ON TEST

28 AustralianHi-Fi ˹˹˹ƖŘˁʊǒǔǞƖƋɁȧ

M

y heartsankwhen

theeditorrang

toaskif I could

stayhomeon

Fridaytotake

deliveryofa pair

ofRevelspeakers

forreview.‘Aretheyfloor-standers?’I asked.

‘Yep’wasthesternreply.‘Whatseries?’was

mynextquestion.‘PerformaF228Be’,he

answered.It wasnottheanswerI hadnot

wantedtohear.

It’snotthatI don’tloveRevelspeakers...

I do...plusI amalsoa greatfanofKevin

Voeckswho’sstillthemaninchargeatRevel,

ablyassistedbyhisrighthandman(who’s

actuallyRevel’sprincipalengineer)Mark

Glazer...andnolessa personathanDrSean

Oliveroundsoutthedesignteam...talk

aboutheavy-hittersinthespeakerdesign

fraternity!

No,I reallydoloveRevelspeakers...it’s

justthatRevel’stop-linefloor-standersare

allsolarge,andsoheavy,thatcarryingthem

downthelong,too-steep,andtoohigh-

ly-polishedslipperywoodenstaircasetomy

listening room is always so difficult that I

worry not only about my back, but the safety

of the speakers.

THE EQUIPMENT

This time around I was in luck. A new couri-

er, obviously out to impress, readily agreed to

help me carry each carton down the stairs...

or at least he did until he came in and saw

the stairs. ‘Have you got a rug?’ he asked. As

it happened, I did... and I learned something.

He turned the rug over, then laid one carton

down on its side on the rug and then, to my

delight, slid the whole lot beautifully down

the stairs! Then, at the bottom, I didn’t even

have to lift the carton up, as it was already

tilted half-way to vertical... I just had to tilt

it away from the staircase and the carton

was once again upright. Ditto for the second

carton and we were done. Why had I never

thought of this?

Do you think I am having you on about

how big and heavy these speakers are?

The specifications put them at 1.18 metres

tall, 302mm wide and 335mm deep... and

that’s just the cabinets. The sturdy dual-box

packaging makes them even bigger. As for the

weight, each one tips the scales at just over

37kg... and that’s again without the packag-

ing. I found the dimensions a tad confusing,

because they’re so similar to Revel’s F-208

(the specifications put the F228Be at just

50mm less deep than the F-208 but otherwise

the dimensions are identical) that surely it

would have made more economic sense to

make the two cabinets the same size? I think,

Kevin, that there’s something we need to

talk about... (Editor’s Note: We have been told

unofficially that the cabinets are the same size,

and the differences are due to typographical errors

in the printed specifications, but we were unable

to officially confirm this at the time of going to

press.)

As you’d expect from the driver layout

on the front baffle, the Revel F228Be is a

true three-way design, except that the low

frequencies are divided equally between

two 203mm bass drivers, rather than being

handled by a single driver. The beauty of all

three-way designs is that the all-important

midrange is being handled by just the one

driver, so you’re not getting any Doppler

REVEL Performa F228Be

LOUDSPEAKERS