Revel M16 Speaker Review

[Sal1950]

My partner would not be happy with either wall mounts or homemade mounting plates.

Be a man, stand up to her. be the alpha male you know you are.

Those screws may be common in the US, but probably not in the rest of the (metric) world! To be fair, I haven't checked UK availablity.

The screws are just plain ole machine screws, should be readily available anywhere in the world.

 

[Duffy Moon]

Be a man, stand up to her. be the alpha male you know you are.

The screws are just plain ole machine screws, should be readily available anywhere in the world.

If only it wasn't her house...

 

[Alice of Old Vincennes]

I use Ultimate MS-90s with my Revels. You can fill them with sand or shot.

View attachment 256795

View attachment 256796

The door next to speaker is accident waiting to happen. Compromises we must make.

 

[enricoclaudio]

The door next to speaker is accident waiting to happen. Compromises we must make.

 

[Laserjock]

View attachment 256859

View attachment 256860

Large waveguide..

 

[iNetRunner]

FWIW, I created a mounting plate to adapt them to the wall mounts I had my JBL 708p's attached to... they work great!

https://imgur.com/dDBK0R0

Those 1/4"-20 thread screws are super common too.

No offense xyvyx, but those screws look like wood screws.

Duffy Moon: Anyway, the threads probably metric standard M threads. At least they are for the feet on the Performa3 line.

 

[Laserjock]

No offense xyvyx, but those screws look like wood screws.

Duffy Moon: Anyway, the threads probably metric standard M threads. At least they are for the feet on the Performa3 line.

https://adeogroup.it/sites/default/files/prodotti_allegati_pubblici/revel_m16_stand_black.PDF

1/4 x 20 (1” long x4)

M105/106 have 1/4 x 20 (3/4” long x3)

 

[xyvyx]

No offense xyvyx, but those screws look like wood screws.

Duffy Moon: Anyway, the threads probably metric standard M threads. At least they are for the feet on the Performa3 line.

They're all machine-thread 1/4-20's. The pan-head ones are going into threaded inserts for the bracket. In this photo, I was doing a test fit.. they're all counter-sunk now.

 

[turbines]

This is a review and detailed measurements of the Revel M16 stand-mount/bookshelf speaker. I purchased this through my company and it arrived a few days ago. Can't tell you my cost , but retail price is US $900 (sold $450 each).

As you can expect, when you pay more, you do get more as far as overall look and finish of the speaker:

View attachment 52897​

No fasteners, finish that let you read your smartphone against, etc. Curved sides lead to the back panel:

View attachment 52898​

Large curved port and quality binding posts.

Disclaimer: Before I get into this review, and at the risk of stating the obvious, I have a million conflicts of interest here. I am a long time friend and professional colleague with a number of Harman employees (parent company of Revel). I have praised their design and research philosophy countless times. And our company, Madrona Digital is a Harman dealer (although we hardly sell any stereo gear). So read all the bias you want into the review but please don't go posting to complain. Just read the measurements if you are worried and if you don't trust that, just move along.

Measurements that you are about to see were performed using the Klippel Near-field Scanner (NFS). This is a robotic measurement system that analyzes the speaker all around and is able (using advanced mathematics and dual scan) to subtract room reflections (so where I measure it doesn't matter). It also measures the speaker at close distance ("near-field") which sharply reduces the impact of room noise. Both of these factors enable testing in ordinary rooms yet results that can be more accurate than anechoic chamber. In a nutshell, the measurements show the actual sound coming out of the speaker independent of the room.

All measurements are reference to tweeter axis with the grill removed. Frequency resolution is 0.7 Hz (yes, less than 1 Hz) and plots are at 20 points/octave. Spatial 3-D resolution is 1 degree.

Over 1000 points around the speaker were measured (from 20 to 20 kHz) which resulted in well under 1% error in identification of the sound field across full frequency response of 20 to 20 kHz. Final database of measurements and data is 1.4 Gigabytes in size. As you see below, I also made a scan using 500 points and results were identical, pointing to a well behaved soundfield that is easily to synthesize.

Spinorama Audio Measurements
Acoustic measurements can be grouped in a way that can be perceptually analyzed to determine how good a speaker can be used. This so called spinorama shows us just about everything we need to know about the speaker with respect to tonality and some flaws:

View attachment 52899

At first blush it seems that the response is not flat but if you ignore the hump at 100 Hz and roll off above 10 kHz, the rest is actually pretty close to flat. So tonality should be neutral but with some boosted bass. The high frequency roll off was puzzling as it doesn't match Harman's measurement:

View attachment 52902

As I have circled, the Harman measurements seems to be some evaluation version? Perhaps there has been changes since? Regardless, the rest of the measurement matches mine quite well so confidence is high in the data you see here.

Above data is for a reflection-free room. We can however simulated what happens in a typical room using Predicted in-room response which is right on the money with some bass boost:
View attachment 52903

Given the bit of roll off in high frequencies, don't go putting absorbers everywhere, especially the thin ones.

We are done here. Speaker nerds can read on though.

Basic Speaker Measurements
Speaker phase and impedance shows one resonance which shows up in other measurements including our spinorama shown above:

View attachment 52904

You can see it here as well:

View attachment 52905

The crossover is at 2.1 kHz and we see rising distortion prior to that. Seems like the woofer is breaking up before its shift is over.

Everybody get ready to say "oooh" as I post the pretty waterfall graph:

View attachment 52906

I know, not as exciting in person.....

Advanced Speaker Measurements

You can tell someone was making sure that the sound you hear reflected horizontally is just as perfect as the on-axis direct sound:
View attachment 52907

You paid for it, might as well use it so don't cover the sidewalls. Let the speaker use them to present a larger image.

We have our vertical dip at extreme angles so floor and ceiling should be covered if the room is not too dead already:

View attachment 52908

That would reduce the dip in vertical axis around crossover region as marked.

Sitting a bit to the side (not as much toe-in) fixes that little hump around 5 kHz:
View attachment 52909


View attachment 52910

Eye-candy Speaker Measurements
Our horizontal directivity plot shows that this speaker has similar tonality to +- 60 degrees and rolls of very smoothly:
View attachment 52911

Note that the above has 1 degree spatial resolution so much, much more detailed image than what you see even coming out of anechoic chamnbers.

View attachment 52912

Speaker Listening Tests
I first started testing the M16 on my desktop in near-field listening, comparing it to cheap Pioneer SB-22 speaker (levels matched, one speaker at a time). The Pioneer just wasn't in the same class. It sounded tinny and small compared to Revel. Pushing the M16 hard, I could get the small woofer to distort. Since this is not a near field monitor, I decided to test it in my 2-channel system as I have tested other hi-fi speakers. Here is what that looks like:

View attachment 52913

Sitting next to its much bigger brother, the Revel Salon 2, it seems that the M16 won't have a chance. Boy, is that the wrong conclusion. Vocal fidelity in both male and female tracks was excellent. Such balance and what I focused on when I took the blind test at Harman. And then these delightful highs would come with such clarity and freedom of distortion/coloration that would melt me in my chair.

I sat there going through my reference tracks, one by one, and almost all sounded superb. Despite only one speaker playing, if you closed your eyes, you absolutely heard a "soundstage" as if there were two speakers playing and creating a large phantom image. Yes, the bass at times was a bit much. And max SPL was not there. But boy, was it close to my much larger speakers for general enjoyment. I usually play half a dozen tracks and I am done testing speakers but not here. I could not stop.

Conclusions
If you want to have a taste of what all of Harman research and engineering is about, get a pair of M16s and listen. They are delightful "bookshelf" speakers showing what can be done when you combine serious research with a decent budget for pats and manufacturing.

Truth to be told, I tried, I really tried to give the M16s the middle of the road award so that I would not be accused of bias. But at the end, I just could not. These are wonderful sounding speakers. It is what "high-end" sound reproduction is about in smaller budget. The combination of measurements and subjective listening impressions left me to no room but to give them my highest award (in the context of a small, lower cost speaker).

Needless to say, I am happy to recommend the Revel M16 speakers.

------------
As always, questions, comments, recommendations, etc. are welcome.

Had to ask my guy who does yard work to come and do what I should be doing there, instead of testing audio products. Feels good to not kill my back doing what he is about to do. Then again I look at my bank account and get depressed. Make me feel better by donating what you can using: https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/how-to-support-audio-science-review.8150/

I love the sound but the hookup terminal posts are terrible. They were meant for folk with tiny little fingers.

 

[ROOSKIE]

I love the sound but the hookup terminal posts are terrible. They were meant for folk with tiny little fingers.

just plug banana plugs into them?

I vastly prefer banana plugs to spades, tinned wire or bare wire.

Though of course you have to get those black and red little plastic plugs out 1st.
They pop out to clear the way for inserting bananas
They are there for EU citizens safety.

 

[Bren Derlin]

I love the sound but the hookup terminal posts are terrible. They were meant for folk with tiny little fingers.

Banana plugs are your friend.

 

[sejarzo]

Banana plugs are your friend.

I couldn't agree more, and IMHO, especially the BFA type. You can easily tweak the gap to tighten up the fit unlike the more common "spring-loaded" versions, and also avoid having to screw down a locking collar that in my experience doesn't always guarantee a tighter fit in some banana receptacles.

 

[Bren Derlin]

I couldn't agree more, and IMHO, especially the BFA type. You can easily tweak the gap to tighten up the fit unlike the more common "spring-loaded" versions, and also avoid having to screw down a locking collar that in my experience doesn't always guarantee a tighter fit in some banana receptacles.

View attachment 273418

I grabbed a 10 pack of these, considering these are standmount speakers, and it made for easier cable management, both into the speaker, and the back of the receiver in our TV stand that has a back panel...

Monoprice 90-degree Banana Plugs

 

[RichB]

I use these because the covers protect against shorting and the locking mechanism works very well.

Home

Angled Locking Stacking Banana Plug with Dual Set Screws Poly Shell and Insulated Thumbscrew 2 PairThese locking, expanding banana plug connectors are manufactured with color-coded polycarbonate shells for quick polarity identification and protection from possible short-circuiting contact. The...

www.parts-express.com

- Rich

 

[maty]

In my new hybrid amplifier, with Kimber Kable 8PR (10AWG) https://kimber.com/products/8PR

KáCsa BP-6201BR - BFA banana plug

KáCsa BP-6201BR - BFA banana plug - KáCsa Audió

Versatile Banana plug in the BFA standard (British Federation of Audio). The hollow contact pin is made from strong, flexible and highly conductive Beryllium copper, rhodium plated version, Colour coded insulated handle and screw type assembly-inlet for cables up to 10mm2 (7AWG). New...

kacsa-audio.hu

[ Versatile Banana plug in the BFA standard (British Federation of Audio). The hollow contact pin is made from strong, flexible and highly conductive Beryllium copper, rhodium plated version, Colour coded insulated handle and screw type assembly-inlet for cables up to 10mm2 (7AWG). New, black-matt-finish housing. ]

 

[Laserjock]

In my new hybrid amplifier, with Kimber Kable 8PR (10AWG) https://kimber.com/products/8PR

KáCsa BP-6201BR - BFA banana plug

KáCsa BP-6201BR - BFA banana plug - KáCsa Audió

Versatile Banana plug in the BFA standard (British Federation of Audio). The hollow contact pin is made from strong, flexible and highly conductive Beryllium copper, rhodium plated version, Colour coded insulated handle and screw type assembly-inlet for cables up to 10mm2 (7AWG). New...

kacsa-audio.hu

[ Versatile Banana plug in the BFA standard (British Federation of Audio). The hollow contact pin is made from strong, flexible and highly conductive Beryllium copper, rhodium plated version, Colour coded insulated handle and screw type assembly-inlet for cables up to 10mm2 (7AWG). New, black-matt-finish housing. ]

View attachment 273438

Any place to
get these in the US?

 

[turbines]

just plug banana plugs into them?

I vastly prefer banana plugs to spades, tinned wire or bare wire.

Though of course you have to get those black and red little plastic plugs out 1st.
They pop out to clear the way for inserting bananas
They are there for EU citizens safety.

Duh?!? I didn't know about the plastic plugs. Thanks for the heads up.

 

[maty]

Any place to
get these in the US?

I think only Europe. Now that nobody reads us, this Hungarian manufacturer also produces the very expensive Furutech.

Kacsa Audio Co.,Ltd. | FURUTECH

www.furutech.com

 

[BobZmuda]

Reading through this thread, I gather that the speakers do not sound great unless at ear-level, correct? (Apparently worse below the woofer).

 

[AVKS]

Reading through this thread, I gather that the speakers do not sound great unless at ear-level, correct? (Apparently worse below the woofer).

I'd think of it more that they'll sound their best at or near ear level, but sound OK as you move to extremes just like nearly any other speaker of similar design