   
|
|||||
 February 15, 2006 Revel Concerta M12 Loudspeakers
About five years ago, the people at Revel performed a minor miracle. They produced the Performa M20 minimonitor and basically set a new standard for what one could expect to pay for a state-of-the-art two-way speaker. The M20s were $2000 USD per pair, and while that might seem like a high price to some, there were, and still are, a good number of conventionally designed two-way speakers priced higher, sometimes quite a bit higher, that didn’t have the same level of design expertise, build quality, or sonic performance that the M20 offered. That M20 caused many to ask the question, "Do I really need to spend more?" For most, the answer came back as "No," so, for a time at least, the M20 became my benchmark for what to expect from a minimonitor. Since that time, though, Revel has replaced the M20 with the M22, and companies like Paradigm and PSB have followed suit with their own two-way statement pieces -- the Signature S2 and Platinum M2, which are great performers and can be considered "the best" in one way or another. They are also priced at about $2000 per pair. That $2000 "price line in the sand" that the M20 drew still holds true, despite inflation, currency fluctuations, and what have you. So, with the upper end of the two-way market holding firm at $2k and representing pretty much all you can expect from a two-way speaker, many companies now seem bent on trying to set a standard of a different type. They’re raising the bar for what you can expect for less than a grand -- much less than a grand. That’s what Revel’s new Concerta M12 is about. Priced at just $648 per pair, it gets you much closer to the $2k standard than its price would indicate. Description The M12 is a touch larger than most of the two-ways I review, but about the same size as the M20. It stands almost 14" high and is about 9" wide and 12" deep; it weighs 20 pounds. The cabinet is wrapped in a vinyl veneer that’s available in three finishes: black ash, natural cherry, and maple. The M12 looks OK and is decently finished, but it is certainly not a standard-setter in this regard. In fact, it appears a little outdated. There are numerous companies today making better-looking vinyl-veneered speakers -- all the Axiom speakers I've reviewed, for example, use vinyl and have super fit’n’finish. Some companies are now offering real-wood veneers at the same price. Yes, that’s a knock against the M12s, if you didn’t already guess -- in fact, my biggest knock. The baffle appears to be extra-thick MDF that is painted matte black. It’s rounded on the sides, presumably to reduce diffraction, and it all gets covered up completely if you attach the supplied grilles. On the backside are a single set of binding posts near the bottom and a port located close to the top. While the cosmetics are lacking, the technology and the drivers themselves are more in line with what one expects from Revel, a company steeped in technology and innovation, and with some of the most elaborate development facilities you’ll find anywhere. The M12 uses a 6 1/2" woofer that has what Revel calls an "Organic Ceramic Composite" (OCC) cone, a die-cast frame, a "high-excursion butyl rubber surround," and an "oversized ceramic magnet." The tweeter is a 1" OCC-dome number that incorporates a "Constant Acoustic Impedance" waveguide around it -- technology that’s been incorporated into all the Concerta-series speakers, and is also creeping into other Revel models. The two drivers are crossed over at 2.5kHz. I had a chance to talk to Revel's Kevin Voecks about the waveguide and the design objective behind it. Basically, the goal can be summed up in two words: "controlled dispersion." According to Voecks, the specially shaped guide allows for better control of the lowest frequencies that the tweeter emits so that it more properly mates with the highest frequencies that the woofer reproduces. Voecks says that being able to control the directivity better in the critical crossover region results in improved off-axis response, which translates into having the direct and indirect soundfields radiated from the speaker being more closely matched, which is a design goal at Revel. This type of performance, which was trumpeted in the ‘80s by Dr. Floyd Toole during his days at the NRC (he’s now employed by Harman International, the parent company of Revel), has been shown through research based on an exhaustive number of listening tests done under controlled conditions to make for a loudspeaker that works better in a typical listening room. The frequency-response specs for the M12 are very impressive, too. The company claims a -3dB low-frequency point of 53Hz and a -10dB point of 41Hz. In short, that’s hefty bass from a stand-mounted two-way. Revel also claims +/-1.5dB frequency-response performance from 65Hz to 15kHz, which, if true, is very flat. Even some very expensive speakers don’t achieve the same kind of linearity. The impedance is said to be a nominal 8 ohms, and the sensitivity is rated at 87dB/W/m under anechoic conditions. Based on that, the M12 presents an average load, meaning any reasonably power amplifier, solid-state or tube, will have no trouble driving this speaker. Setup I used the M12s in my very large dedicated listening room placed atop of 24"-high stands -- a height that will be a touch low for most listening positions, but it is perfect for mine because my sofa is lower than normal. Most likely, though, 26"-high stands will work best. It should also be noted that Revel sells special stands for this speaker that bolt to the bottom of the cabinet, although the review pair of M12s didn’t come with them. I used a DK Designs VS.1 Mk II integrated amplifier to drive the M12s -- it’s rated at 150Wpc into 8 ohms -- along with my Stello DA220 DAC and Theta Data Basic transport connected with an i2Digital X-60 digital interconnect. Analog cabling was all Nordost -- Red Dawn II speaker cables and Valkyrja interconnects. Sound Right off the bat I was impressed with the M12’s strong bass, exceptionally clear mids, and well-extended highs. It was also apparent from the start that the M12 is as neutral-sounding as Revel’s specs purport it to be. Quite simply, the M12 isn’t like a budget speaker from years gone by -- something that is obviously compromised sonically in some way. The M12's sound is very refined. As a result, I listened to the pair critically for a long time in order to review them, but I also listened for pleasure. I recently bought The Life Aquatic Studio Sessions Featuring Seu Jorge [Hollywood 762576] and have been listening to it almost daily. The entire album is singer/guitarist Seu Jorge singing David Bowie songs -- in Portuguese! This music is not only enjoyable to listen to, the close miking of Jorge’s voice makes it a reasonably demanding test for loudspeakers. His voice sounds big, and there is a deep, robust, resonant sound to it that on lesser speakers reproduce with congestion, bloat and a lack of control. Not so with the M12s -- they sounded deep, rich, and always in control. Any bloating, excessive warmth, or resonance was in the recording, and wasn’t being exacerbated by the speakers. Like the M20s that I reviewed in 2001, the M12s act more or less like a conduit for the music, contributing very little signature of their own. The bass is very deep for a two-way, and the transition from the mids through highs is seamless. There’s not a hint of awkwardness from the lows to the highs, and no discontinuity in the critical crossover region. The M12s have the kind of coherency that not all speakers, low or high in price, get right. The top end of the M12s is clean, clear, and extended, as should be expected from any speaker these days that claims to be "accurate." However, I wasn’t bowled over the by the highs in the same way I was the bass, or the mids, which sound exceptionally clear and highly detailed. While it’s hard to pinpoint any flaw in the top end, what I noticed that it lacked is "silkiness" and "sweetness," which are hard to understand unless you hear them. Energy’s new Connoisseur RC-10, a speaker I just wrote about on SoundStage!, has a silky, sweet character way up top, and I’ll touch on that more below. Suffice it to say that the M12 comes across as a touch steely in comparison. However, I was very impressed again with how clean the M12s sound from head to toe. In fact, they’re very similar in this regard to the more-than-three-times-as-expensive PSB Platinum M2s, which are absolutely spotless in their presentation. These speakers play clean, clean, clean. And even played at astonishingly high volumes -- I cranked them to the point that most people consider obscene -- the M12s remain composed, still sounding well controlled in the bass, highly resolving in the midrange, and quite tidy in the highs. It was only when I pushed them to what I would consider far beyond normal with some hard rock -- the soundtrack to the Lords of Dogtown [Geffen 00455602] -- that the highs started to get edgy and hard, urging me to turn the music down. Still, even at this extreme volume level, it was only the highs that were giving way. The bass and mids held together extremely well, something that certainly cannot be said about many low-priced two-ways. This test, while perhaps irrelevant to those who only listen at low levels, showed that these speakers appear to play all kinds of music, at all kinds of volume levels, with ease, and will no doubt work great for home theater, too. But while the M12s have the ability to party hard, I was most impressed with how neutral and resolving they sounded at moderate volume levels, and how big, spacious and room-filling they can be. Some may still want to combine the M12 with a good-quality subwoofer to really plumb the depths, but I was wholly satisfied with just how low the M12s could go, more or less equaling the Platinum M2s, even in my very large room, which is a space so big it’s a torture test for small two-way speakers. Even in this big space, the M12s sounded surprisingly large and very weighty. They also threw a wall-to-wall soundstage with a decent sense of depth. It’s the kind of presentation that not that many years ago you’d have to spend two or three times the amount to get, but Revel delivers it in the M12s for well under a grand. Comparison Had I not just listened extensively to Energy’s Reference Connoisseur RC-10 ($550 per pair), which is also a smallish two-way, I might well have put the M12 at the top of the list for speakers to check out for under $1000. However, the RC-10s have plenty of appeal, too, and are priced $100 less per pair. As a result, Revel isn’t necessarily leading the charge in the sub-$1000 price bracket. They’re joining in with some well-established leaders and providing some competition. When it comes to build quality and cosmetic details, the M12s can’t touch the RC-10s, which have a perfectly finished real-wood veneer, spiffy binding posts, a magnetically attached grille, and other things that give Energy's low-priced Reference Connoisseur series surprising luxury appeal. Energy has really done its homework with the new Reference Connoisseur series, setting a standard for build quality and cosmetics that other companies simply aren’t touching -- at least not yet. However, both of these companies certainly did their homework when it comes to sound, and here it gets a little trickier to declare an out-and-out winner. The RC-10, with about three-quarters the cabinet volume and a smaller woofer, has impressive bass extension for its size, but it gets whupped in terms of sheer output capability when the M12 puts the pedal down. The M12 goes deeper, sounds bigger, and can play louder. If you’ve got a fairly big room and need a speaker with high output capabilities, the M12 is probably the better choice.
Through the midrange, both speakers are surprisingly refined- and neutral-sounding, although the RC-10s sound ever so slightly laid-back in comparison. However, subtle differences aside in this region, they each offer a level of fidelity and neutrality that belies their price. But, as in the bass, here again the M12 can be said to have the edge when the volume gets cranked up. The M12 holds its composure better in the mids at high volume levels, where the RC-10 can sound congested when pushed in the same way. Where the RC-10 steps ahead, though, is in the highs. The M12 sounds clean, clear, and extended in the high frequencies; the RC-10 matches all that, and then ups the ante with a sweeter, airier, purer sound that doesn’t have a hint of hardness anywhere. The M12 has a touch of steeliness, whereas the top end of the RC-10 is out-of-this-world good, sounding strikingly close to that of the Paradigm Signature S2, which is almost four times its price. When it comes down to the final tally, both speakers have their strengths and weaknesses, and they’re not exactly the same price, either. I liked both, but for different reasons, and it goes to show you that despite the fact that both of these companies are producing remarkable speakers for way less than $1000, you still can’t get everything. Those $2000 two-ways I talked about earlier do justify their existence and prices. However, while they may not give you everything, these new sub-$1000 two-ways from Energy and Revel offer extraordinary performance at a bargain-basement price. Conclusion The Concerta M12’s rather pedestrian appearance and so-so fit’n’finish are my biggest knocks against this otherwise outstanding loudspeaker. Its sound quality, though, is completely modern, and perhaps even ahead of what many competitors are offering. The M12s sound clean, clear, and neutral, and they have bass extension and output capabilities that are remarkable for the price. I played every type of music I could through the M12s -- from the "late at night" to "party hard" listening levels -- and they always sounded right. While this speaker may not draw the same line in the under-$1000 sand as the M20 did at double that price, Revel has succeeded in producing a first-rate, low-priced two-way that should be on every serious shopper’s list. …Doug Schneider Revel Concerta M12 Loudspeakers Revel Website: www.revelspeakers.com
|
|||||
|
