There is one fatal flaw in Revel speakers, which I suspect makes them not so "perfect". They use fourth order crossovers. Although these crossovers allow each individual driver to operate more linear at their frequency extremes, there is a rotation of phase at each the crossover regions. In my listening experimentation with many crossovers types, and my experience with MANY ultra high end speakers, this type of crossover can lead to a sound that is somewhat sterile, as compared to first order and quasi-second order crossovered speakers. Unfortunately, there is no "free lunch" with these latter crossovers either. When these are utilized, the designer will need many more drivers to achieve a disortion free high output, which can make them quite expensive. (Ever wondered why Dunlavy has so many drivers?...they utilze phase coherent, first order crossovers).
I really wish that Kevin Voeks would have considered another crossover design. His listening facilities, and his driver designs are state of the art. Unfortunately, I feel that he really blew it when it came to his crossover choice. Don't let anyone convince you that this speaker is perfect. If they were, then every competant speaker designer would switch over to fourth order designs. With this x-over, it is much easier to design a speaker with low distortion, and high output, with only a a few decent drivers. But what about those phase shifts?!
