Quad Revela 1

The great thing about standmount speakers is that they come in so many shapes and sizes. That can be a mixed blessing, as while you’re never far away from something to suit your needs and preferences, you could end up opting for a pair that just don’t do it for you sonically. Some sound sparky, some are neutral, while others opt for refinement, trading pep for a more easygoing, fluid experience.

The new Quad Revela 1 fall firmly into that final category. Complementing their considerable yet classy construction with a sound that strives for similar poise and elegance, the Revela 1 are a committedly “adult” pair of speakers. That inevitably conjures images of wisdom and experience, but do the Quads sacrifice youthful exuberance and spirit in pursuit of a decidedly grown-up sound?

Build & design

These Quads are a two-way speaker design. Their 27 x 60mm ribbon tweeter has a reinforced sandwiched diaphragm to improve power handling, and weighs around a tenth as much as a typical dome alternative. This reduction in moving mass promises improved detail resolution and transient behaviour.

The 16.5 cm mid/bass unit can hardly be considered run of the mill, either. It has a cast chassis and a powerful motor system partnered to a cone that uses a new mix of wood pulp and artificial fibres in a bid to improve damping and strength. These qualities should translate to improved bass accuracy and greater control at the top end of its bandwidth.

Type Standmount

Drive units 27x60mm ribbon tweeter, 16.5cm mid/bass

Ported? Yes (rear)

Bi-wire? No

Nominal Impedance 6 Ohms (nominal)

Sensitivity 86dB

Dimensions (hwd) 39.5 x 24.6 x 31.2cm

Net Weight 24.6kg

Finishes x2 (Piano Walnut and Piano Black, Piano Black)

The Revela 1 are a big old pair of speakers at nearly 40cm tall, beating the KEF R3 Meta for width and dwarfing the comparatively diminutive Neat Petite Classic across all dimensions. They’re still a pair of standmounters that you can pick up and place onto most standard speaker stands (sonic effects notwithstanding), but you might want to spend a few weeks in the gym before you go about moving them from place to place on your own. At around 12kg each, they're not light.

Those substantial cabinets are nicely made, with a smooth, shiny lacquered finish that does its best to evoke the glossy sheen of a luxurious grand piano, even if fingermarks from clammy hands are an inevitable hazard when the Revela 1 catch the light. Overall, we find it hard to fault Quad’s hefty standmounters though, noting the general build quality and high levels of care evidenced by the terminals, rear ports and drive units, although some of our team did find the shiny trim around the front panel of the drive units to look a little cheap.

Compatibility

Most of our testing is done using the Arcam A15 stereo amplifier (£1099 / $999 / AU$1995), although we do move up to the more costly PMC Cor integrated amplifier (£6995 / $8000 / AU$13,000) for a time. For sources, we switch between the Naim Uniti Atom Headphone Edition streamer and the Cyrus CDi CD player , and place the speakers on the Custom Design FS104 Signature stands. A pair of early Kudos S100 speaker stands are used as an alternative support. As part of the test procedure we also plug the Quads into our high-end reference system of the Naim ND555/555 PS DR music streamer and Burmester 088/911 Mk III pre-power/amplifier to see how they fare in more ambitious systems.

The Quads have a claimed sensitivity of 86dB/W/m and a nominal impedance of 6 ohms, with a minimum stated at 4.1 ohms. Those figures put them roughly in the same ballpark as rivals such as the Award-winning KEF R3 Meta (£1900 / $2200 / AU$3900) and the Neat Petite Classic (£1995 / $2500 / AU$3999). Regardless, you’ll need a decent amplifier to drive them to get the best results – a decent starting point would be the Arcam A15, but we wouldn’t deter you from going a little higher to the Naim Nait XS3 (£2499 / $3999).

Be aware that you’ll need to take care in terms of system matching with the Revela 1, as they can be fussy when it comes to flaws and harshness in recordings and partnering kit. There’s an overly hard edge to the soaring vocals on India Arie’s Ready For Love as the vocalist hammers home the high notes, a quirk that the Revela highlight rather than taking in their stride.

We angle the speakers slightly inwards so that their axis crosses behind our heads. Placing the Revela 1 too close to the wall makes an already rather soft bass feel excessively flabby and amorphous, while moving the units to their preferred position of around 70cm away from the back wall provides optimal results.

Sound

We fire up alt-J’s The Gospel Of John Hurt and are immediately struck by just how spacious the presentation is, with a broad, expansive soundstage that gives the track plenty of room to breathe. Nothing comes across as cluttered or out of place either, with instruments and voices placed expertly across the canvas so that we can track the alternating tap of drums or various vocal lines with absolute precision. The Revela 1 do a fine job of keeping everything in check, avoiding coming across as muddied, rushed or confused.

We like how well these standmounts handle voices. Vocals feel articulate and pleasingly unforced, so whether it’s the distinctively nasal delivery of alt-J’s Joe Newman or the richer, fuller pipes of Lana Del Rey, the Revela 1 have the depth and textural insight to make voices sound detailed and well-rounded. There’s personality and precision here, with Del Rey’s singing on Born To Die communicated not only with force and power but with that signature melancholic drawl that really makes the central performance shine.

The more we listen, though, the more we begin to uncover the speakers’ weaknesses, especially when we compare them with a class-leading rival such as the KEF R3 Meta. Arguably, the most pressing limitation comes at the lower end; the Quads’ bass is comparatively soft and poorly defined, making it hard for us to discern notes in their entirety. All told, the Quads’ lack of lower-end precision and tautness is disappointing for the price.

Away from the bass, the handsome Quads need more sonic punch to make us sit up and pay attention. Music may come across as expansive and neatly ordered, yet a dearth of solidity to instruments, especially during ensemble pieces, can leave the standmounters seeming reserved and lacking in authority. While the Quads furnish Ramin Djawadi’s melancholic choral track Across The Oceans of Time with detailed, natural-sounding vocals, a few extra helpings of weight and power are needed for the music to reach its full emotional impact.

There’s room for improvement rhythmically, too. The playful disco beat of Boney M’s Daddy Cool isn’t conveyed well enough to our ears, with key rhythmic patterns not coming through clearly. They’re also not the most musically expressive speakers we’ve heard; Wolf Alice’s The Last Man On Earth needs speakers which can reveal the track’s fluctuating emotions, the Quads’ lack of dynamic differentiation makes them somewhat uninvolving. Subtle rises in volume feel levelled out, while crashes of sound don’t hit with the force or impact that the song demands.

Verdict

The Quad Revela 1 leave us feeling frustrated. As a pair of speakers for listening to certain genres – namely small-scale classical pieces alongside jazzy or bluesy numbers – we can see some appeal to their undemanding personality.

Sadly, though, the Revela 1 feel too limited to warrant a proper recommendation. Most, if not all genres require a sense of energy and authority if they’re going to be conveyed with full effect, and these Quad speakers don’t deliver that.

SCORES

• Sound 3
• Build 5
• Compatibility 4

MORE:

Read our review of the KEF R3 Meta

Also consider the Neat Petite Classic

Read our Monitor Audio Studio 89 review

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