]

Anyone familiar with how the f206 compares to the f208? The f208 is right out for me, quite a bit larger than what I want and the f208 is already stretching the budget a bit. Was looking at the f35/f36 but the distortion figures and horizontal off axis performance is unreal, making me think of spending nice and having end game speakers for me.

 

[Lsc]

Anyone familiar with how the f206 compares to the f208? The f208 is right out for me, quite a bit larger than what I want and the f208 is already stretching the budget a bit. Was looking at the f35/f36 but the distortion figures and horizontal off axis performance is unreal, making me think of spending nice and having end game speakers for me.

Yes I’m very familiar as I compared these two side by side. The F208 is more dynamic and can play louder with a deeper bass response.
With the curved cabinets, it looks much smaller when you set it up.

 

[amirm]

Had a bit of time so I optimized the measurements using the latest techniques for correct bass response. It substantially improved that region. I also made the resolution higher and same as what I have been using (20 points/octave vs 10 that used to be here). This made the graphs a bit rougher. Some of this may be due to my microphone boom that I have since optimized to reduce reflections.

New spin data is included so folks can update their preference scores.

 

[Sluraad]

Yes I’m very familiar as I compared these two side by side. The F208 is more dynamic and can play louder with a deeper bass response.
With the curved cabinets, it looks much smaller when you set it up.

I don't have that large of a room so I'm already pushing it with the F206 andI have a good sub that can handle 80hz and below well. I'm largely looking at the wider off axis response and lower distortion / more accurate /fuller tonal character compared to the F35/F36.

 

[MZKM]

Had a bit of time so I optimized the measurements using the latest techniques for correct bass response. It substantially improved that region. I also made the resolution higher and same as what I have been using (20 points/octave vs 10 that used to be here). This made the graphs a bit rougher. Some of this may be due to my microphone boom that I have since optimized to reduce reflections.

New spin data is included so folks can update their preference scores.

Score went up from 6.1 to 6.6.

Score with sub though dropped from 8.2 to 7.7, expected as lower resolution hides flaws.

Old:

New:

 

[CatDad]

If you don't have the amp yet, you may get Parasound A21. The sub gives an other level of bass if you like the floor shaking on your feet

Thank you! I use the Monolith amps and have been very happy. They are made in the USA and built like tanks from ATI.

 

[alashikata]

I don't have that large of a room so I'm already pushing it with the F206 andI have a good sub that can handle 80hz and below well. I'm largely looking at the wider off axis response and lower distortion / more accurate /fuller tonal character compared to the F35/F36.

F206 is perfect for 10x10 room. I used to have F208 in 15x20, it's loud

 

[ebslo]

Had a bit of time so I optimized the measurements using the latest techniques for correct bass response. It substantially improved that region. I also made the resolution higher and same as what I have been using (20 points/octave vs 10 that used to be here). This made the graphs a bit rougher. Some of this may be due to my microphone boom that I have since optimized to reduce reflections.

New spin data is included so folks can update their preference scores.

Would the new frequency response improve the "Harmonic distortion (relative)" graph in the low frequency region too?

 

[amirm]

Would the new frequency response improve the "Harmonic distortion (relative)" graph in the low frequency region too?

Probably not. The measurement itself doesn't use NFS but I used the NFS feature to get rid of room reflections so there may be some impact.

 

[jaykay77]

Can anyone shed more light on speaker efficiency? I'm considering the F208 which have a sensitivity of 88.5db and the F226Be that have a sensitivity of 90db. I am going to be using a 200w per channel amplifier. Will I not get as much dynamic range on the F208 vs F226Be because of this? I don't listen at reference so I am not worried about being able to crank up the processor to Reference or beyond Reference. I'm really leaning towards the F208 since this is mainly a home theater setup. Thanks

You'll be good with 200 wpc - what is the amp?
I'm using a benchmark ahb2, and I can make it clip but we're talking really loud and bass heavy tracks.

 

[Coach_Kaarlo]

Can anyone shed more light on speaker efficiency? I'm considering the F208 which have a sensitivity of 88.5db and the F226Be that have a sensitivity of 90db. I am going to be using a 200w per channel amplifier. Will I not get as much dynamic range on the F208 vs F226Be because of this? I don't listen at reference so I am not worried about being able to crank up the processor to Reference or beyond Reference. I'm really leaning towards the F208 since this is mainly a home theater setup. Thanks

To all those telling you a single AHB2 is enough to drive the F208's I would say listen to this;

https://www.audiosciencereview.com/...no-v-stereo-what-is-audible.21864/post-726184

If you do not hear the difference continue with one amp in stereo. And maybe get your hearing tested......