Revel F12's ---- A very happy upgrade for me.


I have been enjoying my Vandersteen 1C's since 1997. They are truly classic speakers, and I have really loved every minute of my time with them. But.... as we all know about our hobby, we get the itch to upgrade, and this is exactly what I have done. After listening to many speakers over the past year, I finally decided to buy the Revel F12's.

Let me tell you...these Revel F12's are truly outstanding loudspeakers. Initial noticeable improvements over my Vandersteens include superior dynamic range, deeper bottom end (at least an octave lower) with tightness and speed, smooth and velvety midrange with a realistic presentation of both male and fermale vocals, clear and shimmering top end with no harshness, and a wider and deeper sounstage. The image placement is really impressive, and there is a cohesive feeling of top to bottom balance that is natural and musical throughout the full range of what my ears and room allow me to hear.

I really owe a lot to my Vandersteens, as they have enabled me to appreciate what great musical reproduction is all about. But now, with my new Revel F12's, I feel like I have truly taken a giant step forward in my own"audiophile music loving world." And so far, the synergy between the Revels and the rest of my system (to remain unchanged for quite a while) is sublime. My Rogue Cronus amp and Rega P3-24/Rotel front end seem to love the Revels.

I've gained an infinite amount of insight and knowledge from these Audiogon forums over the years, and I want to thank everybody out there for sharing their wisdom and experience. I hope that my thoughts and forum postings have added just a little bit to our Audiogon world. Happy Listening my friends !
adam18
Hi Foster... As I described in the second paragraph of my thread, all these same qualities impressed me more with the Revels than with the KEF, Focal, or PSB speakers. Over the past year I also listened to speakers by Totem, Devore, Magnepan, Martin-Logan, Spendor, and Paradigm, and the Revels sound the best to me. The key words in my "sound far better" comment are "to me." All the speakers I auditioned are high quality pieces, but I am liking the Revels best of all. Strictly a personal preference.
Here's something pretty cool........
As I was listening to music last night, I was reading Stereophile and enjoying Kal's review of the ADAM speakers. He referred to a particular passage of Bela Fleck's "Cosmic Hippo," describing two ranges of deep bass. So, I put on that same CD, and heard exactly what he was talking about through my new Revel F-12's. It's a good feeling to know.......

Does anybody else do that ? There are many times when I read something in Sterophile, Absolute Sound, or on-line describing how a piece of equipment sounds with a particular song......... I then play that same song trough my system to see how my set-up compares to what's being reviewed. It's nice to know that my "excellent bang for the buck" system matches up quite well with some of the "big boy" contenders out there.
After a full week with my new Revel F-12's........ I am extremely energized by my purchase. Wonderful synergy with my system, and I'm enjoying every CD and LP that I'm playing. Music that sounded truly fabulous through my Vandersteens is now even better. Is this a common psychological response to getting new speakers, or does the music indeed get better treatment through the Revels ??? Who knows ??? But I am really having fun with my system again and looking forward to listening to all my favorite music !
Two very different speakers...Vandersteen are known for their very deep soundstaging, clean bass, and open sound...Revel 12 is a much more forward sounding design, which can work better with conventional rock, etc...but the 1 series by Vandy has been a perennial best buy for years....
Is it possible that the F12s brought about an increased system synergy? Is it possible that increased system synergy trumps the speaker design differences between the Vandies and the F12s, and results in more music satisfaction? That may be what's happening here.