Bookshelf Speakers — Revel M106

Revel, owned by HARMAN, offers two stand-mount speakers in its Performa3 series, and the M106 is the bigger one, placed above the compact M105 and next to the F206 and F208 towers. Performa3 speakers reached the market for the 2012 holiday season, with the matching subwoofers following in March 2013. Revel calls the M106 a true full-range two-way monitor with a small footprint, and says its cabinet shape follows the enclosures of the Ultima2 range.

Key specs that matter

A 165 mm (6.5 in) aluminium cone woofer on a cast frame works with a 25 mm (1 in) aluminium dome tweeter set in an acoustic lens waveguide, and the crossover point is 2.3 kHz. Low-frequency extension is 59 Hz at -3 dB, 54 Hz at -6 dB and 39 Hz at -10 dB. The enclosure is bass reflex, venting through a rear-mounted port. Gold-plated binding posts take banana plugs, spade lugs, pin connectors or bare wire. Each cabinet stands 381 mm high, 210 mm wide and 278 mm deep at 8.4 kg, and the listed finishes are piano black and high-gloss walnut.

Engineering and use context

A ribbed aluminium cone in the woofer is meant to move as a rigid piston, and its motor carries mechanisms that stabilise the magnetic flux field so distortion stays low at high levels. The cast aluminium frame removes a further source of resonance. Fluid modelling shaped the port, which has identical flares at both ends to cut compression and port noise. The tweeter is built around a newly designed motor and dome assembly, and the waveguide geometry, derived by a mathematical method, matches tweeter dispersion to that of the woofer near the crossover while widening it at higher frequencies. Enclosure walls are curved and formed from contiguous wood layers that resist splitting, with 25 mm thick panels and strategically oriented internal bracing. High-order crossover filters with steep cut-offs also shield the drivers from out-of-band signals. Grilles attach magnetically, so the baffle carries no fixing hardware, and rubberised trim runs along the cabinet sides. Revel compares every model against competing designs in a position-independent double-blind listening facility before production starts.

Pairing

Revel recommends 50 to 150 W of amplifier power, and the speaker presents a nominal 8 ohm load with 87 dB sensitivity at 2.83 V and 1 m. The manual asks for speaker cable with a total loop resistance of 0.07 ohm or less per run, which permits 14 AWG up to about 4 m and 12 AWG up to 7 m. Optional Performa3 M Stand pedestals exist for the M106 and M105, and a pair of foam port plugs comes in the box for installations inside shelving or within about 0.61 m of walls.

Alternatives

The Revel M105 is the smaller Performa3 bookshelf model, with a 130 mm aluminium woofer and a 50 to 120 W amplifier range.