This content reviews the Quad Revela 2Os, a three-way floorstanding speaker, evaluating its performance, design, and value proposition against its stand-mount sibling and competitors in the £3,000-£5,000 price bracket.
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I've said this before, but it's worth
restating. I don't review many floor
standing speakers below £3,000. They
tend to give up too much fidelity to
equivalent price stand mounts. Above
£5,000, the pendulum swings back in
their favor. It's that middle three
to5,000 range where everything's up for
grabs. That's why I've reviewed so many
stand mount speakers over the years. My
current favorite modern-day stand mount
speakers below £3,000 are the excellent
Quadrella ones, featuring a pure ribbon
tweeter and a doped wood pulp midwuffer.
An absolute bargain for £1,800.
Giant killing isn't something that I
tend to talk about because it hardly
ever happens. When the Quadrolla ones
can compete favorably with speakers
twice their price, you could call that
giant killing. I was curious about their
big brothers. Have designers messed
things up by putting additional drivers
in a larger box or built on the strength
of the stand mount? It's time to find out.
The Quadroverta 2Os are three-way floor
standing speakers that retail in the UK
for £3,499
a pair. An all black finish is
available, but I prefer the Realwood
walnut veneer that wraps around the back
and sides.
These are no shrinking violets,
measuring 965x 350x
350x
325 mm and weighing 31.8 kg. That's 38
by 13.8 by 12.8 8 in and 70 lb. The
fitting finish is faultless all the way
from the heavily chrome spikes on wide
outrigger feet right to the top. To my
eye, the high gloss finish suits the
stature of the floor stander better than
the stand mounts. The Roller Twos have
two 165 mm 6 1/2 in woofers handling
bass frequencies specified at a minus
3dB point of 40 Hz up to 650 Hz. The
cone material named reveal is a wood
pulp infused with pararamids to add
stiffness and damping. The drivers were
developed from scratch, not just a new
cone material, but a substantial magnet
structure, all housed in a heavy diear
chassis. This is one reason why the
speakers are heavier than many competitors.
competitors.
The same materials and technologies are
deployed in the mid-range unit, which is
smaller at 150 mm or 6 in. It caters for
frequencies between 650 and 3,800 hertz.
The crossovers utilize acoustic
Butterworth filter networks.
The 60 mm 2.4 in pure ribbon tweeter is
identical to the one found in the Rella
1 stand mounts, but doesn't have to play
down as low due to the three-way
implementation of the floor standers.
Quad have used ribbon tweeters for many
years. This particular design has
evolved from the model found in the
Junior Z series. The magnet structure
and waveguide have been improved to
increase bandwidth and linearity whilst
lowering distortion.
By amping and bywiring enthusiasts may
be disappointed to find a single set of
speaker binding posts, but they are of
higher quality. Twin flared rear ports
are responsible for extending the low
frequency range. The cabinets are
internally heavily braced to reduce
resonances. They also have large radius
corners to minimize edge defraction
issues that can adversely impact on the
soundstaging and imaging abilities of
These speakers have a lot to live up to
given that I'm currently using the
Revela ones as my reference speakers
below £3,000, but the Revela twos don't disappoint.
disappoint.
The 1,800 lb stand mounts are clean and
dynamic. They produce exceptionally
tight bass for a ported speaker. The
ribbon tweeter is superbly detailed, and
the mid-range is amongst the most
revealing in its class. The tunnel
balance of the Rea 2 is a little bit
different. There's a bit more base
weight, but quite a bit more base
extension. Clearly, Peter Ko and his
design team have gone for quality over
quantity, but the mid-range
characteristics have also been altered.
This is almost certainly due to the
revised driver arrangement and
crossover. One great advantage a
three-way has over a two-way is that
there's a dedicated driver covering the
mid-range frequencies where our hearing
is most sensitive. The result is that
the REA 2 sound more open and relaxed
with vocals and lead instruments. In
comparison, the REA ones are a little
bit forward in the upper mid-range,
although never harsh. In comparison, the
Rela Twos are ever so slightly on the
polite side.
Perhaps the most remarkable thing about
these floor standers is how free they
sound. Normally, resonances and edge
refraction issues tie the sound to the
enclosures to some extent. However, the
RE two sonically disappear as if they
were much smaller speakers.
They're capable of creating a wide and
deep sound stage with solid imagery.
That ability to localize performers is
dependent on the preservation of high
frequencies. That's another area where
the Quadrolla 2 shine. The Tweeter
benefits from having less frequencies to
cover than when performing the same
duties with the two-way stand mounts.
The detail, refinement, and sense of air
all step up a level from its junior sibling.
sibling.
Okay, time for this week's music suggestion.
suggestion.
With correct positioning and
amplification, the placement of Bill
Evans Trio playing Nardis was exemplary.
So was the weight and texture of each
note on Sam Jones double bass, the
tambber to Bill's piano, and the light
brush work of Philly Joe Jones on drums.
There's a few competitor speakers I'd
like to mention. They're not here, so no
detailed comparisons, just my general
listening impressions.
The Scan Sonic MB 2.5Bs retail for £3,750.
£3,750.
They have a similar slightly warm tone
and highly capable soundstaging and
imaging capabilities. However, the bass
is heavier and the mid-range isn't quite
as open as the quads. Even stand mount
speakers with impressive bass weight and
extension can't dig as deep as the
Revela 2s. The Circa £4,000 Bukar E50s
have even better imaging, but more
polite upper mid-range.
For just under4,000 pounds in passive
form, the ATC SEM20s provide greater
mid-range texture and tonal shading with
a tighter bass. However, these sealed
box speakers won't compete with the
floor standards for dynamics, bass
extension, and expression in the top octaves.
octaves.
The Neite Classics are the same price as
the Quadrilla 2os in a real wood finish.
Similarities don't end there. The Elite
share the same slightly warm tonal
balance, well controlled bass, and
articulate high frequencies.
It's been a long time since I reviewed
the Elites, and I think they might do
better in this room where I can get them
closer to walls for some boundary
reinforcement, which tends to suit their
presentation. They're smaller speakers,
so won't shift as much air or
dynamically and in terms of bass
extension compete with the quads. I also
think that the Revela 2s are slightly
more open in the mid-range thanks to
that three-way design, but they're also
more fussy when it comes to
amplification and speaker positioning.
So, what do you need to know to get the
Ribbon tweeters typically have a wide
horizontal dispersion but narrow
vertical dispersion. So, it's important
that you get the tweeters close to ear height.
height.
It's often easier to achieve this with
floor standers than with stand mounts,
unless you have stands at the correct
height. Or go for the matching stands
for the Revela ones for an additional
£700. At £2,500,
that's a grand cheaper than the Revela
2. The Revela 2 are ideally suited to
rooms that are a little bit larger than
mine, which is about 4.3x3.7
m or circa 14x 12 ft. I was able to get
them to work by placing them just over
2.5 m, 8 ft apart to ensure that the
mid-range didn't sound too thick. I also
pulled them 115 cm 45 in forward into
the room, measuring from the center line
of the front baffle. This kept the bass
nice and tight.
I tried a lot of amplifiers. Some most
definitely worked a lot better than
others. It's not that the Revela 2 are
difficult to drive. Actually, the Revela
ones are a lot more difficult to drive.
The floor standards have an extra 3dB of
sensitivity, which helps, but that's not
the whole story. They're rated
officially at 89 dB into a 6ohm load,
but I suspect that the Crossover is also
electrically more forgiving. The Audio
Lab 6000A Mark II priced at £699
provided a very good starting point. 50
W per channel into 8 ohms, backed up by
a decent power supply, proved more than
sufficient to get an idea of what the
Quad Revela 2Os were about.
The new quad platina amplifier is £3,499
and is a most likely Bedfellow. The 200
W per channel powerhouse opened up the
sound stage. Increased dynamics whilst
imparting more resolution than the Audio
Lab. That's a warm sounding amplifier
paired with slightly warm sounding
speakers. The result is, you guessed it,
a warm sound. Synergy with my Exposure
Premons and the Exposure 2510 was off.
For some reason, they didn't gel
together. The sound was too muddy and
soft for my liking. My 3,250
Hegel H190 only fared slightly better.
Not muddy and soft, but dynamically flat
and rather boring. I was tempted to jump
to the conclusion that maybe the speaker
drivers were over damped.
However, the Revela twos sprung into
life with my Wilson R8. Normally I run
this with Tungst 6SN7s on the preamp
stage and PSVain T2 collection CV181s
and KT88s on the driving and power amp
stages. However, PSVain have sent me
their Summit series of tubes which I
rolled to replace the T2 tubes on the
latter two stages.
So, this is my advice regarding the new
PS Veain Summit series tubes. If you've
got a Wilson R8 or a similar quality
tube amplifier and you're running it
with decent tubes already, something
like the PS Veain Art series T2
collections that I've been using for the
last couple of years, I wouldn't bust
the gut and go out and buy the Summit
series. But if they're coming to the end
of their life or you're running these
tube amplifiers with the stock tubes
that they tend to come with, especially
the Chinese brands like Wilson and their
various competitors, then absolutely go
for the Summit series. they'll justify
the extra outlay over the Art series
alone, which is about 30% for the extra
clarity and focus that they bring. Back
to the review, even the single-ended
Brunode Terra 300B amplifier sounded
fabulous, proving that you don't need a
lot of wattage to drive these speakers
to what most people would consider
sensible listening levels in relatively
averagesized listening rooms. If the
Brunica was struggling, it would show in
compressed dynamics and the softening to
the leading edge of notes. There were no
sign of these issues. Quad do make some
tube amplifiers, and I wonder if the
Revela 2's in part have been designed
with these kind of amplifiers in mind. I
suppose this is as good a point as any.
Peter Ko went back to the drawing board
to design the Revela range with a new
reveal material for the mid and woofer
cones coupled to substantial motor
structures. The ribbon tweeter evolved.
There were new crossovers and cabinets
with elaborate finishes.
The result is two highly capable
speakers, each with their own
personalities. The Revela ones are
fairly neutral, but need amplifiers with
plenty of current to drive them. The
Revela Twos are easy to drive, have a
warmer tone, but also sound more open
and relaxed.
They need a bit of space to breathe, and
are fussy about positioning. If the
Relata Twos played nice with a wider
range of amplifiers, they'd get my top
outstanding award. They absolutely shone
with the valve amplifiers I tried, but
the transistor amplifiers were a bit of
a mixed bag. It's worth putting the
groundwork in with the Revela twos and
trying lots of different amplifiers
because the results can be staggering.
The Quadrilla 2os get a very highly
recommended from this channel. Sometimes
two products can gel together to produce
extraordinary outcomes. My question for
today is, has that happened to you? And
if it has, please share those stories in
the comment section. I'm sure you know
what to do by now. If you want to
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great ways to interact with me and
fellow patronons. But for today, for
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