Tower Speaker Reviews

The sound is fast, clean, and full of natural detail, but it's also big when it needs to be. I've heard few speakers in my room that could equal (and none that could exceed) these Revels in their ability to produce a huge, cinematic soundstage, particularly when all 5.1-channels are driven with a big, dynamic movie soundtrack. You're unlikely to see the recent remake of Flight of the Phoenix as the in-flight movie on your next cross-country jaunt; it has the most harrowing plane crash I've ever seen on film (though thankfully one that avoids gratuitous gore and bloodshed). The soundstage on the system with this DVD was immense, and the bass—thanks to that single B15 subwoofer—made me fear for my house, though its 60-year old plaster held up better than I did on a ride I'd prefer to avoid in real life.

While the system can do the big stuff without audible strain, it handles subtleties just as well. In fact, one of its strengths is that it can move you without hammering you over the head. Chapters 14 and 15 of the recent live action Peter Pan demonstrates this perfectly. As Wendy and Peter waltz in the air, James Newton Howard's score reminds us—if we need to be reminded—of the magic that music can contribute to a movie. It's a subdued, delightful moment. (I also recommend this entire film, and not just for the junior set. It would make an excellent double feature with Finding Neverland, but save Peter Pan for last; it's the better of two fine productions.)

The system doesn't skimp on music without pictures, either. Driven in straight 2-channel mode from the digital output of the Marantz DV8400, the F32s and the Sony receiver continued to produce a clean, clear, open sound. The imaging was tightly controlled, with the sort of solid center that makes you want to check to make sure the center channel speaker is not operating (it wasn't). And while the system never exaggerated depth, it never shortchanged it, either. The sound was not edgy in any way. It could be fairly criticized as a little lean-sounding, particularly on the human voice, but its superb detailing never went over-the-top.

The Sony STR-DA9000ES receiver did its job without intrusion. When we measured it, we found that it didn't put out as much power as you might expect into lower impedances. (Many solid-state amps can come close to doubling their 8Ω output into 4Ω; the Sony put out nearly the same into both loads—actually, slightly less into 4Ω.) It also produced noticeably less power at 20Hz than at 1kHz. But I had forgotten this fact as I listened to the system, and would never have guessed it from the sound. We had measured the impedance of both the Revel F32 (L/R) and C32 (C) speakers at a nominal 4.5Ω and a minimum of just under 4Ω. With the subwoofer engaged and receiver thus relieved of amplification duties below about 80Hz most of the time, it wasn't surprising that the 20Hz power limitation was never a factor. And even when I listened to music without the subwoofer, there was more than enough power at low frequencies to do it justice at comfortably loud levels in my 3000+ cubic-foot listening room. (The receiver's output into 4Ω at 20Hz measured a hardly wimpy 105Wpc with all seven channels operating at 1% THD+noise.)

If I have any complaints about the Sony receiver, they involve its sheer complexity, not its sound. I'd be delighted with a receiver that duplicated its audio quality but deleted all but its most essential features: bass management, the standard surround modes, Lip Sync, video switching, and the 0.5dB per step level adjustment (the 1dB per step changes found in most pre-pros and receivers aren't quite fine enough for me—I'd actually like to see 0.1dB steps, but that's a reviewer thing). I particularly like the receiver's two DVI inputs. I could live without those DSP-generated modes like Club, Stadium, and Sony's Digital Cinema Sound variations on 5.1-channel soundtracks. I don't really need night compression modes or even an AM/FM tuner. I'd rather have satellite radio on board; most FM stations today are unlistenable, and I rarely listen to AM anywhere but in the car. If manufacturers removed conventional tuners from receivers, how many people would notice?

I've never had any reason to complain about the Marantz DV8400 DVD player. It only offers one DVI output rate—480p—but most projectors and video displays do a reasonable job upscaling that to their native resolution. It has the best DVD remote I've ever used, despite its lack of illumination. And the player produces a superb image. I know that some critics are unhappy with the flag-reading deinterlacing that's part of the Pioneer video package on which the Marantz is based. But it's never given me cause to complain in months of watching. (Film-based DVDs are supposed to incorporate a flag telling the player to go into film mode, but some discs lack that flag. A few players are adept at figuring out that the source is film-based without the flag, but players based on Pioneer video subassemblies rely on it, and when it isn't there, they don't switch into film mode. Artifacts may ensue.)

The Marantz does have one significant shortcoming in this system. The Sony receiver accepts a direct digital feed (i.Link) from a suitable player for SACD recordings. But the Marantz is not equipped to provide it. The Pioneer DV-59AVi player that I also used in my review of the receiver does, as do some SACD players from Sony—no surprise there. If this is important to you, the Marantz player will not be your best choice.

Our sample of Sony's VPL-HS51 Cineza LCD projector has long since returned its maker, but I managed to borrow another sample briefly from Home Theater magazine. This sample impressed me just as much as the first. It produces a picture that seems out of all proportion to its price.

The Sony projector's weaknesses are clear: limited light output (I don't recommend a huge screen; an 80-inch-wide Stewart Studiotek 130 with this projector, in its Low lamp setting, is a treat), mediocre gray scale tracking (though its flaws here are more evident on measurement than in normal viewing), and an image that could sometimes look just a little grainy, particularly if you get too close (the LCD screen-door effect).

But its strengths include the best black level and peak contrast I've yet measured on a digital projector—regardless of price. For that you can thank its auto iris, a feature that will be showing up on a lot of new video displays in the coming year, both front and rear projection. Yes, Virginia, black level and contrast ratio domatter; they add a punch and three-dimensionality to the image that can make the difference between a flat, boring image and one that springs to life. And to add icing to the cake, in its Low lamp mode, the projector is quiet, a quality guaranteed to please audiophiles.

All in all, this is a system I hate to break up. But time—and the inevitable demands of reviewing new gear—marches on. I'll miss it, but the search for audio-video Nirvana must continue in other directions. So many products, so little time. . .