[Aether Audio]

Folks,

Following is a quote from Jim Merod after hearing our Revelation MR-1 MKII's at T.H.E. SHOW 2006.  His biography follows below the quote.  I think this lends a bit of credibility to our claim... the new Reference for the new Millennium.

Thanks,
-Bob

"I despise speakers.  I love microphones ... all microphones, because -- if you know what you're doing --  each microphone,
no matter what, is useful in a set of special applications.
  "I count the number of speakers I've used, heard, and reviewed that earn my complete respect on one hand . . . less than five fingers.
  "I've never heard a speaker that reproduces all the music --
all the ambient information I strive to capture in my recordings
-- until I heard SP TECH's 'Revelation MR-1' . . . I'll not relent until, with their shocking nakedness, they are locked into place as monitoring companions here at BluePort Sound."
                                           --   JIM MEROD / BluePort Sound

Jim Merod's Bio:
Jim has written about music, recording, audio gear, and the jazz scene for the Los Angeles Times, the San Diego Union, Jazz News, the Jazz Link, Jazz Now, and other publications. He is currently a music reviewer for ENJOY THE MUSIC, an equipment reviewer for POSITIVE FEEDBACK and, until his resignation from Stereo Times in March '03, published his "A Pro's Point of View" column there for several years.

Over the course of three decades, Jim taught at Brown, Brandeis, Cornell, Stanford and UCLA. He was the founding dean of Cornell's Freshman Summer College and coordinated the Ivy League Writing Consortium. He has been a Fellow at Cornell, the University of California, and the University of Hawai'i. Author of a book on critical theory (Cornell Univ. Press) and another on "Jazz as a Cultural Archive" (Duke Univ. Press), Jim has lectured at Williams, Notre Dame, Reed, Marquette, Emory, University of Pittsburgh, and several campuses of the University of California. Jim is the recipient of the Harvard Book Award, the Bausch and Lomb Science Award, a National Science Foundation grant for elementary particle research, and was recognized at Brandeis for outstanding teaching.

Jim has worked with jazz education and educators throughout his career, assisting in the production of the "Club Date" jazz series for PBS-TV and with the "Adventures in Jazzland" Project in Marin County. He is collaborating with Benny Golson in the making of the legendary saxophonist-composer's autobiography and collaborating, as well, with composer/arranger/trombonist/screen writer Tom McIntosh in the creation of a film epic that explores jazz history. Jim's "Straight Ahead Jazz" radio show on KiFm in San Diego featured interviews with legendary musicians such as Marshal Royal, Snookie Young, Scott Hamilton, Joe Wilder, Bob Cooper, Pharoah Sanders, Frank Strazzeri, Monty Budwig and Andy Simpkins. He has been program director and board member of the Napa Valley Jazz Festival and is a consultant for numerous academic and professional organizations.

For more than twenty years, Jim has been an on-location recording engineer. In the early '90s he founded BluePort Sound recording studio and BluePort Jazz, a record label that has ten published albums. During his career Jim has recorded a "who's who" of legendary jazz, blues, and Latin musicians: Tito Puente, Wynton Marsalis, Ella Fitzgerald, John Hicks, Sarah Vaughan, Clark Terry, Los Lobos, Joe Lovano, Eddie Palmieri, Jimmy Rowles, Lee Konitz, Hank Jones, Benny Golson, Kenny Barron, Charlie Haden, Nick Brignola, Tommy Flanagan, Stan Getz, Harold Land, Cecil Payne, Roger Kellaway, Mary Stallings, Dave McKenna, Tierney Sutton, Pete Jolly, Jackie Ryan, Jon Mayer, Joe Pass, Bob Florence, Gary Foster, Buddy Collette, Gatemouth Brown, Clifford Jordan, Barry Harris, Tom Harrell, Art Farmer, Conte Candoli, Mundell Lowe, Kenny Burrell, Gene Bertoncini, Larry Koonse, Laurindo Almeida, Joe Diorio, Ray Drummond, Jaime Valle, Cleanhead Vinson, Sweets Edison, Red Rodney, Louis Bellson, Bud Shank, Ruben Estrada, Alex Acuna, Leon Parker, Gerald Wiggins, Charles McPherson, Herb Geller, the Chico O'Farrill Afro-Cuban Orchestra, Ozomatli, the Maria Schneider Orchestra, Tolu, and many more.

Jim received his undergraduate degree at Princeton and did his graduate work at Stanford, where he earned his doctorate in English & American Literature as well as the Special Program in Humanities. He recently completed a novel, "Einstein at Princeton."

[brj]

Congrats on the positive review, Bob!  It's good to see your work getting acknowledged by the professionals out there!

Jim appears to have quite the resume, but how, among all of the music and writing, did he sneak in

a National Science Foundation grant for elementary particle research

?  

[Russell Dawkins]

Wow - very strong endorsement from an obviously not-easily-pleased engineer. Congratulations, again, Bob.
I share his dissatisfaction with the status quo. The times I have been satisfied with bass quality number three, total, in thirty five years of critical listening.
When I get my Timepieces, I hope that goes up to four - or do I have to get Revelations for that?
Remember, I am not talking quantity but quality.

[audiophile39]

Jim Merod wrote in the glowing review of Tetra speakers, below, that he uses Tetras in his studio and that they wont soon "leave my grip", and he reiterated these unwavering sentiments in an email to me. So, is he going to replace them with SP Tech. speakers and are his allegiances so fickle or is this just the nature of the industry?

http://www.onsoundandmusic.com/index.html?http://www.onsoundandmusic.com/issues/0306/0306-tetra.html&2

[Aether Audio]

audiophile39,

I would suppose Jim's former allegiance to the Tetra's is one born out of "absence," i.e., the absence of anything better.
You'll note:

I've never heard a speaker that reproduces all the music --
all the ambient information I strive to capture in my recordings
-- until I heard SP TECH's 'Revelation MR-1

The word "never" is the qualifying remark.  The Tetra's obviously came very close to his ideal, but also obviously fell short thereof.  It also appears that the Revelations crossed over that line and have set a new benchmark of performance for him.  The terms "all the music" and "all the ambient information" seem to imply the transitioning of some form of "threshold" wherein total fulfillment of a set of requirements has been met.

I would liken it to the difference between a really great girlfriend and the woman you have found to be the love of you life and decide to marry.  You don't know what you've been missing until you find "the right one."

Apart from the above - time will tell.  If next week he announces another, yet better speaker discovery, well...it would seem your point may have some merit.  We'll see.  I wouldn't hold my breath though.

-Bob

-

[audiophile39]

To be honest, I'm beginning to think all of these reviewers are without any credibility.  I just hope they don't fall in and out of love with their significant others with the rapidity of their audio "infidelities"  I'm not disparaging SP tech speakers, which are on my short list, however I will not allow reviewers to influence my choices.

[Bill Baker]

To be honest, I'm beginning to think all of these reviewers and purveyours of testimonials are full of more crap than a holiday goose.

 This may be true of many reviewers, both professional and consumer but we all must admit that the findings from a personal audition cannot be argued with. I think this is why it is important to have Brick n' Mortar dealers. There are some things you just cannot risk buying unheard/unseen.

 Regardless of what any printed words tell you, hearing for yourself is the only true way of knowing. In some situations you may walk away telling yourself that all reviews you have read were bullshit where others will lead you to believe that some reviewers and/or reviews do have thier merit.

[rustydoglim]

I would liken it to the difference between a really great girlfriend and the woman you have found to be the love of you life and decide to marry. You don't know what you've been missing until you find "the right one."

I think the divorce rate in the US is about 50%.  

Joke aside, we're very impressed with SP Tech and Bob. What SP Tech need is some serious backing and marketing help  

[diy_freak]

Bob,

do you have plans to attend a dutch or german hifi show with the Revelation MR-1? I'd be interested in a chance to listen to these speakers. I've tried to find a nearby (The Netherlands) dealer, but no luck yet. For this kind of caliber loudspeaker, you might find a possible dealer in Rhapsody (Hilversum, The Netherlands): http://www.rhapsody.nl/ A dutch site without a translation unfortunately. Press the 'Winkel' button and the numbered buttons for a few pics to get an idea of their products. They had Neil Patel visit their store a few weeks ago with the european debute of the new Avalon Isis for instance.

Cheers,
Hans.