Gradient Revolution

i have had the passive version in my home for over a decade. it is one of the most versatle loudspeakers in terms of placement, and i have never tired of the 'sounds' that come from it. it can be used in a big room or small room, and though i have it currently in a system with mac gear, its character doesn't change much, even when i've switched amps and pre's experimenting. it loves power though to be as dynamic as the best loudspeaker systems available, and i suspect the active version gives it just such power. i will say you can spend less and get just as much, but i could sat that about many loudspeakers in the 4 to 5k range. other true full range speakers,(though not active), i would recommend would be hales revelation 3, AR 9 limited or classic 30, dunlavy sc3 or 4, chapmans t7, castle howard, shahinian arc, snell b, and various ohm. all but the castle love juice, and all sound great with any kind of music, not just the simple stuff.

The only experience I have with this speaker is hearing the active version at two different CES shows. In both cases they were set up in small rooms, with the speaker quite close to the walls. In fact, one room was not much larger than a walk-in closet. Given the limitations of space, these speakers sounded fantastic. They were certainly one of the most memorable piece of gear at the show.

The person running the demonstration explained how the bass cabinet of the Revolutions can be turned to change their radiation pattern to fit different set up conditions. This explains how they could be set up in such bad rooms to sound quite good.

I don't know how they would compete against other speakers in their price range under optimal conditions(my guess is that they would still be competitive), but I doubt that there are many better systems where one has to deal with tough setup conditions (close to wall and/or corners, etc.).

I presume you read the recent TAS review by Robert Greene. He took some measurements of the Revolution that weren't included in the article, but are available on his website. You might find them interesting:

http://www.regonaudio.com/Gradient%20Revolution%20Loudspeaker.html

The first Revolutions I heard were actives at CES 2001 (if memory serves me). They used three bass modules per side, and I thought they had the most natural-sounding bass in any room at CES (including rooms with speakers over ten times the price). I didn't hear any colorations from them elsewhere either. Several months later I became a dealer. I never had the actives, only the passives. In my experience the passives like a very powerful, lively solid state amp. I don't presently have any, and from what I understand the mid/tweet coaxial unit was updated about a year and a half ago.

Duke