Revel PerformaBe F226Be Floorstanding Speaker Review

[MIsha]

Hello everyone.
This is my first post. Many thanks to the forum participants for the huge amount of information and friendly atmosphere. Please excuse my English.
So. I have recently owned these speakers. It's an interesting experience. However, I have some difficulties with the low-frequency component.
I think the screenshots will explain the situation quite eloquently. The room is now almost empty. Both long walls are very thick and made of brick. Without an equalizer in the Wiim, this cannot be used. Unfortunately, the equalizer does not satisfy me, despite numerous attempts to adjust it. The bass is either humming or insufficient. At the same time, the bass is always sluggish and slow.
Please give short recommendations on suppressing room modes. I have no idea how effective bass traps are. Movement in the room is limited and does not give a noticeable result. Changing the bass reflex setting gave a positive effect. As far as I understand, the port is set to 40 Hz. This frequency almost completely coincides with the resonance of the room.
I would be grateful for short recommendations.
Finally, a non-trivial question. Don't you think the port is set too high? Look at the impedance graph.

 

[Acerun]

My best F226be measurements yet. Sounds amazing.

 

[wilcaz]

Hello, long time lurker but this is my first post.

I've been keeping an eye on the local hi-fi resale market and saw that a shop is selling a pair of these used for about US$1,700. Obviously this is a very good price and I'm not an idiot, so I'm tempted to proceed cautiously. Store says they're "90% new" and the pictures look legit. I assume Revel is too niche of a brand to be faked. Store says I'm welcome to come test.

Am I getting scammed or what? Anything I should be aware of? Thank you.

 

[MarkS]

That's a very good price, assuming they are functioning properly. Used expensive speakers are hard to sell, so it's not completely crazy. First, I'd listen to frequency sweeps at low volume and make sure every driver in each speaker is making sound at more-or-less the right volume (by putting your ear up to each driver in each speaker, one at a time). Then listen to some clearly recorded music where distortion can be heard (female vocals, percussion with cymbals, etc). If it all sounds good, and the shop is legit (eg an audio dealer, not a pawn shop or the like), you're almost certainly fine.

 

[wilcaz]

That's a very good price, assuming they are functioning properly. Used expensive speakers are hard to sell, so it's not completely crazy. First, I'd listen to frequency sweeps at low volume and make sure every driver in each speaker is making sound at more-or-less the right volume (by putting your ear up to each driver in each speaker, one at a time). Then listen to some clearly recorded music where distortion can be heard (female vocals, percussion with cymbals, etc). If it all sounds good, and the shop is legit (eg an audio dealer, not a pawn shop or the like), you're almost certainly fine.

Thanks a lot, I'll keep that in mind.

 

[Martini]

Also, listen to them individually, so one doesn’t mask a possible issue with the other.

 

[wilcaz]

Thanks guys. I went to check them out tonight. They do have some cosmetic damage, but it's nothing I can't live with and seems like they're priced fairly for the flaws. These are the 3 noticeable ones:

https://imgur.com/a/aDnEqiP

They sound absolutely phenomenal. Did all the things you told me to do, listened to each driver individually, frequency sweeps, etc. Checked impedance with multimeter. Seem to be in perfect working order. I told them I'd come back on Saturday and pick them up. If any of those dings look like red flags let me know.

 

[Laserjock]

Ouch, they look like they took some fairly serious hits.
Wondering if they got forked by the forklift or something.
They are packaged well when new so would have to be a pretty hard impact if happened in shipping.

I’d be worried about physical damage of internals that you can’t see.

 

[Martini]

Hmm.., l would be a little concerned about cracks in the wood glue of the cabinet, which you can’t see and will grow over time. They look like they have treated a bit rough for a high end speaker. Patience and wisdom is called for.

 

[wilcaz]

Oh no! Well, I'm glad I asked... It may be worth the risk at this price though. We tested in the shop (which was a real hi-fi shop, though a reseller) and I couldn't find anything apparently wrong with the speaker's performance. But I'm certainly not an expert.

 

[amper42]

I would pass. It's a bit of a risk knowing they have been hit like that. You can get them in new condition for half off on sale.

 

[Ageve]

I would pass. It's a bit of a risk knowing they have been hit like that. You can get them in new condition for half off on sale.

I agree. Even if they still sound good, and the damage doesn't bother the buyer, resale value will be very low.

As @Laserjock mentioned, it looks like they were hit by a forklift.

This is the packaging for my F228s. The bottom part is made of wood and quite sturdy, but there's nothing protecting them from a forklift above that.

 

[wilcaz]

Ugh ok. Thanks for your input. I'll sleep on it and then decide if it's worth the calculated risk. The irrational part of my brain wants to say fuck it and go for it. The rational part knows you're right.

 

[phoenixdogfan]

I kind of think you should keep them. Sure they're dinged up and that could affect their resale value, but you're getting something that sells for $6000 pr new for $1600 pr. so, odds are, they're already selling at the bottom of their range. And you could also take them to a cabinet shop, where they could probably help you out with the cosmetics. You could try to wait for a sale, but Revel is not like KEF which does two annual sales, so you could be waiting a long time only to find the discounted price is between $4800-5200 for a new pair.

Me, I would keep them and restore the cabinets.

 

[kyuu]

Agree with the previous, I think if they still function well then the cosmetic damage is not a huge issue. Worst case, you might want to do some restoration work down the line. $1700 for a pair of F226Be is worth the minimal risk, IMO.

 

[amper42]

First, you can get F228Be on sale for $6,000 a pair. I bought mine that way. They look very nice and blow the F226Be away.

Second, the picture I am seeing not only has a huge scrape on the cabinet near the port but the whole finish looks damaged. Why would anyone want that? It might be worth 10 cents on the dollar? You could spend $1,000 trying fix the finish and still not know if the voice coils have been damaged. Repairs on these are not inexpensive.

 

[kyuu]

First, you can get F228Be on sale for $6,000 a pair. I bought mine that way.

That's uh, a lot more than $1700.

Second, the picture I am seeing not only has a huge scrape on the cabinet near the port but the whole finish looks damaged. Why would anyone want that? It might be worth 10 cents on the dollar?

I think it's for the OP to decide if the cosmetic damage is a problem or not. He's the only one who has to look at them. Also, relative to retail, he's paying a bit less than 20 cents on the dollar so not that far off.

You could spend $1,000 trying fix the finish and still not know if the voice coils have been damaged. Repairs on these are not inexpensive.

Now I'm just baffled. Nothing about that cosmetic damage suggests anything happened to the drivers, and according to the OP they function and sound fine. I would put odds that there's some hidden damage to internal components as pretty minimal.

 

[MarkS]

I agree that the risk of damage to the sound quality is minimal since they are sounding good now. I would buy these at this price if they were near me.

 

[wilcaz]

First, you can get F228Be on sale for $6,000 a pair. I bought mine that way. They look very nice and blow the F226Be away.

Second, the picture I am seeing not only has a huge scrape on the cabinet near the port but the whole finish looks damaged. Why would anyone want that? It might be worth 10 cents on the dollar? You could spend $1,000 trying fix the finish and still not know if the voice coils have been damaged. Repairs on these are not inexpensive.

I think what you're seeing is just dust. They were quite dusty when they wheeled them out but later dusted them off and wiped them down. The finish is great aside from the photos I shared. The sides and back were still wrapped in plastic.

To your point, yes I know there are some great sales, but frankly even the on-sale sale price is out of my budget. I just thought this was an interesting opportunity to get something that would normally be beyond my means. I was initially in the market for a second-hand KEF R7/R5. But again, all the cautionary points are well taken.

 

[wilcaz]

So yeah I bought them lol. If they crap out next week you guys can say I told you so. But for now they sound freakin' phenomenal.