Revel Ultima2 Studio2 Surround Speaker System Page 2

The Studio2s offer two pairs of high quality binding posts (suitable for bi-wiring, which I did not do) together with two controls: Low Frequency Compensation and Tweeter Level. The Low Frequency Compensation control offers three positions (Normal, Contour, and Boundary). The Tweeter Level control has five (-1 to +1 dB, in 0.5dB steps). Both of these controls, and the terminals, are located in a rear panel recess with a smoked plastic, hinged cover that follows the curvature of the cabinet.

The Studio2's cabinet is port-loaded. The port exits near the floor through a space between the bottom of the cabinet and the base. The base is equipped for spikes (provided), but I did not use them. Most of the floor in my home theater room is covered with a carpet, but below it is a 50-year old solid oak floor, which does not take kindly to sharp, pointy things. The spikes are reversible for use on bare floors, but these dull ends offer no advantages on carpet.

The horizontally configured Voice2 center speaker has the same driver complement as the Studio2, but its cabinet is sealed. It also offers the same dual set of input terminals and controls, but no door to hide them from view. While the Voice2 comes with feet for use on any reasonable surface, most users will opt for its optional, dedicated stand. In either case there's a cradle designed to allow the speaker to be tilted up or down, as needed, to aim the speaker toward the listening position.

The Gem2, the baby of the range, is designed with a very shallow cabinet to facilitate wall-mounting, which is the likely scenario when it's used for surrounds. But it's suitable for either front- or rear-channel applications. For this review I used a pair of Gem2s for surrounds, but mounted on their optional stands.

The Gem2s also have dual terminals and Low Frequency Compensation and Tweeter Level controls, but they add an additional control: Listener Axis. The latter has two positions: On-Axis for normal operation, and Off-Axis for wall mounting above the listener's ears.

The Low Frequency Compensation and Tweeter Level controls on the Gem2 are located on the front where they are easy to reach. The terminals and the Listener Axis control are on the rear, where they are not. This is the case even with them on the dedicated stand, which completely covers the rear of the speaker's enclosure for a clean look back and front.

The removable grilles for all the speakers are reasonably transparent acoustically, with the grilles for the Gem2s held in place magnetically. Nevertheless, in true audiophile fashion I left them off the front speakers for all of my listening tests. But you might want to consider doing otherwise. Pure Beryllium, as used for the Revel Ultima2 tweeters, is not only very expensive, it is also very fragile in the thickness used here.

As shipped, in fact, the tweeters are protected by a plastic cover shaped like an egg yolk. When unpacked, the tweeter domes are also protected by a two-wire guard, this alone will only provide limited protection from some risks, and little at all from small, prying fingers. Once dented, the tweeter dome cannot be repaired and must be replaced. If you have any rug rats in your house who like to poke at tweeter domes with their little fingers, I strongly recommend leaving the grilles on.

The B15 subwoofer has been discussed at length in a number of past Ultimate AV reviews (and also under our previous life as the Stereophile Guide to Home Theater). Further information about it is available on this site in most of the Revel speaker systems we have reviewed over the past six years, plus Keith Yates' subwoofer survey from 2004.

Setup
I set up the Studio2s to the left and right of my projection screen, in the same positions occupied by most speakers in my 15.5' x 26' by 8' home theater room. The speakers were positioned on the short wall, firing down the long dimension of the room. They were a minimum of 2' away from the sidewalls and 80" out from the wall behind them wall (measured from the front baffles). The Voice2 was mounted beneath the screen on its dedicated stand, and the Gem2s, on their stands, were located in the back of the room, about 2' out from the back wall and well away from the sidewalls. The B15 subwoofer was near the right front corner of the room, approximately 4' behind the right Studio2.

The system consisted of an Onkyo TX-SR875 receiver used as a pre-pro for the front channels from its preamp outputs into an Anthem Statement P5 power amp. The Onkyo drove the Gem2 surrounds from its onboard surround channel amps. The sources were a variety of HD DVD, Blu-ray, and DVD players from Toshiba, Pioneer, and Samsung, used from their digital coaxial SPDIF audio outputs (for music) or HDMI (for film sound).

Performance
The Ultima2 system replaced another Revel speaker package I had in my system when I began my auditioning—the company's Concertas, the least expensive line in the Revel lineup. The Concerta system in my case consisted of the Concerta F12 floor-standers at the left and right, C12 center, S1 surrounds, and the same Performa B15 sub that now supports the Ultima2 review setup.

When I switched over to the Ultima2 system, I initially used the Gem2s up front; unpacking the Studio2s had to wait until after the recent CEDIA Expo 2007.

Several changes were immediately obvious when I swapped the Concertas for the Ultima2s, with the Gem2s at the front. These were even more pronounced when I later moved the Gem2s to the rear and brought in the Studio2 for the main fronts.

On the plus side for the Concertas, the general timbre of the sound, across most of the audible frequency range, was relatively unchanged when I switched from them to the Revel flagship system. That was only mildly surprising; timbre is related to frequency response and dispersion, and none of the Revel speakers we have reviewed and measured in the past have disappointed in either of these areas. As I write this, the measurements on the Studio2 and Voice2 have not yet been made, but it would be a shock if they deviated from our earlier experience with Revels.

But that doesn't mean that the contest was a close call. You do get what you pay for, and while I would sympathize with you if you argued that the law of diminishing returns in surround speaker systems kicks in far below the $35, 992 total price of this system (with stands), I'll also state flatly that this system has provided me with the best sound I have ever heard in my home theater.

The differences didn't take long—or an extended break-in period—to make themselves obvious. And while the Ultima2s would certainly play louder than the Concerta system—which is no slouch itself in this department in a room the size of mine—Revel's new flagship system sounded cleaner at all realistic listening levels. (If you only plan on using such a pricey system for background music, you're on the wrong website!)

The differences were immediately obvious at the very top end. Revel's new Beryllium tweeter is one of the best I've ever heard. Unless forced to do so by the program material, it never sounded obvious, and certainly showed no sign of the metallic coloration that drives some designers and audiophiles to soft-dome tweeters. But when details came along, the new tweeter sounded delicate, silky-smooth, and fully extended. And in my room I never felt any compulsion to change the Tweeter Level control from its midpoint—or the Low Frequency Compensation control from its Normal position, for that matter. Your room, system, and preferences might demand otherwise; the options are there if you need them.

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