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Sometimes I didn't like what I heard from the Studio. Take the conclusion of Act I of Tosca, from "Tre sbirri" through the "Te Deum" (Colin Davis, cond., Philips 412 885-2). Ingvar Wixell's excessive sibilants were all over the place, and the Covent Garden brass were overly bright and flatulent. That said, the depth and detail were beyond what I'd heard before, and, for the first time, the offstage rifle shots actually sounded like rifles. By contrast, the seductively smooth treble of the Kharma Ceramique 2.0 that I reviewed in October 2000 sounded more consistent across sources, and…
From bottom to top, the Studio's performance exuded authority and integrity. Whether the fare was background sounds from FM, jazz, pop, rock (well, a little), or my regular diet of symphonies and operas, I enjoyed a closer connection to the music when the Studios were in the system—even though the speakers were not forward-sounding, and tended to create a deep soundstage extending far behind them. While they didn't "disappear" as completely as the Artemis Eoses or the EQ'd Kharma Ceramiques, the Studios pulled off that trick most of the time. In addition, they provided a more solid center-…
Sidebar 1: Specifications
Description: Three-way-plus, floorstanding, rear-ported loudspeaker with separate level controls for each tweeter. Drive-units: 1" aluminum-alloy front tweeter with roll surround, 0.75" cloth-dome rear tweeter, 5¼" inverted titanium-dome midrange, two 8" mica/carbon-filled copolymer inverted-dome woofers. Crossover frequencies: 220Hz, 2.2kHz via 24dB/octave networks. Frequency responses: in-room response and first-reflection, 31Hz-12kHz, ±1dB; listening window, 31Hz-20kHz, ±1.5dB. Low-frequency extension: -10dB at 22Hz, -6dB at 26Hz, -3dB at 33Hz. Impedance: 6…
Sidebar 2: Associated Equipment
Analog source: Heybrook TT2 turntable, Rega RB300 tonearm, Koetsu Black Gold cartridge.
Digital sources: Meridian 508-24 CD player, Meridian 800 DVD/CD player, Mark Levinson No.360 DAC.
Preamplification: Sonic Frontiers Line-3, Klyne 6LE3.3P (phono stage only).
Power amplifiers: Blue Circle BC-22, McCormack DNA-1 (Rev.A), Sonic Frontiers Power-3.
Cables: S/PDIF Digital: Apogee Wyde-Eye, Illuminations D-60. Interconnects: Cardas Cross, Cardas Golden Cross, Straight Wire Maestro II, JPS Balanced Super-Conductor 2. Speaker: AudioQuest Granite.
…
Sidebar 3: Measurements
The Studio was 5dB more sensitive than my reference Rogers LS3/5A, giving a B-weighted, quasi-anechoic figure of 87.5dB/2.83V/m, which is a shade above average. Its impedance magnitude and electrical phase angle (fig.1) indicate that it is a moderately demanding load. Though the phase angle is generally low, the magnitude drops to 4 ohms throughout the bass and lower midrange, and in the high treble with the control set to "+1dB" and the rear tweeter on and set to its maximum level (bottom traces). This graph shows the best- and worst-case conditions: the top pair…
Fig.4 shows the Studio's overall response averaged across a 30 degrees lateral window on the tweeter axis. This is superbly flat, with again just a slight excess of energy apparent in the middle of the tweeter's passband and the small notch visible at 3.4kHz. Though the latter is too narrow to have much effect on the sound, the former might contribute to the in-room HF balance KR perceived. The tweeter's ultrasonic resonance peak is around 10dB in height but higher than usual in frequency, at close to 30kHz. The Revel's bass region is sensibly tuned so that when the speaker is used in a room…
I didn't test the behavior of the rear-facing tweeter, but fig.8 shows the changes in the on-axis response associated with the front tweeter switched to its "+1dB" and "-1dB" settings. The treble region shelves up or down by almost exactly 1dB, and, as KR noted, the "-0.5dB" and "-1dB" settings will be very useful in adjusting the Studio's treble balance in relatively live rooms. Conversely, the slight boost setting will be appropriate in very large or very dead rooms.
Fig.8 Revel Ultima Studio, effect of tweeter control set to "+1dB" and "-1dB" positions, normalized to response…
Follow-up #1 (from January 2001, Vol.24 No.1)
"Congratulations! Now, it can be your fault!" So said my relieved mother to my new bride, warning her that none of life's little lapses from perfection would ever be my fault.
One result of this is that my personal appreciation and public praise of excellent audio components is usually damped by the need to dissect, analyze, and lay blame. Another is that I can be immobilized by dithering and second-guessing. I hope to correct the balance and, perhaps, gain some psychotherapeutic benefit with this completely unsolicited, heart-on-…
Follow-up #2 (from January 2001, Vol.24 No.1)
As you can read elsewhere in this issue's Follow-Up section, Kalman Rubinson was so impressed by the $10,799/pair Revel Ultima Studio loudspeaker that he has decided to purchase the review pair. When I read his enthusiastic prose, I still had the pair of Studios that I had measured to accompany Kal's original review in the December 2000 issue, so I set them up in my new listening room for a...listen.
Yes, that's new listening room, "new" spelled "a-n-g-s-t." As I mentioned last September, I have relocated from Santa Fe to Brooklyn.…
Sidebar: JA's Associated Equipment
Analog source: None yet.
Digital sources: Linn Sondek CD12 CD player, 166MHz Pentium PC with Digital Audio Labs CardDeluxe and RME Digi96/8 Pro soundcards, dCS 972 D/D converter.
Preamplification: Mark Levinson No.380S, Z-Systems rdp-1 updated to handle 96kHz sources.
Power amplifiers: Mark Levinson No.33H monoblocks.
Cables: Interconnect: Madrigal CZ-Gel. Speaker: AudioQuest Sterling. AC: API.
Accessories: PS Audio Power Plant P300 at 90Hz, API Power Wedge 116 Mk.II and PE-1, RPG Abffusor panels, ASC Tube Traps.—John Atkinson