Recording - August 2014 - 26

Tannoy Reveal 402 and 802

The Reveal 402 in use
Specs first: the Reveal 402 sports a 3/4"
tweeter and 4" woofer, each powered by its
own 25 Watt amp, with an active crossover
that has a 2.8 kHz crossover frequency. Stated
frequency response for the 402 is 56 Hz to 48
kHz, ±3 dB (at 1 meter in an anechoic chamber). The box is 9.5 x 5.8 x 8.4 inches in size,
and weighs just under 12 pounds. It claims a
surprisingly loud 101 dB maximum SPL, which
I made no attempt to test, preferring to monitor
in the 85 dB SPL range.
I burned in the Reveal 402 for a weekend with loud music and then settled into
my usual listening habits, with a mixture of
reference tracks that I know very well, chosen to reveal (sorry, had to say it) the weak
spots in a monitor's response. My listening
position was about as un-ideal as I could
manage in our studio: a computer hutch up
against a wall with awkward angling and
some weird reflective surfaces behind the
speakers. About the only help they got was
via my IsoAcoustics ISO-L8R130 speaker
isolation stands. I left the EQ set at
Normal, after some quick comparisons
demonstrated that the Hi Boost was too
splatty in the speakers' chosen position
and the Hi Cut was a bit too mellow.
Even with all those caveats, I was richly
impressed with the sound I got from these little speakers. The crossover is, as Tannoy
claims, impeccably tuned-I didn't notice
any weird bumps or dips in frequency
response in the crossover region, which is a
critical one for things like sibilance in vocals
26

RECORDING August 2014

and the elusive "presence" in guitars. Highs
were clear yet easy on the ears, offering definition without harshness and allowing for
long listening sessions without fatigue.
Higher harmonics of low-end instruments helped fill in the obviously-missing
fundamentals; there's no doubt that you'll
want to check your low end on reference
speakers for any mixing you do with the
402s, but that's to be expected for such a
small driver. The low end rolled off in a
very polite manner, and what was left
was believable and clean. These little fellows obviously aren't meant for listening
to a lot of hip-hop or dubstep unless you
have a good subwoofer handy.
Speaking of subwoofers, I did a quick
curiosity check by pairing the 402s with
the Cerwin-Vega! XD8s sub (reviewed July
2014) and found that they made a very
impressive satellite/sub combination. If
you're cramped for desk space to the point
where the 402 seems your best option,
you might want to look into adding a sub
to get more boom in your room.
Pressed for a sound bite, I would describe
the Reveal 402 as a very easy speaker to
listen to. I did worry that perhaps it was
being too nice in what it delivered, but I
could hear the mistakes in the "less than
great" projects I keep handy for reference...
aside from those in the low bass, which
the 402 simply ignored. So it's not a matter of bad details being obscured or
inaudible-you just find yourself enjoying
the listening experience enough so that
you have to remain vigilant. Keep that in
mind and the 402 will make you quite
happy indeed.
The Reveal 802 in use
A glance at the Reveal 802's specs
shows that despite their many design similarities, the 802 and 402 are as different
as chalk and cheese. The 802 is one big
darn serious monitor!
Weighing in at a solid 29 pounds with a
hefty 15.4 x 10.0 x 11.8 inch size, the 802
is impressive even before you turn it on. It
has a 1" tweeter and 8" woofer, biamplified
with 75 Watts on the low end and 25 Watts
up top, the crossover frequency set to 1.8
kHz. The frequency response is given as 42
Hz to 43 kHz ±3 dB, and my ears affirm that
that range is probably about right, rather
than the wishful thinking we get with some
other monitor specs. Maximum SPL is rated
at 114 dB, which again I chose to simply
believe rather than testing for myself-the
802s went above 95 dB SPL, far louder than
I like to monitor for any extended length of
time, without breathing hard.

I set up the 802s for burn-in and listening in my office/studio at Music Maker, a
decently well-treated but by no means perfect room, on isolated speaker stands by
Ultimate Support with a listener-speaker triangle about 5.5 feet on a side, the outer
edge of what Tannoy recommends. My reference listening choices were similar to
what I used on the 402 with the addition
of more bass-sensitive material, not only
dance music but also some jazz with solo
and near-solo acoustic bass performances.
The overall "pleasantness" of the listening experience with the 402 carries over
to the 802 at the high end. The sweet spot
was astonishingly wide in this room; I
could see myself moving around a decentsized console, or sharing a listening session with friends, with confidence as to
what these speakers were giving me.
With the crossover moved down into a
range with different but still critical frequencies-1.8 kHz is where you'll find stuff like
the main intelligibility of vocals and the
upper "growl" of guitars, as well as the
beater snap in larger kick drums-there was
still a really good sense of tonal balance.
With the rear panel EQ set to Normal, the
highs once again evinced that pleasant and
detailed clarity that made the 402 so nice to
listen to; every nuance of my test material
was there when I chose to listen for it, but
the overall effect was one of eminent listenability rather than harshness.
However, what you notice most in the 802
is precisely what you note by its absence in
the 402-the low end. And what low end!
This monitor was designed to provide a
powerful listening experience for dance
music, electronica, hip-hop... anything with
boom and wallop to it. No need for a subwoofer here-these speakers will rattle your
bones if you turn them up enough.
The woofer needs to loosen up a bit before
it speaks with real accuracy; the 802 was a
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