Listening
Contents
We start playing some music and must admit we immediately are “madly in love” with this American speaker. These little ‘boxes’ sure know how to make music! The Revel Performa M126Be are fast, full and rich in sound, yet detailed and holographic, they fill the room with ease, there’s ample of bass (how, tell us how?). And above all, there’s control. Even when we pump up the volume with the deepest house or techno, the Revels don’t lose their steam and they deliver.
Big is beautiful
The soundstage and the 3D reproduction are what impresses us most, especially taking into account the small dimensions of the speaker. For a product from the US, where Big is still Beautiful, that is something. Our surprise is even bigger when we realise that the Revels have been placed in the large studio in front of the huge Dali Phantom 280S in-wall speakers (1.50m high and half a meter wide). If we didn’t know any better, we might as well think the Phantoms are playing instead of the Revels.
While testing, we play a wide variety of music; classical symphonic and chamber music, organ music (Merel Vercammens The Zoo with organ music from the Orgelpark), jazz, pop, rock, progressive rock, hip hop. In some tracks, we heard new details in the music, a layering in the presentation of the players that sounded exactly as it should be. Sometimes the soloist stands in the middle, sometimes further backwards. Michael Jackson’s ‘The Way You Make Me Feel’ is a fine example. In the chorus the choir sings the title a number of times. The first time, the choir is at the back. With each repetition the background vocals come a little closer towards the listener, until it is right in the center and about one meter away. The Revels succeed flawlessly in rendering this sound image, and that is something not many speakers are capable of achieving. If you try this at home, pay close attention to the version of the song because there are a lot of bad remasters. Take the original, or rather, the LP.
The Revels play brilliantly on both amplifiers. The B&K power amplifier (also made in the USA) is an excellent combination. In the large studio the volume has to be set quite high because of the size of the space and the acoustic damping. The Revels do it effortlessly and don’t lose control for a moment. Also on Hegels Röst the Revels play nice. Apparently these are monitors that are easy to control.
Beryllium
If we are looking for an explanation for the sound quality, the frequency range is an important factor. The Performa M126Be go up to 44 Khz., far above the human hearing threshold of 20 Khz. In these regions the overtones are shown; with a guitar you hear this with flageolet tones and with a piano you hear the strings resonate when the right pedal is pressed. This speaker transmits transient information (spaciousness, detailing, timbre, layering and preciousness) well and precisely.
A second explanation can be the structure of the diffusers placed in front of the tweeters. These spread the sound evenly and well into the listening room.
