Until recently, Revel – the flag carrier of LA-based Harman Specialty Group – had its focus set exclusively on the high end of the speaker market. Its Performa range was the mainstay, and the Ultima series existed at the bleeding edge. Concerta, a radical departure for Revel, is a range of more affordable loudspeakers.
The range includes stereo models, and some designed specifically for home cinema use – namely a dedicated surround speaker, a centre speaker and a powered subwoofer. The Concerta F12 is the largest of the stereo models, a substantial floorstander at a price well below normal Revel levels. At $2895 per pair, it is not just affordable by Revel standards, it is well priced by any standards for a speaker this size.
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How has this pricing been achieved? The speakers are built in Mexico, which means lower manufacturing costs, and the F12 has a straightforward rectilinear enclosure. It's big enough to imply a strong, well-extended bass, but it doesn't boast cost-consuming angled side panels like the equivalent Performa F32, or the rounded construction used for the Ultima models.
Another cost saving measure is the use of vinyl wrap, where the senior ranges use wood veneers or piano gloss. But despite the simplifications, the internally braced, 28.4kg MDF enclosure is solid and well made, and not that hollow sounding when rapped. The vinyl wrap is good enough to pass for the real thing at first sight, too.
The active hardware has not been short-changed. This is a three-way system with a 130mm midrange cone and doubled-up 200mm cone bass drivers, all of which feature die-cast frames and Organic Ceramic Composite cones. OCC is a proprietary technology, with high-current voice coils, butyl rubber surrounds and flat high excursion spiders (all designed in house). The tweeter is a 25mm OCC dome unit with a neodymium magnet set in a deep, computer-optimised waveguide designed to match the dispersion (axial and off-axis) to the adjacent midrange unit. Magnet and voice coil design are optimised for minimum dynamic compression. The crossover uses high-tolerance components and high order (24dB/octave) slopes to minimise overlap, with crossover points set at 575Hz and 3kHz. The speaker has a very flat claimed midrange response (58Hz-8kHz +/-1dB), bass output said to extend to 52Hz (-3dB) or 28Hz (-10dB) and an impressive rated sensitivity of 90.5dB/W/m.
