Does a 'high end' name equal high end performance? Revel M106

[GRResearch]

Oops! I thought these were $1100 for the pair! Turns out, that’s the price for each speaker! Apologies for the mistake and keep that in mind when considering the investment.

[vitorgoncalves]

I've had these speakers for almost two years, paired with an Hegel H95 integrated. Bought them used but like new. They sound fantastic. Almost perfect timber, great soundstage, well balanced between the bass, midrange and treble. Beautiful, natural sound. I'd say these speakers are more appealing for jazz, chamber and acoustic music than heavy rock or electronic music. Could it be better with better parts? maybe. Just don't think these are bad speakers because that would be foolish.

[Kmn]

I bought the m106's 10 years ago. Still love them. Running a Bryston pre and power amp through them. And an M&K sub. Sounds great to me. But, I would add, a sub is necessary - at least for my desired listening habits. Your mileage may vary. They have a large sound stage, and basically disappear if you close your eyes while listening. Very accurate. Great speakers for the price! Not $1100...Mine were $1000/each.

[Clint_the_Audio-Photo_Guy]

I sell Revel Speakers. These are $2200 a pair now, $1100 is the price for one. The $4000 model gets a Be tweeter, better crossover parts, and a fancy paint job. The regular Performa series is definitely the better value, but people do love that Be tweeter.

[christianjforbes]

Danny’s videos have shown the guts of all sorts of speakers. So, I picked up a pair of Polk floor standers and tore them down to just the wood … then matched the volumes with diy kits of much better quality. For about $500 all in, I’m not only happy with the results, but I have bragging rights of having done the work myself. I even made myself a tunable port based on the Karlson tube design.
Thanks DR

[techsamurai]

Can you point us to a link of a before and after of one of these upgrades? You may wish to include it in every video.

[davidjudd]

The complaint from the owner, was they hear separate instruments. I thought that was the job of a speaker.

[smoothkaos]

Man! I'm so impressed by your videos and appreciate the good work you do. You also know what you're talking about so now I can just send people to you instead of me lol

[Harald-MacGerhard]

What the REVEL 🥶
Those parts in a $2200 speaker pair 😱

[AbsoluteFidelity]

Wonder what would the upgraded parts and new FR do to the Listening Window and especially the PIR, since both measured almost flat and ideal despite the bumpy on axis fr?

[rotorfix]

In my system (well treated room with speakers well away from walls), Revel Performas have greater clarity and resolution than the Spatial OBs I owned for a time, and those only had a single Mundorf cap in the crossover. I also owned some Epos speakers in which I replaced their Bennic poly caps with Sonicaps: no audible difference. Lastly, I’ve done a fair amount of comparison with various qualities of resistor in a crossover upstream of some $250 Seas tweeters (one resistor and one cap in the path) and couldn’t detect much if any difference there either.

I’m relatively young and have pretty good hearing according to my last test. I also have over a decade in the “hobby” in which I’ve owned a lot of gear and setup many systems. I’m not saying definitively that quality doesn’t matter, but the jury is still out based on those experiences. I for one would rather leave my Revels alone so they retain as much resale value as possible. They do outperform some $9K/pair towers I owned that also had better crossover parts.

I do however, appreciate your service to the community. Please keep producing more videos like this because I think they’ll help pressure manufacturers to up their game.

On a less related note, I calculated that the cost of drivers alone (SB Acoustics) in a pair of Revel F206s approaches $600. I think that’s a very good driver-cost/speaker-cost ratio, considering one can typically buy a pair at 20% below MSRP. That’s about a 1:5 ratio, not bad for a pair of mass-produced speakers from a big name. The same metric applied to those $2400 Taylor speakers you featured is less than a 1:12 ratio if I’m not mistaken.

[Theking]

Hope to see you in a couple weeks. Bringing some stuff to measure. Great video.

[singletrackdan]

Can you do a video to update buyers on the tweeter and crossover parts backorders for your X series?

[adameidimtas]

I’ve got a question. I’ve got four speakers here from the 70s. I would love to have tweaked out a little bit. How do I go about doing that?

[Woot-Zee]

Every speaker should end up in a video! (This would make your channel amazing IMO) :)

[Canadian_Eh_I]

Hi Danny, any plans on coming out with a hyper-cardioid passive speaker design? I want something with high riectivity

[SemtêxČØŴv.]

Thanks for more of your experience shared.
I’m collecting cabinet materials to build pair of your X series speakers.
Don’t want to take of much of your limited time so simple question, do you think you’ll get the restock of tweeters for the X series before this June?
It’s my 50th birthday in June and my wife is looking to buy me one of your kits.
Thanks for what you do, know that knowledge by experience is valued and appreciated by some people.

[Victrola]

How in the world would sharp reflections inside a speaker box affect a sealed back tweeter?

[ford]

Many times it is designed on crossovers that make the sound not so good and not just the quality of parts. Yes better quality parts give better sound but first you have to make a good and correct crossover! If the crossover filter is not made correctly, it does not help much to insert good parts. maybe a little but you will not get rid of all the problems

[thomasperina]

Good evening all: Another great video sir. I've been a stereophile for many years & have spent so much money I could have purchased another S series MB. Every time I see a speaker costing $ 10k to $ 20k each I always remember your videos with a crossover that probably cost the manufacturer 25.00 + cheap Chinese crap ta boot. It really comes down to who of these manufacturers can you really trust. I realize that we can trust you cause the data doesn't lie. Buy a new stereo amp & it's $ 5k to $ 20k & you still don't really know what you own. Thank you so much, TMP from N.J.