I don't know how long this has been happening, but the Revel Concerta M10 is discounted 50% from $500/ea to $250/ea and the smaller M8 is discounted 40% from $250 to $150/ea.
This puts the price of these close to what I would look at as inexpensive surrounds while putting my money into the front three...except these are Revels, not budget surrounds!
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I am curious about them, so further investigated them and decided to share what I found to help others. There is no doubt that this is a good deal, but the question is whether they would serve your needs!
Pros:
1) According to
@TheWarrior , Floyd Tool had these in use for his home system!
I am not sure I addressed this directly. IMHO, while the technology may be similar, the Vento ceramic tweeter is a step above the Infinity CMMD tweeter. The CMMD tweeter used in the Infinity Reference R162 is an outstanding tweeter especially considering it is in a speaker with a MSRP of...
forums.audioholics.com
2) Flush mount, compact (M8 is 3.5 pounds), and front ports makes for an easy mount (steady,
@Danzilla31 ).
3) Harman/Revel pedigree - we can assume it is very well engineered - I can't recall anyone ever identifying any JBL/Infinity/Revel as a poor speaker/design!
4) Deep discount
Cons:
1) Older design - I'm not sure this is really a "Con", but Revel has essentially been making this speakers for around two decades (it was previously sold under the Infinty moniker) ! I think it is also a testimony to it being a great design that Revel did not see easy opportunity to redesign!
2) 3" woofers. IIRC, THX standard crosses to LFE at 120Hz and I suspect Revel had that in mind when they designed these (Revel specifies -3db at 110Hz). I suspect they can play reasonably loud down to 120Hz, but they will never compete with larger speakers for max SPL! Edit: For more on this, see FirstReflection's comment quoted below!
3) Flush mount with ability to "aim" requires that you have the right mounting locations available on your walls.
4) Subwoofer absolutely required!
Also here is a review by FirstReflection. I do not believe he still participates on the forum, but I can vouch for him having depth of experience and a trained ear. I trust his opinions (it was because of PM's with him that I got my Focal Solo6Be's!).
I recently brought home a 5 speaker set of Revel On-Wall M10 Front, C10 Center and M8 Surround speakers for an audition. I'm planning on some theatre changes this year and the plan includes on-wall speakers so that I can have a wall-mounted 70" LCD for lights-on TV and videogame viewing with a...
forums.audioholics.com
You will see in post #12 that he returned them because he wanted to save up more and get his ultimate system ... however,
1) he was using them as his front three, and
2) they weren't being heavily discounted when he bought them like they are now. I suspect if he had got them at these prices, he would have kept them and flipped them after he saved up for his ultimate system.
I think the 3" drivers are likely a big concern, so quoted FirstReflection's comments on their output capability:
I am very much in the camp of "save money on surrounds, but get the best front 3 you can afford". I think these represent an excellent option for doing this without compromising on the sound quality of surrounds (as long as you are comfortable with their SPL limits)!
OTOH, if you (because of WAF or whatever) are committed to on-wall speakers for your 5.1 or 7.1 system, I am not sure anything else competes at his price.