Recording - August 2014 - 24

B Y M I K E M E T L AY

Design points in common
All of the new Reveals share the same general design philosophy: a dome tweeter and
high-efficiency woofer in a ported cabinet
with biamplified electronics, all optimized for
ideal sound delivery when the room is less
than ideal. Pretty much every aspect of the
speakers has been thought through with this
aim in mind. Just as a few examples: the
speakers are all front-ported to provide solid
low-end response that's not compromised as
badly if the speakers have to be located very
near a rear wall, the tweeters have a "pokeproof" ruggedized design that reduces the
risk of damage when being moved around,
and the crossover electronics and front-fascia
shape are both meant to provide a widerthan-normal sweet spot so that multiple listeners can crowd around the speakers, yet hear
accurate audio.
The rear panel has unbalanced 1/4" and
balanced XLR inputs, a Volume knob, and
a 3-way EQ switch, with settings for
Normal, Hi Boost, and Hi Cut. (These are
±1.5 dB high shelves with no corner frequency specified.) There are also two minijacks and a 2-way switch for a feature
Tannoy calls Aux Link, which I'll explain in a moment.
The Power switch is on the rear panel as well, along with a bright blue
power-on LED and a standard IEC power jack with slide-out fuse tray and
spare fuse. It's actually rather nice to have the LED illuminate the wall behind
the speaker rather than glare right in your face, although depending on
placement it can take a moment to see whether the speaker's on or not.

Tannoy Reveal 402 and 802 Active Studio Monitors
A new design optimizes listening in less-than-optimal spaces
In home and professional studios worldwide, Tannoy
monitors large and small have been making an impact for
decades. From the Dual Concentric™ DMT Series of years
past and the groundbreaking PBM Series for small rooms,
to the Ellipse with its SuperTweeter for high-sample-rate
digital and top-end analog audio playback, Tannoy is
known for innovative designs that deliver the goods.
These new Tannoy home studio monitors aren't the
first with the Reveal name on them; we reviewed the
original Reveals way back in February 1999, and the
later-generation Reveal 8D in January 2007. The three
speakers that carry the Reveal name in 2014 represent
an all-new look at what home studio systems really
need, and set out to deliver a listening experience that
will benefit users of desktop audio systems in awkward
rooms, users who will probably want to use their monitors for recreational as well as professional listening.
The new line has three models: the Reveal 402, 502,
and 802. For this review, I got to live with the 402 and
802 for several weeks, and I'm delighted to introduce
them to you now.
24

RECORDING August 2014

Aux Link
We don't always listen to audio over our professional interfaces and
DAWs. Sometimes we just want to hook up a portable audio source like
an iPod or smartphone, whether it's to kick back and enjoy music or to
listen to a mix or reference track that a client's brought into the studio.
The Aux Link function was designed into the Reveals to allow users an
easy way to quickly listen to portable audio devices without a computer or other audio system connected.
To use Aux Link, a cable is plugged into the In jack of one speaker
and connected to your audio source, while a second cable is plugged
into the Monitor Link jack and run to the corresponding jack on the other
speaker. The rear-panel switch selects whether each speaker reproduces
the Left or Right audio channel. Since each speaker comes with one
miniplug-to-miniplug cable with a generous 15' length, any stereo pair
of Reveals will have all the cabling one needs to set up an Aux Link
array. The system works very well in practice, as I discovered when a
temporarily-unavailable audio interface forced me to switch to Aux Link
for a long listening session.
Now that we've met the Reveals in general, let's dive into the
specifics of the two monitors I got to work with. We'll begin with the
Reveal 402.

Recording - August 2014

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Recording - August 2014