Revel F228Be, is it that far behind?

[Fjc20]

I'm curious on whether you might be getting some high freq. reflection directed to your listening position from the TV screen. The tweeters on the 228 are mounted rather high; are you able to tilt the screen up for a session to test?

I could it goes up over the mantle and back against the wall.

 

[Fjc20]

I haven't been ignoring you but @andreasmaaan has been giving you solid advice. The idea of introducing some DRC is a good one. Either a miniDSP-Dirac box or a new preamp that includes DRC. A UMIK-1 is $75 and REW is free, start there , learn to do the measurements and see what you rig looks like. After that you can start making changes with whatever and bring the response around to something you love. Everything is always reversible just by pulling the plug.

Yes he has. Everyone very helpful appreciate it. I have the UMIK-1 mic just have to remember how to set up REW and use it. Lol. Also have to have silence in the house.

 

[pcarnut]

Hi all, first post here, signed up just so I could respond to this thread. The 228s are at the top of my list after reading tons of reviews, forum comparisons etc, and what Fjc20 is going thru has me concerned.

My current speakers are Golden Ear Triton 2 that are about 7 years old so I was looking move to them to HT duty and get something dedicated for music. This week I've listened to KEF R7s, Paradigm Prestige 85F and Persona 3Fs, B&W 804d, all good in their own way, and finally auditioned a pair of the 228s today and they sounded great, although on one female vocal I didn't hear some of the detail I was expecting. Of the five I auditioned I think the 3Fs maybe sounded the best, but I decided on the 228s for their wide soundstage. I was getting ready to pull the trigger tomorrow, now I'm not sure which way to go. How can a speaker that has gotten such stellar reviews by owners and pros, be as lifeless sounding as what Fjc20 is experiencing? What am I missing? Thanks!

 

[MarcT]

Hi all, first post here, signed up just so I could respond to this thread. The 228s are at the top of my list after reading tons of reviews, forum comparisons etc, and what Fjc20 is going thru has me concerned.

My current speakers are Golden Ear Triton 2 that are about 7 years old so I was looking move to them to HT duty and get something dedicated for music. This week I've listened to KEF R7s, Paradigm Prestige 85F and Persona 3Fs, B&W 804d, all good in their own way, and finally auditioned a pair of the 228s today and they sounded great, although on one female vocal I didn't hear some of the detail I was expecting. Of the five I auditioned I think the 3Fs maybe sounded the best, but I decided on the 228s for their wide soundstage. I was getting ready to pull the trigger tomorrow, now I'm not sure which way to go. How can a speaker that has gotten such stellar reviews by owners and pros, be as lifeless sounding as what Fjc20 is experiencing? What am I missing? Thanks!

One person's "lifeless" sounding may be another person's "neutral" or "accurate" sounding.

 

[pcarnut]

Good point. ^

 

[jonfitch]

Good point. ^

Also isolated demos can be affected by a lot of variables. Its much more useful if you can do a head to head speaker comparison IMO (with the ability to rapidly switch between them even better) in order to remove the fog of relying on just memory which is pretty unreliable, not to mention different demo conditions.

 

[pcarnut]

When I was demoing the 228s I should have put them up against the GE Triton 2s (my current speaker) for a better A-B. But the dealer didn't seem very happy about the idea of dragging them in from another room. At least it would have been a level playing field. After sleeping on it I think I'm going to move forward with buying the 228s.

 

[paulgyro]

Thanks. They are all very close.

Interesting article. I thought Kevin's explanation around the high frequency advantages the Ultima2 series has to be fascinating. I wonder if the newer F228Be tweeter equals or surpasses the Ultima2 line?

 

[Elfsberg]

100% that comparison is suffering from bias.

 

[paulgyro]

100% that comparison is suffering from bias.

Which one is that?

 

[Elfsberg]

Which one is that?

The audition. Is anyone surprised the biggest and most expensive pair was perceived as best?

 

[Kal Rubinson]

The audition. Is anyone surprised the biggest and most expensive pair was perceived as best?

Tough to be so influenced when the Harman comparisons are done blind.

 

[bkdc]

One person's "lifeless" sounding may be another person's "neutral" or "accurate" sounding.

So true. If you are above 50, you most likely have significant measurable hearing loss. Every set of ears is different.

 

[Elfsberg]

Tough to be so influenced when the Harman comparisons are done blind.

But this was not a blind audition..

 

[Cote Dazur]

In that photo the Salon2s do not appear to be placed for best sound. In my experience they don't like being near side walls at all.

Thank you, totally agree. Although some thought have obviously been applied to minimized room nastys, that room with those placements is what a listener hears, so how a particular speaker/room combination behave is only applicable to that room/seat position.

They also look to be about six feet out from the back wall

You mean front wall, but yes with the type of roll off of those speaker woofer, they probably need to be at least 7 feet if not more from the front wall to avoid The first cancellation notch caused by SBIR that is usually about two thirds of an octave wide

You can calculate dmin, the minimum distance from your speaker to the wall behind it, using this formula:

dmin (feet) = 1.4(1125) / 4f-3dB

 

[blueone]

You mean front wall, but yes with the type of roll off of those speaker woofer, they probably need to be at least 7 feet if not more from the front wall to avoid The first cancellation notch caused by SBIR that is usually about two thirds of an octave wide

You can calculate dmin, the minimum distance from your speaker to the wall behind it, using this formula:

dmin (feet) = 1.4(1125) / 4f-3dB

That's about what I thought when I took delivery of the Salon2s in 2010. However, in two different rooms I've found that bass under 80Hz is lower in level than it should be unless the Salon2s are within three feet of the front wall (from the rear of the speaker), and best when they're about two feet front the front wall, as measured by an OmniMic. Obviously, the perception of good imaging is subjective, but on a track I use to give me a very obvious imaging result I've found in these two rooms that about six feet from the front wall is required. Of course, different rooms will produce different results, but these are my two experiences. As I think I previously mentioned, the Salon2s have been the most challenging speaker to place for best sound I've ever owned, and the reason is not obvious.

 

[Kal Rubinson]

But this was not a blind audition..

OK. I did not see a description of the audition you refer to because I jumped into this thread in the middle.

 

[Elfsberg]

OK. I did not see a description of the audition you refer to because I jumped into this thread in the middle.

Me too. My bad. ;D Nevermind above comments, I was hasty,

 

[archerious]

I've had Harbeth for years and can listen happily for many hours. A new music room demands a rethink and am listening to a pair of Focal Diablo III Evo, incredible detail retrieval and soundstage, but it's possibly a bit too much. Even the best live music is tiring after about 3 hours. I'm thinking the Sonus Faber Olympica Nova III may be a happy medium and am going to enquire about them tomorrow. Plus the wife likes the look of them. I enjoyed a pair of Dynaudio Contour 1.1 for over 10 years.

Did you buy the Sonus Faber after all?