Quad REVELA 1
The Revela 1’s true ribbon tweeter delivers airy, finely etched treble, while its poised midrange gives vocals and instruments vivid presence. Stereophile praised its open, balanced integration and surprisingly weighty bass; HiFi News admired its scale, refinement and luxurious finish. This is a revealing, spatially precise standmount that rewards serious listening and careful system matching.
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Deliciously Crispy
Sound Quality
89/100
Build Quality
92/100
Value for Money
94/100
Pros
Open, detailed and smooth ribbon-tweeter performance with convincing integration into the mid/bass driver.
Natural, articulate vocals and precise instrument placement within a broad soundstage.
Substantial, premium-feeling cabinetry and well-made terminals deliver exceptional perceived value.
Capable of clean, composed playback at high levels, with bass that several reviewers found unusually full for a standmount.
Cons
Bass can sound soft and insufficiently defined compared with class-leading rivals, particularly if positioned too close to a wall.
Rhythmic drive, dynamic punch and large-scale authority may feel restrained for energetic music.
Precise placement, toe-in and a capable current-delivering amplifier are important for best results.
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What Reviewers Are Saying
SOUND QUALITY PERFORMANCE 89/100
The Revela 1 is widely praised for its open, highly detailed and cohesive presentation, with the ribbon tweeter and mid/bass driver integrating smoothly. It offers unusually substantial bass and excellent spatial clarity for a standmount, though some listeners may find its low end softer than ideal and its rhythmic expression less compelling than rivals.
Bass
89/100
Stereophile heard precise, impactful and at times "seismic" bass, while Future Audiophile found it strong, clean and substantial enough that a subwoofer was often unnecessary. Hi-Fi News similarly praised the woofer's rich, realistic portrayal, although What Hi-Fi? found the bass comparatively soft and insufficiently defined.
Mid
91/100
Reviewers consistently describe a clear, natural and well-integrated midrange. What Hi-Fi? highlights articulate, textured vocals, while Hi-Fi News praises convincing instrumental scale, attack and decay without dryness; Stereophile also found the crossover blend seamless.
Treble
91/100
The ribbon tweeter earns repeated praise for its openness, refinement and forensic detail without the harshness often associated with highly revealing designs. Stereophile calls it smooth, transparent and revealing, though What Hi-Fi? heard a hard edge on demanding high vocals and Hi-Fi News advises careful listener targeting.
Soundstage Imaging
89/100
What Hi-Fi? found a broad, spacious stage with exceptionally precise placement, and Stereophile reported extreme focus and imaging that snapped convincingly into place. Hi-Fi News heard strong spatial opening but less projection beyond the speakers' outer edges, making placement and the listening triangle important.
Dynamics
85/100
Hi-Fi News found the Revela 1 comfortable at very high levels, with no obvious compression or breakup and an impressive ability to combine finesse with scale. However, What Hi-Fi? felt that rhythmic drive, punch and dynamic contrasts were muted, particularly with music that depends on momentum and emotional shifts.
Assessments of Build Quality, Usability, and Overall Propositions.
Build Quality
92/100
The substantial, braced cabinets, rounded enclosure work and robust terminals attract strong praise, with Hi-Fi News calling the cabinet exquisite and the magnetic grille unusually luxurious. What Hi-Fi? also found the overall execution hard to fault, though the glossy finish readily shows fingerprints and the driver trim was considered slightly cheap-looking by some listeners.
Value for Money
94/100
At £1,799 per pair in the UK and around $2,500-$3,000 per pair depending on package and market, several reviewers consider the Revela 1 unusually competitive against premium standmount rivals. Hi-Fi News felt its sound and finish suggested a far higher price, while Future Audiophile saw little direct competition at the asking price and noted that its bass capability can reduce the immediate need for a subwoofer; What Hi-Fi? was less convinced, citing the bass precision shortfall at this price.
Reviews & Sources
Professional reviews and sources for this product's Watt'n Potatoes analysis.
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Specifications
- Model
- REVELA 1
- General Description
- Bookshelf
- Enclosure Type
- Bass reflex
- Transducer Complement
- 2-way
- Bass Driver
- 165mm advanced fibre cone
- Treble Driver
- 27 x 60mm true ribbon
- AV Shield
- No
- Sensitivity (2.83V @lm)
- 86dB
- Recommended Amplifier power
- 30-120w
- Peak Power Handling
- 120w
- PeakSPL
- 102dB
- Nominal Impedance
- 6Ö
- Minimum Impedance
- 4.1Ö
- Frequency Response (+ / -3dB)
- 54Hz - 24kHz
- Bass Extension (-6dB)
- 40Hz
- Crossover Frequency
- 2.9kHz
- Cabinet Volume (in litres)
- 17.6L
- Dimensions
- Height (on plinth & spikes): 395mm Width: 246mm Depth(inc Grille and Terminals): 312mm
- Carton Size
- 650mm x 400mm x 515mm
- Net Weight
- 24.6kg/ctn
- Finish
- Piano Walnut / Piano Black, Piano Black
- Standard Accessories
- User manual, certificate, rubber feet
Manufacturer's Description — Quad
Standmount Speakers
The Revela 1 is a classic bookshelf/stand-mount monitor equipped with a 6.5″ woofer and offered with an optional custom-engineered stand of equally striking design. The stand is finished in the same high-gloss paint standards as the speaker and provides the perfect mounting option and display solution for the stand-mount offering in the series.
QUAD's Director of Acoustics, Peter Comeau, has furthered his ground-breaking engineering work in further developing this Ribbon HF with over four years of research to bring a new level of musical delicacy, smoothness and 'hear-through' performance, thus revealing beautiful details of your music collection with a truly breath-taking performance.
Reveal™
The advanced 'True Ribbon' unit is married to equally high-performance bass and midrange drivers. Again, subject to many years of research, development, testing and continuous innovation, the mid and bass drivers feature a new advanced fibre composition, aptly labelled 'Reveal™'. Refined for seamless integration with the 'True Ribbon' HF, the smooth diaphragm drivers were purpose selected based on their rigidity and excellent self-damping properties. This new diaphragm, combined with a new, specially developed custom rubber surround, for a greater excursion and a new high-power motor system, means that the result is a superb bass performance, with power, depth, speed and articulation in abundance. And, of course, putting it all together is a phase-compensated Acoustic Butterworth crossover resulting from not only Computer-Aided Design but also hundreds of hours of critical listening tests using all types and flavours of music to achieve perfection.
Polished to Perfection
The Revela series continues QUAD's industrial design evolution, sported in the models of recent years – such as the Vena and Artera series. The Revela series cabinets are skilfully hand-finished to a quality far exceeding that of relative competitors in this class. The Revela series is available in options of a polished real-wood veneer and seamless polished-paint finish or a simple and uber-classy 'all-black' glossy paint finish. In either finish, the Revela cabinets are a sight to behold! The precision-fitted baffle is seamlessly joined, also with a polished finish, for a presentation of the highest order. More than just a genuinely stunning furniture-quality piece of craftsmanship, the cabinet is internally braced, using a purpose-engineered structure connected to the cabinet panels in a manner that dissipates unwanted vibrations and resonances, thus maintaining structural rigidity, even under the most strenuous of performances. More than just a photobook-quality design!
Free-flowing Purity
Adding to the highly effective innovations in QUAD Revela, the port tube design is precisely positioned with the optimum diameter and flaring to prevent longitudinal resonances from colouring the speaker's performance. The low and midrange frequencies can perform with a free-flowing purity and no unintended resonance or boominess – giving you the full dynamics of your music.
A serious statement piece from QUAD, the Revela series is the culmination of more than four years of development. It offers advanced technology, beautiful looks and breath-taking performance, all combined masterfully for 'The Closest Approach To The Original Sound'.
Verified Dealers
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Authorized dealers for Quad REVELA 1
- Holt Hill — online and in-store — Andover, Massachusetts, United States (website)
- Acoustic Technologies — online and in-store — Montréal, Québec, Canada (website)
- Acton Gate Audio — online and in-store — Cymru, United Kingdom (website)
- Alen Audio — in-store — Extramurs, Comunidad Valenciana, Spain (website)
- Alma Music & Audio — online and in-store — San Diego, California, United States (website)
- Alpha Audio Pte — online and in-store — Singapore, Singapore (website)
- Analogue Seduction — online and in-store — Whittlesey, England, United Kingdom (website)
- Area Hifi — online and in-store — L'Eixample, Comunidad Valenciana, Spain (website)
- Aris Audio — in-store — Salt Lake City, Utah, United States (website)
- Art & Voice — online (website)
and 102 more verified dealers