Balance, wide soundstage, clarity, range, sweetness, so good with acoustic and vocals, aesthetics, value for money

Minor.. won't run at ear splitting volume for parties, require a decent amp and source to bring out the best

These speakers are a revelation after fifteen years with a budget system. Pre - Revolution set up was a Dual CS 505 Turntable, Sony CD player, NAD 3020E amp, Mission 770LE speakers. I messed around with cables, isolators etc but to no effect.. the sound remained bright, sibilant, muddy, lacking in depth and scale, and tiring. I suspected the amp, as it was regarded as being bright in the reviews of the day. Taking a contract in Riyadh gave me the finances to look at updating this heap of junk. I found a great dealer on a side street here who set up a demo of the Tannoys with a Musical Fidelity XA2 amp and X Ray CD. It was as if the plugs had fallen from my ears... wide stereo image, wonderful balance, clarity, neutrality, superb range, and they drop down sooo low.. So after some haggling I bought the speakers for about 300 GBP, as "phase 1" of my upgrade route, intending to buy the XA2 at a later date. I didn't expect too much when I wired these up to the NAD. I used my Sony DVD (DVS 500 I think) as the source.. and sat in my chair for a few hours, marvelling at the transformation. Clarity, depth, wide soundstage, warmth, superb vocals and acoustics... and they are so aesthetic! Tall slender cabinets of light veneer, they look so good. I thought that they were a bit bass shy at first, but realised that: 1 The quality of the production is important.. if a CD is compressed or poorly produced, the Revolutions show this up. 2 Placement is all. I set them up in a smallish room at first, where they sounded muddy and noisy when extended down low. I moved them into the main room (12m x 6m), 1m out from the rear wall and sides, and they were free to breath.. the speakers vanish and are replaced by a curtain of music. 3 The bass runs really low, but in a balanced way, not "in yer face". They need to be ran at a reasonable level to generate the lows in proportion to the oh so sweet mid and upper levels. 4 Mass loading the cabinet void seems to tighten up the bottom end, attack and timing. I listen to a wide range of music, from reggae and heavy dub (Scientist, Massive Attack), right through acoustic, jazz and rock, to dope beat and dance (Leftfield, Coldcut, Groove Armada). The Revolutions maintain a balanced musicality and clarity through most of my music. Downsides are few: 1 They break up my amp if I crank the volume up too high, so I think a high wattage amp is next on the list, as they must draw a fair current load. The NAD starts clipping at about half level, with distortion creeping in. 2 They are a little "closed in" at times with certain CD's, but this is a minor point when set against their strengths. In summary, great value, revelatory, aesthetic, neutral, clear, balanced speakers. Worth every penny, now I have to spend twice as much on the source and speakers to do them justice.

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NAD, Mission, Sony

neutral, open, clear soun

a little laid back

very nice for jazz, classic

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kef, b&w

it's very good

none

it's very good

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kef, jamo

Neutral sound Bass Build

Not to all taste

The R2 simply generates a greater sense of scale and weight than anything known to the author at this sort of price, and that fact alone is its own reward. Fine listening results are a clear consequence of a beautifully voiced midband and impressive overall neutrality, even though the perspectives might be a little too laid back for me. The price is very competitive indeed for a real wood finish, twin main driver floorstander.

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Mission, B&W

Musicality, control , openess, Precise ,clearness, Balance, The tweeter plays velvet soft!)

A little laid back for some, but that can be changed by choosing the right amplifier (I use Rotel rb-981 power amp.) Misses slam (Not for music!!) But that can easily be arranged by putting a subwoofer of high quality to it!! (REL, or MJ acoustics)These fit well together!!!!

I love these speakers!! The sound is absolutely neutral, precise and fair! No colouration! Voices en instruments are fantastic to hear! Stereo, imaging is very precise! It 's got even a hidden cabinet to be filled with massa to improve bas and can be bi-wired! By the way these speakers are good-looking as well! The basslines are absolutely precise and deep! Everything is very controlled! What a product!!!!

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Dynaudio (Also a neutral relaxed character)

They have extremely fast bass response. They have amazingly lifelike mid, and plesent trebs. They do not enphasise any of the above. Sounds great with every music.

Cannot handle bass at very high volumes. Not to all taste.

I bough these from Superfi for £180 EX-DISPLAY. They were only a couple of months on display, and in MINT condition. A bargain in my opinion! I Under-estimated the weight of these things, they are HEAVY! They have an amazing finish, they fit in with my living room perfectly. They look very expansive, and they sound like you are listening to the artist in the studio. I think they naturality is only good for some people. You really have to listen for at least 20mins to get a feel for these speakers. I have found that if you want very loud sound with lots of bass, these are not for you. These are not "party speakers" I have tries them loud and frankly, they sound awful. The speaker drivers are simply to small to drive and very high volumes. But within there range the bass does go down VERY low with out cutting back, which is normally found in very expansive speakers. I also demoed the R3's. Dont think that bigger is better. They are no where near as good. There havent got as much natural'ness as the R2. They have more bass, and muddy midrange. A solid recommendation

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B&W 601/602/603 S3 Tannoy R3 Whalfedale pi40 and Valvus 300 KEF Q3

Smooth and smooth sounding, very little harshness. Tend to steer the listener to focus on music than carrying out an audio analysis

Some can say the speakers are lack of punch and dynamics for rock or HT. Foot print is small and center of gravity is high, tip-over hazard if bottom is not loaded.

Physicall, the R2 is well constructed and the cherry finish is great. Sonically, the R2 sounds smooth and soothing. Whenever I listen, the reproduction from the speaker steer you to listen to the music/ vocal, rather than prompting you to analyse the high, mid and bass. I think this neutral characteristic is one of the most important virtues of this pair of speakers. However, when I put on the critique hat and start to pick the short comings, yes the high extension seems to be rolling off too early, and the bass sounded boxy and not spatious. But looking at the performance at this price, the pair speakers is definitely a keeper for listeners who just want to enjoy smooth natural sounding music.

Enya, Yanni, PinkFloyd, Nirvanna and Amadaes are all magical. Blues traveler makes em rock! Married mans prices. The R series are being retired and can be picked up chaep!

Kind of tippy, i ended up adding 25# lead shot to stabilize them. With the added benifit of tightening up the bass.

Wow what a change from my Tannoy M1's It sounds like I may getting into audiophile range. The soundstage is incredible, on the "Traviling with the King" CD Clapton is in one spot B.B. King in another, back up singers in another, a piano joining in is almost heavenly.

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Tannoys M1 and Mc (i kept the MC)Harman Kardon AVR30. TARA labs bi-wire

Neutral detailed beauty, never lasting design, a must! Info Micromega stage 6 cd player Bootroyd & Stuart Lecson Stereo integrated amplifier Heybrook TT-2 /Rega arm

Here are two "little" and gracious towers that can allow you to : *LOOK & EAT THE MUZIK!* 100% true and guaranteed by facts! and what facts! 100 %colestherol free! So if you''re so lucky -as i am- to own a couple of those U.K. engineered and Hungary produced ginger-girl loudspeakers, put on your favourite cd and enjoy it -not before have had a green-light experience! Wow! What tasty delight their sound! And look at the design! Their sensuality is incomparable! My grandma had to say: "buy it, sweety..!"

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Mission774es, B&W, Quad

Good bass and treble response. Neutral sound with excellent clarity. Biwireable (suitable for biamping).

Quite easy to knock over and can be difficult to stand firmly on carpet.

I first reviewed these excellent speakers back in October 1999 and have now decided to update my review by mentioning some changes I made to my system and to give some tips for getting the best from these speakers. First I decided to add a power amp to my system to form a biamp configuration in order to add a little more power output and to also gain even better bass control. The integrated amp drives the high frequencies while the power amp drives the low frequencies. The results (after running in the amp) were superb. I found that the clarity had improved further. The bass was even better defined with more punch. At high volume levels it was noticed that the treble stayed clearer during strong bass lines. The whole sound gave a feeling of more control and power, and with improved stereo imaging. This set-up is highly recommended if your current integrated amp can easily be connected to a (similar) power amp. For best results the amps should not be connected to extension power cables. If possible, connect them to separate power outlets. The next thing was to fill the sealed cavity with dried sand. After doing this, I noticed that the bass weight improved further and became firmer. The trick is to also get these boxes to stand as steady as possible. On carpeted floors the spikes should be adjusted so that there is virtually no wobble. You can test this by placing your fingertips on top of a speaker and gently attempting to rock it diagonally from corner to corner. There should not be any tilting or wobbling. Getting them perfectly steady isn’t easy to do but will provide better bass performance if achieved. Remember to gently tighten each spike after adjustment. So that’s the current set-up. The results have been a great improvement and the speakers now sound like a tremendous bargain. Original system: Arcam Alpha 8r integrated amp (50 wpc) Cambridge Audio CD4SE cd player Tannoy R2’s Current system: Arcam Alpha 8r (drives the high frequencies) Arcam Alpha 9p power amp (70 wpc, drives the low frequencies) Cambridge Audio CD4SE Sony MDS-930 MiniDisc player Tannoy R2’s (cavity filled with dried sand) Finally, there’s no way that the speaker coils could blow that easily as reported by someone in an early review. I’ve given these speakers a good blast on several occasions (without amp clipping) and they perform the way they should -