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Revel began demonstrating prototypes of the Performa F228Be, reviewed elsewhere in this issue, at the Consumer Electronics Show and other audio events in 2015, though they had yet to settle on the model name. The most salient feature that distinguished the F228Be-to-be from the established Performa3 F208 was the new beryllium tweeter, and while it sounded more than okay under show conditions, I always heard a bit of brightness and harshness. I knew it was still a work in progress, but I wasn't very eager to want to take it home.
I had a moment of revelation in 2000, when I first set up a pair of Revel's original Ultima Studio loudspeakers in my living room. It wasn't just my awareness that Revel's next-to-top-of-the-line loudspeaker was outstandingly good—it seemed to perfectly match my space and my ears. From the first day, I knew these would be keepers and I purchased the review samples.
Revel's Ultima Studio2 arrived in 2008, and though it performed even better than the original, the impression it made on me wasn't quite revelatory, and my praise was somewhat restrained—something for which Fred Kaplan justly…
In addition, I found it much easier to distinguish the direct sounds of the instruments from the ambience of the venue. That's not to say that the F228Be's dissociated the two, but one's perception of their relationship is subject to several variables: the characteristics of the ambience, the tonal quality of the direct sounds, and, significantly, the apparent distance between the voice or instrument and the microphone/listener within the ambient space. My favorite analogy of this is of being hailed and approached by a friend in the reverberant space of Manhattan's Grand Central Station. At…
Sidebar 1: Specifications
Description: Floorstanding, three-way, bass-reflex loudspeaker. Drive-units: 1" (25mm) beryllium-dome tweeter with acoustic lens, 5.25" (130mm) DCC aluminum-cone midrange with cast frame, two 8" (200mm) DCC aluminum-cone woofers with cast frames. Crossover frequencies: 260Hz, 2.1kHz. Frequency response: 27Hz–44kHz, –6dB. Nominal impedance: 8 ohms. Sensitivity: 90dB/2.83V/m. Recommended amplification: 50–350W.
Dimensions: 46.5" (1181mm) H by 11.8" (302mm) W by 13.2" (335mm) D. Weight: 82 lb (37.2kg).
Finishes: High Gloss White or Black, Walnut, Metallic…
Sidebar 2: Associated Equipment
Digital Sources: Oppo Digital UDP-205 universal disc player, Baetis Prodigy-X PC-based music server running JRiver Media Center 24, exaSound e38 D/A processor. QNAP TVS-873 NAS.
Preamplifiers: Audio Research MP1, Parasound Halo P 7.
Power Amplifiers: Benchmark AHB-2, Classé Audio Sigma Mono (both monoblocks), Parasound Halo A 31.
Loudspeakers: Bowers & Wilkins 802 D3.
Cables: Digital: AudioQuest Coffee (USB). Interconnect: AudioQuest Earth (DBS balanced), Kubala-Sosna Anticipation (RCA). Speaker: AudioQuest Oak (DBS biwire). AC: Kubala-…
Sidebar 3: Measurements
I used DRA Labs' MLSSA system and a calibrated DPA 4006 microphone to measure the Revel Performa F228Be's frequency response in the farfield, and an Earthworks QTC-40 for the nearfield responses. (I left off the grilles for the measurements.) My estimate of the F228Be's voltage sensitivity was 89.1dB/2.83V/m, slightly below the specified 90dB/2.83V/m but within the margin of error. The impedance magnitude remains below 8 ohms for the entire midrange and bass, with minimum values of 3.42 ohms at 98Hz and 3.55 ohms at 290Hz (fig.1). There is also a demanding…
Saturday, January 26, 5–9pm, The Audio Guy (1590 E. Business 121, Building 2, Suite 500, Lewisville, TX 75056) is having an open house with VPI Industries president Mat Weisfeld, who be giving a sneak peek at the new limited-edition HW40 turntable. Michael Vamos will be on hand to demo the GamuT RS5i speakers and other vendor reps will also demonstrate some of their latest offerings. And singer/songwriter Robynn Shayne will be performing some of her latest music!
There will be music, food, fun, drinks, and giveaways. RSVP to clay@audioguydfw.com.
Roon, one of the major brands of audiophile-quality high-resolution music playback software, has just released its v.1.6 upgrade. Roon 1.6 finally includes a portal for hi-rez streaming Qobuz, whose US launch is rumored for sometime next month. In addition to pairing Roon's rich metadata with the entire Qobuz and Tidal catalogs, the upgrade also offers major new features.
Among other improvements, when you choose to play a recording that's in your personal library, Roon now displays identical or similar tracks on Qobuz and Tidal. As before, it's easy to click on a little glowing purple…
I've just returned home from one of the greatest concerts of my life, and felt absolutely compelled to share my thoughts with you. Yo-Yo Ma performed all six of J.S. Bach's Cello Suites, from memory, over a mesmerizing two-and-a-half hours at Red Rocks Amphitheatre, in Morrison, Colorado. It was a truly special experience.
When I was eight, Yo-Yo Ma was my inspiration to pick up the violin. I have over a dozen of his recordings in my collection. My copy of his 2001 recording of the Bach Cello Suites 1, 5, and 6 (CD, Sony Classical 89796) is so worn that the CD case is falling apart. I am…
To audio designers in Japan and elsewhere, the single-ended, 300B-tubed amplifier is like a haiku: an art form defined by both its prescribed limitations and the potential such restraint offers for artistic expression. Here, the only hard-and-fast rule is a simple one: output devices are limited to one 300B directly heated triode tube per channel. From there, it's a blank slate: Do you want AC or DC on the output-tube heaters? Tube or solid-state rectification? Low or high gain? Fixed or cathode bias? New parts, vintage parts, or a mix of both? Triode or pentode tubes as drivers? Capacitors…