A special loudspeaker - Revival Audio Atalante 5
In house is a set of Revival Audio Atalante 5 speakers. I've had these here for a couple months now. I think they are broken in--based how much listening I do!
Super elegant and solid construction. BIG! Could be way too big for your living room...if you're the person that is concerned about that. If you couple them to the factory stands, they are tall, wide, and deep. Be sure you appreciate this.
They are made in France, and run about $5K with stands. They come with a wood-matching floor riser too if you want to just set them on the floor. Before I assembled the stands, I had them sitting on the floor, which my wife loved as they didn't look big and had a nice BBC monitor vibe. The sound is clearly better on the stands.
If you have the space, the A5s shouldn't disappoint. They respond differently when you feed them or push them with different things. This, however, means that they will show off some stuff about gear or setup you may wish to avoid.
As you might guess, I found them transparent or super revealing (not sure which is a better descriptor) with other gear. Typically, though, they seem to mate well with lots of stuff. I was surprised to hear how easily they could be driven with Class A amplification. (I tired Luxman L-590axii, Marantz PM KI Ruby integrated, and 805 tube amp-50w Class A).
These came recommended by @Bigkidz, as he heard them on the East Coast and was impressed.
I have two REL subs that I've taken completely out of the equation. I just don't need any more low end with these.
At this price, I feel they are arguably underpriced. I haven't felt this way about a purchase for some time. If you have the space and are looking for a full range speaker with nice extension across the spectrum, great sonic scale, sweet midrange, and the ability to handle nuance but also rock...you may want to put this one on your shortlist.
@jbhiller , I am in agreement with your taste. Decades ago I was in AudioArt in Richmond VA and in one of their rooms they had a super high end system employing electrostatic loudspeakers. The presentation was hyper realistic to the point it became unappealing to me. So, yes, some folks are looking for transparency above all else, but there is a very fine line between that attribute and listening fatigue as you have duly noted. Merry Christmas to the Audiogon community! |
@nonoise , How big is your room? Mine is 22' long by 15' wide. The A5s are a good fit here. |
Hi jbhiller, my room is around 10.5' by19.5' but my listening space is 10.5' by 13'. One side opens to the rest of the place allowing SPLs to bleed out to the side. I used to run JBL 4319 monitors which are ever so slightly smaller than the 5s and had no problems running them. I just wanted a different and better sound after 5 years of listening to them. The dealer told me I'd have no problems with them as long as I didn't blast them and for some time now I've had this notion to just get them. Who knows...maybe someday, maybe someday soon. 😄 All the best, |
@jbhiller Thanks for the information. Now I'll spend the next week analyzing my room and maybe change things around. All the best, |
