This is one of those things I think I may regret selling, but I don't have the space for them.
Here is a beautiful pair of Revel Ultima Gem speakers in Forest Green with rosewood side panels and matching stands.
I've owned over 100 pairs of fine stand mount speakers and to my ears these compete with the very best at any price, at least on a par with top shelf premium standmounts such as Sonus Faber Electa Amator, Joseph Pulsar, etc. It is a classic, IMO.
They are very well balanced, transparent, dynamic and can play loudly down to mid 30hz.
They have very satisfying bass in small and medium rooms, and but add a very good sub and these become a full range speaker that is hard to beat at any reasonable price in any room.
A bit of history: When Revel was founded they wanted to make a splash by leading off with a cost no object state of the art speaker for the new flagship top Ultima line, and this was it. They hired famed designer Kevin Voecks, who had a clean sheet of paper to work with. They developed pure titanium cone midwoofers (basically still in use in all Ultimas) and used a modified Scanspeak 9700 tweeter. They were launched around 1997 at $8700 in this version with stands, nearly $20,000 with a subwoofer. It was a great success and the Ultima Salon and Studio followed.
Full info here:
https://www.stereophile.com/standloudspeakers/89/index.htmlThey were Class A in Stereophile as long as they were in production. The original review is still online which covers the details. They set the stage for the Revel "sound" which has become much admired worldwide.
This pair works and looks great. I replaced the original stretchy grill cloth, which muffled dynamics, with a very acoustically transparent aluminum mesh over the original steel grill frames.
I'm rating these as a 7. They look really nice. The gorgeous finish still has the original gloss, and there are no serious dings, but there are several small scratches and dings to be found close up.
These are heavy at > 40 lbs., and the stands are large, sturdy and heavy (factory sand filled, over 50 lbs. ea.), so I will only sell for local pickup in the Seattle area. I could arrange delivery within 200 miles if paid in advance.
John Atkinson of Stereophile summed the review up: "It's my new reference".
If you want the sound of the Ultima Salon or Studio and don't want to have 250 lb. speakers, or pay the cost, these will give you that sound, just without the deep bass.
Thanks for having a look!
