QUAD Revela 1 & Revela 2 Speakers – First Look

All Image Credit: Quad

QUAD’s latest speakers, the Revela series, are their first speakers since 2016 and are a result of almost three years of research and development into creating the perfect drivers for the series. They expand on QUAD’s innovations and technologies from the award-winning S-series and Z-series speakers while maintaining its strong design heritage, traceable back to 1949 and the first QUAD speaker – the Corner Ribbon.

Revela 1 Construction

The Revela 1 is a classic bookshelf/standmount speaker with a two-way driver confirmation while the Revela 2 is a three-way floorstanding model. Key to both speaker designs is the new QUAD True Ribbon high-frequency driver that first debuted in QUAD’s first speaker system, the 1949 Corner Ribbon.

Revela 2 Construction

The QUAD Revela True Ribbon is unlike conventional dome treble units where the voice coil ‘motor’ is attached to the diaphragm. The Revela True RibbonTM is actually both the diaphragm and the motor system in one. The thin aluminum foil ribbon diaphragm/motor resides completely within a powerful magnetic field helping to avoid breakup modes and resonances typical of other HF transducers.

Revela Mid-Range Driver

The mid/bass diaphragms are made of a new ‘RealTM’ advanced fibre composition created from a mix of wood pulp and artificial fibers that is said to provide smoother bass control and smoother upper-midrange resonances having excellent self-damping properties. Mounted in a cast chassis and fitted with a high-power magnet, the cone(s) are attached to a high excursion rubber surround that contains a damping layer absorbing reflections that would have caused resonances in the upper frequency range.

Revela Bass Driver Construction

The Revela 1 has a single 165mm mid/bass driver, with the Revela 2 sporting two 165mm bass drivers and a 150mm midrange unit. These drivers are mounted in a cabinet based upon a bass reflex acoustical design and are supported by bass reflex ports that employ longitudinal splines and are precisely positioned and sized to smooth airflow and increase the efficiency of the reflex system.

Revela Rear Reflex Ports

Seamlessly blending the acoustical output from all drivers is a phase-compensated Acoustic Butterworth crossover. Its design is a combination of both listening tests and CAD design that have been fine-tuned over thousands of hours of listening tests.

Putting the finishing touch to this design, the cabinet, that is finished in lacquered black and/or walnut, is composed of a sandwich of different woods that is said to “reduce panel resonance to below audibility”. This multi-layer construction, PROS (Panel Resonance Optimisation System), uses a purpose-engineered internal structure that is connected to the cabinet panels in a manner that dissipates unwanted vibrations and resonances. It is also internally damped with a mixture of acoustic foam and long-hair fibre that absorbs reflections and standing waves without impacting bass reflex efficiency. While the generously rounded outer cabinet edges help to reduce diffraction.

For more information visit the Quad UK web site.

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