Tannoy Reveal 402 studio monitors any good ?

[r100]

I was just googling around for a really cheap pair of (active) speakers to be used in a 30m2 room. I stumbled on these which seem to fit the bill nicely. They cost less than 100 $ per speaker and they seem to have some good reviews.

Does anyone have any experience with these in a stereo setup ?

Thank's

http://cdn.audiostream.com/images/styles/600_wide/public/8714tannoy.png?itok=waWtFGjy

[struth]

More of a monitor these i think than a room hi fi ... Was considering a set of there bigger sisters

[r100]

yeah, that is what I thought too but it seems that they have a large "sweet spot" which apparently quite easily fills a small room. I may consider the 502's as well as they are only marginally more expensive but go down a little more in the bass department.

[struth]

Think it was the 502 i was going to get but my plans changed. They were really for a relatively near field but with biggish sweety. They get good ratings and are used in studios... Sure Paul Stewart was using them in one of his.

I wouldnt call a 30 m2 room small

[r100]

yah, actually, the listening space is smaller than that (about half)

[twickers]

Andertons Music is doing a bundle deal on the 402 and 502 per pair.

[r100]

i think they are even cheaper here .. about 180£ vs 247£ for the 502 .. never would have thought that Switzerland could be cheaper than the UK

http://shop.musix.ch/en/Tannoy-Reveal-502-Set.html

update: just ordered them. Impressions to follow.... :)

[r100]

hello,
so here they are.. very similar in size and shape as the KEF LS50. Currently they are being run in. The two speakers are connected together via a quite thin cable with mini-jacks at both ends. A Raspberry Pi with a Sabre DAC is connected to the right one. There is a switch to tell the speakers on which side they are (L or R). The latter connection is also via mini jack. Luckily, there are also XLR inputs.

First impression is they go very loud... :) and would probably trump any computer speaker system.. but its still a little early to tell.

I'll report back ASAP.


https://www.dropbox.com/s/7h9k0fov7i6le3a/tannoy-kef.jpg?raw=1
https://www.dropbox.com/s/ify7iqq5isfwdzy/tannoy-kef-2.jpg?raw=1

[r100]

A little feedback on theses active speakers.

For the price I paid, I'm really quite impressed with these speakers. The manufacturer states that you can sit up to 3 meters from the speakers which is certainly true. They even seem punchy enough to fill a room.

I tried them with a phone connected directly via the included mini jack cable and also with a Raspberry Pi / DAC over WiFi. Without any doubt, the latter combo sounded much more refined and constitues a pretty good sounding standalone and mobile hi fi setup under 300 $.

I still have to do a proper session but first impressions are positive (especially when factoring in the price).

Btw. I think I got a great deal as I see that the price has gone up from 269.- CHF to 369.- CHF at musix.ch. I don't know if they got the price wrong or if I was just lucky to get a set at that price.

[Macca]

I recall reading that there was someone who sent theirs back as they were unhappy with the level of hum from them. I could be getting mixed up, though. Do they have any hum that you can discern?

[r100]

yes, as I understand, the first generation had a "hum/hiss" issue which was consequently fixed. Mine have a slight "hiss" when not playing. But I have to put my ear close to the speaker to hear it.

[Macca]

Sounds like they are fine then.

[r100]

update:

I'm pretty sure that the hiss has become stronger. I can hear it now without sticking my ear up to the speaker. So maybe there isn't a mkII version after all as I previously stated :scratch:. I wrote about it to Tannoy and we'll see what they say.

A part from that, they are sounding very open and seem to be loosing their initial hint of dryness. Bass is also quite impressive. When sitting in the ideal position relative to the speakers they convey a palpable sense of spaciousness almost as if wearing headphones. Outside of the sweet spot they also sound very convincing and let the listener move around quite a bit without getting the feeling that the sound is lacking anything.

[Macca]

Hiss is not so bad. Hum I can't live with. I suppose you can only expect so much at the price.

[r100]

oh, well, I finally returned them. Although the sound was OK, I just couldn't get used to them..

Got a credit and will replace the Tannoys with a little Gretsch Gretsch G9500 Jim Dandy Flat Top Guitar to take with me on my "camping" holidays.


https://youtu.be/asDXTkfDSYw

http://www.pourlesmusiciens.com/media/catalog/product/cache/10/image/9df78eab33525d08d6e5fb8d27136e95/g/r/gretsch-g9500-jim-dandy-flat-top-1.jpg