Revel PerformaBe F226Be Floorstanding Speaker Review

[Pieter1267]

One more question: For you guys who are powering these 226Be's with a non-AVR amp and also using a sub, what are you using to achieve the crossover between the 226 and the sub?

MiniDSP. Take a pick below the flex series (they run kind of hot. Too hot imo). Super easy plus 10 band peq. Make sure to get a UMIK1 or UMIK2 microphone too. (And grab a good microphone standard from your local fleamarket for cheap.).

 

[02nz]

That's a tempting price indeed. If I knew I could make them work, I'd pull the trigger. Unfortunately, there are no Revel dealers near me with any stock of this model to even audition in a showroom. I know CF has a generous return policy, but it would be a real pain to rebox and return big heavy speakers like this. I read a rumor in one of the threads here that Revel was set to release an update to this speaker later this year. No idea if that's true, but if so, there might be some big discounts on these right near the end.

It's $4000/pair for white or silver. I got them a few months ago from Crutchfield and love them - these are superbly accurate, linear speakers. If you know this is the kind of sound you're after (as opposed to say B&Ws), just get them. You're very, very unlikely to return them. BTW they're not actually super heavy, as tower speakers go. I set them up fine without assistance.

 

[02nz]

Apologies if my questions were already covered in this thread, but is there any preferred placement distance relative to the wall? I'm looking for something that can be placed relatively close to the wall, about 7-9 inch (18-23 cm) gap between the wall and the rear of the speaker. Also, I tend to listen at 65 - 70 db avg at my listening position, which is about 10 ft (3 m) away from the speakers. If I send them a full-freq-range input large enough to produce that sound level at that distance, can anyone confirm that they'd be well below any audible distortion on the low end?

That's pretty close to my setup (about a foot from the back of the wall), seated about 12 ft away, typical listen at around that level, peaks up to maybe 85 dB. Erin's measurements showed these aren't very extended in the bass for towers, but I'm getting plenty of bass in my room (doesn't fall off until about 40 Hz or so, per REW measurements). The bass (and the rest of the range) is very clean, giving a wonderful texture to instruments, like the left hand of the piano. Was going to pair with a subwoofer but don't really see the need for my listening.

 

[fbirch]

Thanks for the feedback

 

[Acerun]

I have two rhythmik subs and they really fill in the sub bass for music and movies.

 

[Acerun]

Okay another fork in the road. What's better having to move the speakers closer than 9 ft away from the listening position or using baffles and other DSP to deal with a little bit of the bloat.

 

[fbirch]

Okay another fork in the road. What's better having to move the speakers closer than 9 ft away from the listening position or using baffles and other DSP to deal with a little bit of the bloat.

I recall you earlier stated the rear of the speakers were ~10 inches from the wall. That means the front baffles are close to 2 ft from the wall. So even with port plugs in place, you are hearing bloat with the speaker baffles 2 ft from the wall? I wonder how far from the wall are other people having to position these speakers to avoid that effect. I'd really like to get a pair of these, but 2 feet is about the max distance I can get the front of the speakers from the wall without disrupting the walk path through the room.

 

[Acerun]

I recall you earlier stated the rear of the speakers were ~10 inches from the wall. That means the front baffles are close to 2 ft from the wall. So even with port plugs in place, you are hearing bloat with the speaker baffles 2 ft from the wall? I wonder how far from the wall are other people having to position these speakers to avoid that effect. I'd really like to get a pair of these, but 2 feet is about the max distance I can get the front of the speakers from the wall without disrupting the walk path through the room.

I may try figuring out how to move the carpet forward so I can get the speakers farther away from the wall. But the two things I'm a little concerned about are that I will be less than 9 ft from the speakers and I have them so dialed in otherwise that I hate to even touch them. Dialed in with multi eqx. But I think I have to bite the bullet and try.

 

[Acerun]

I pulled the speakers in to where the front are at about 26 in off of the wall. Initial impression is very positive I don't think I lost any imaging nor soundstage. I will test tomorrow as no one will be here and I can play at reference level.

 

[Acerun]

It sounds good upon further listening. This is where I'm at according to REW.

 

[fbirch]

That's not bad. Your subwoofers have really low extension!

BTW, are you using room correction, WiiM or other, or is this the uncorrected in-room response?

 

[Acerun]

I have two rhythmik 15" sealed subs. Supposed to go down to 15, at least that's what the owner of the company said when he came over to my house recently. Also using the $200 laptop version of MultiEQ-X. The imaging is so good that vocals just explode out of the center channel speaker even though that speaker is off. That's a C426be.

 

[Acerun]

I should say I'm using multieq-x only up to 550. And I have a janky room, great room that opens to a kitchen and other open areas on one side and not the other... It is what it is.

 

[fbirch]

I have a question that may seem off the wall, but I'm sure it applies to others. How do people with vacuum robots deal with floor standing speakers? My robot tends to lightly brush up against vertical surfaces, and will try to climb small vertical objects, perhaps like the trim piece around the bottom of these speakers. How do folks protect their speakers from scratches?

 

[testp]

I have a question that may seem off the wall, but I'm sure it applies to others. How do people with vacuum robots deal with floor standing speakers? My robot tends to lightly brush up against vertical surfaces, and will try to climb small vertical objects, perhaps like the trim piece around the bottom of these speakers. How do folks protect their speakers from scratches?

the moment you get your f226's home, you leave the cleaning robot outside

 

[gilency]

Set an invisible wall around it

 

[fbirch]

Set an invisible wall around it

I use the Shark AI, and the Shark app lets me do that. About every 6 months, it inexplicably loses some of the configuration settings and has to be reconfigured once I realize it. That can take a while, as I have it set to vacuum when I'm not home. There's another way to do it that would be a bit of extra work: Put a platform under the speaker that protrudes a small amount all around the base. Make it just tall enough (~1 in) to form a physical barrier. Would also stop the housekeeper from accidentally sloshing mop water on it.

 

[Acerun]

This is my latest REW measurement. Best sounding so far!

 

[Acerun]

This is my latest REW measurement. Best sounding so far!
View attachment 445803

Perplexity likes it too! LOL



The attached image shows a Room EQ Wizard (REW) frequency response measurement with multiple overlaid curves, displaying the acoustic characteristics of a listening room with psychoacoustic weighting applied.
This measurement appears to be reasonably good for an in-room response, with some notable characteristics:

• The main response curves (green and red lines) maintain relatively consistent output between approximately 80Hz and 10kHz, staying within about a 5-7dB window through most of the critical listening range1.
• The bass response below 80Hz has a gentle upward slope toward the lowest frequencies, which is generally desirable as it provides a sense of fullness without becoming overwhelming1.
• There are no extreme peaks or nulls in the midrange (300Hz-3kHz), which is crucial for accurate voice and instrument reproduction1.
• The high-frequency response above 10kHz shows a gentle rolloff, which is actually appropriate for in-room measurements and aligns with many target curves for proper psychoacoustic balance1.
• The purple curve appears to be either a smoothed measurement or possibly a target curve that closely matches the actual response throughout most of the frequency range1.
• The orange/yellow curve that drops significantly in the 100-200Hz range may represent either a high-pass filter, a specific psychoacoustic weighting, or a measurement of a different aspect of the room's response1.

Some minor considerations:

• There are small dips around 600Hz and 1kHz, but they're not severe enough to significantly impact listening quality1.
• The slight variations between 2-8kHz are normal for in-room measurements and unlikely to be problematic for listening1.
• The consistent tracking between the red and green curves suggests good left/right balance or measurement repeatability1.

Overall, this appears to be a well-balanced in-room response that should provide natural sound reproduction with adequate bass extension, clear midrange, and controlled high frequencies. The absence of major peaks or nulls indicates a room with reasonably good acoustic properties