Revel M105 Bookshelf Speaker Review

[Chromatischism]

You have distance of cabinet. Which makes dynamic be not against the wall. It’s the reason for my deep in 40hz. To know that you don’t have that problem you have to measure at home. Otherwise it is all wishful thinking unfortunately.

Yeah, I eliminated the cabinet so I could have perfect bass. Worth it

 

[Narnian]

I still have the subs next to the M105s on each side and they sound fantastic - upgraded the subs from 8” Kantos to 12” SVS SB-1000. Jazz never sounded so good.

Using the Denon X3800H and Audyssey showed only a 10db dip around 40Hz and Audyssey cleaned that right up. My room has lots of furniture and rounded log walls so reflections are greatly dispersed so sub placement seems to have less of an impact than a room with flat walls.

Still looking for a final amp to run the M105s on and one I have not tested is a Class D one like NAD. Do they match well with the Revel speakers? I believe those are essentially Hypex designs now. Also curious about the Cambridge CXA85 amp as well.

 

[DMill]

I still have the subs next to the M105s on each side and they sound fantastic - upgraded the subs from 8” Kantos to 12” SVS SB-1000. Jazz never sounded so good.

Using the Denon X3800H and Audyssey showed only a 10db dip around 40Hz and Audyssey cleaned that right up. My room has lots of furniture and rounded log walls so reflections are greatly dispersed so sub placement seems to have less of an impact than a room with flat walls.

Still looking for a final amp to run the M105s on and one I have not tested is a Class D one like NAD. Do they match well with the Revel speakers? I believe those are essentially Hypex designs now. Also curious about the Cambridge CXA85 amp as well.

The Revels should be fine regardless of your amp. I have heard your speakers with a NAD388 I think? Or something in that line. Sounded good to me. Any good amp with the power you need is going to sound great. Even a bad amp with those speakers and subs is going to be better than you think. Might need room correction if you move away from an AVR?

 

[Narnian]

The Revels should be fine regardless of your amp. I have heard your speakers with a NAD388 I think? Or something in that line. Sounded good to me. Any good amp with the power you need is going to sound great. Even a bad amp with those speakers and subs is going to be better than you think. Might need room correction if you move away from an AVR?

Most stereo systems don’t have room correction (except for expensive ones). I would probably upgrade the subs from the SB-1000 to the SB-100 Pro to add profiles with the DSP app to manage the bass between the two systems.

 

[AudioKC]

I still have the subs next to the M105s on each side and they sound fantastic - upgraded the subs from 8” Kantos to 12” SVS SB-1000. Jazz never sounded so good.

Using the Denon X3800H and Audyssey showed only a 10db dip around 40Hz and Audyssey cleaned that right up. My room has lots of furniture and rounded log walls so reflections are greatly dispersed so sub placement seems to have less of an impact than a room with flat walls.

Still looking for a final amp to run the M105s on and one I have not tested is a Class D one like NAD. Do they match well with the Revel speakers? I believe those are essentially Hypex designs now. Also curious about the Cambridge CXA85 amp as well.

I’m using Hypex Ncore 252MP with Revel and I like it.

 

[Reed]

Finally got my “mini theater” with M105 and C205 rolling. Currently using an old Marantz NR1506 and a Pioneer sub. This is a new extension to our den. In fact, we still have painters and other trades in the room but I couldn’t wait. The front wall is 15’ wide. 10’ ceiling. I’ll upgrade the AVR, sub and will add rears in-ceiling. Wires were run during construction. So far so good. I use Genelec 8030c in another room so the Revels aren’t that different from what I’m used to. I wanted a big upgrade from the old soundbar but I didn’t want the equipment to dominate the room. Happy listener.

 

[Chromatischism]

Nice, now get some absorption on the walls behind those speakers!

 

[Narnian]

Got a Cambridge CXA81 to try and it is clearly the best sounding amp I have ever heard. It is also the first toroidal amp I have ever tried as well. It does match very well with the Revel M105s.

it is also one of the most frustrating. Ergonomically whomever designed the useless display, the flakey remote and the touchy power knob seemed to have forgotten that people are going to use this thing. Unless I find something better I can live lwith the bad design because the sound is so good.

Anybody have an experience with the Arcam SA20? It seems to be slight better in features and it looks better ergonomically.

 

[Narnian]

My final evaluation was the Cambridge CXA81 versus the Arcam SA20. The CXA81 had a slight edge on loud playing and rock but the SA20 won on mid-low volumes and did better with jazz and folk. Classical was a tie. Also I used no subs for testing and the Arcam SA20 seemed a little tighter and the CXA81 a bit beefier. Apart from the ergonomics it was very similar and I would have been probably just as happy with either one but when the wife piped in I now have an excuse if I ever want to replace it …

Currently listening to Dave Brubeck at a moderate volume and boy does it sound great on my Revel M105s - very happy.

The Cambridge has been returned. And since the sale at Crutchfield is off they can resell it for $200 more than I paid as a scratch and dent.

 

[Beave]

My final evaluation was the Cambridge CXA81 versus the Arcam SA20. The CXA81 had a slight edge on loud playing and rock but the SA20 won on mid-low volumes and did better with jazz and folk. Classical was a tie. Also I used no subs for testing and the Arcam SA20 seemed a little tighter and the CXA81 a bit beefier. Apart from the ergonomics it was very similar and I would have been probably just as happy with either one but when the wife piped in I now have an excuse if I ever want to replace it …

Currently listening to Dave Brubeck at a moderate volume and boy does it sound great on my Revel M105s - very happy.

The Cambridge has been returned. And since the sale at Crutchfield is off they can resell it for $200 more than I paid as a scratch and dent.

I'm guessing you didn't bother to level match for these comparisons, nor did you bother to try doing them blinded.

 

[Narnian]

I'm guessing you didn't bother to level match for these comparisons, nor did you bother to try doing them blinded.

You are guessing wrong.

 

[Narnian]

I used a Soulspeak amp switch I am sure may have affected the sound but it would have done equally. My wife would change it the switch (or not) when I left the room so I could not hear the click. Sometimes I would switch myself when I wanted to quickly check passages. I used a sound meter in my phone and a test tone to level the sound as much as possible.

The differences were very, very small and I would not bet anything on my ears as I have normal age related hearing loss. I would not be surprised if what I thought I heard wasn’t there at all. Was affected by my allergies and sinus drainage. Weather air pressure . My German Shepherd walking back and forth in between the speakers..

It was a win/win for sound but the Arcam clearly was better in ergonomics (look at the Cambridge vs the Arcam remotes.) The Arcam is backlit to boot!

 

[Beave]

Level matching with a phone SPL meter isn't good enough, if you want to be truly accurate about your comparison. Those differences that were "very, very small" were probably due to small level differences or other factors as you described.

 

[holbob]

At least he had a go.

 

[Narnian]

Level matching with a phone SPL meter isn't good enough, if you want to be truly accurate about your comparison. Those differences that were "very, very small" were probably due to small level differences or other factors as you described.

It is good enough for me. I am not going to spend hundreds of dollars to get a more accurate measurement to decide between two $1,000 amps. That is silly.

 

[Beave]

It's also silly to base your purchasing decision on a flawed comparison, when you should be basing it on tangible differences (price, looks, power output, remote, ergonomics, etc). It's silly to say that one amp beats another for classical music but not for jazz. The amp doesn't know what genre of music is being played.

 

[Narnian]

It's also silly to base your purchasing decision on a flawed comparison, when you should be basing it on tangible differences (price, looks, power output, remote, ergonomics, etc). It's silly to say that one amp beats another for classical music but not for jazz. The amp doesn't know what genre of music is being played.

Obviously you did not read everything I posted - read the thread. It was ergonomics that won in the end. Everything else being close enough it really did not matter. And if you are not familiar with different amps they can affect the sound because they are going to introduce different characteristics because of distortion, power, etc. One was a class G and another AB. Do class A, AB, D, tubes, etc all sound identical? Does every person hear identically? I strongly suspect hearing can be colored like taste because not everyones ear and pathway to the brain is identical.

If what you say is true then everybody should just get an Aiyima 07 or other cheap amp because every amp will sound the same.

 

[Beave]

Sigh. You've been here four months. Have you read any of the threads about amplifier sound? This is not the thread for such discussion, and I'm not interested in re-hashing what has been discussed ad nauseum on this forum and others.

 

[Narnian]

Yes I have. I like and agree with a lot of stuff here, however there is a lot of evidence what I am saying is true as well. This is not the only forum or group I learn from.

However, would you say the Aiyima A07 sounds the same as a McIntosh? Just a simple yes or no.

 

[Beave]

If they both measure sufficiently well and are operating within their limits, yes.

But those are two big ifs.