REVIVAL AUDIO Atalante 5
Stand mount monitors
An obvious ATC/Harbeth-inspired loudspeaker from France. To me, it is like a direct declaration of war. In fact, it is. It would be a mistake to consider the Atalante 5 a copy, though. It does many things better and adds an attractive price point to it.
Funkce a forma
Engineering in Revival Audio is in hands of Daniel Emonts, a guy who in his professional past worked for Focal on several outstanding product lines, like Electra S, Electra Be², and Utopia EM of the 3rd generation, as well as for Dynaudio, being responsible for Contour, Confidence, Evoke, and Special speakers between 2016 and 2020. This is an impressive resume to start with.
Revival Audio, as a company, has two models out, both stand-mounted – the 2-way Atalante 3 and the 3-way Atalante 5, and it is patriotically declaring that all the components, including drivers, are manufactured in-house in France. I guess they are as there is a lot of technological finesse in them.
Both the 28mm tweeter and 75mm midrange driver are soft domes, impregnated with a proprietary coating (RASC). The tweeter has a unique asymmetrical suspension that is claimed to provide more linear motion and better dispersion. The dome is opened into a structurally shaped large back chamber that absorbs its resonances. Similarly, the midrange dome was computer-optimized to work as a piston between 400Hz and 5kHz and has no damping except guided diffusion in its rear cavity. Revival Audio suggests that it may be the best midrange driver in high-end business. Indeed, I have to confirm that the midrange of the Atalante 5 is something special in this category.
The woofer is different: it is a shaped from basalt impregnated fabric, covered from the back with a thick layer of glue and felt fibres. This sandwiching method should result into a rigid and well damped cone with fast and smooth response. By now it should not come as a surprise that the woofer’s basket is as vented as possible to maximise the open design benefits. The woofer is vented into the back of the speaker through two reflex ports.
Revival Audio does not use neodymium magnets, rather relies on more traditional ferrite to keep costs under control. To compensate for the strength of neodymium the ferrites must be quite large – 100mm for the tweeter, 140mm for the midrange, and unspecified ‘XL size’ for the woofer.
As a standmount speaker the Atalante 5 has friendly sensitivity (89dB), friendly nominal impedance (4 ohms), and friendly bottom extension (specified at 28Hz/+/-3db).
The cabinets are a piece of art, immaculately covered with a velvety walnut veneer, and decorated with a horizontal inlay and laser-engraved logos. They certainly look very premium.
Nízké frekvence
Certain products seem to belong to a certain era, in English-speaking countries they would say they have a period vibe. The vibe of British loudspeaker-building school is very apparent here despite the Revival Audio’s country of origin. It has its advantages, such as the fact that you can count on it to play late seventies/early eighties rock to perfection. Maybe because this music also has its own vibe. No wonder that Alan Parsons and Eye in The Sky through these speakers was excellent. I’d rather should say the sound of the project was excellent; it is not generally known that the compositional or musical input from Parsons himself was minimal on the APP albums, and the project was created to sell the name that stood behind the hugely successful Dark Side of The Moon. Anyway, the Atalante 5 made justice to this music, and if I say it was a pleasure to listen to the track, it would be an understatement. Revival Audio's voicing was pretty much neutral, there was just a hint of round warmth, it was just a little extra spice on top of otherwise well balanced sound. Bass or kick guitar were somewhat dry, but had good body and rhythmic flow. Let's not forget that a 12-inch woofer can create a decent amount of acoustic pressure on the bottom end, and you can easily hear it.
Čistota rozlišení
Wolkenmeer means Sea of Clouds. It is a piece of colourful music, spontaneously recorded by Beo Brockhausen and Günter Pauler in the Stockfisch studio in Germany. With music like this, the competent self-assurance of the Atalante 5 became strikingly apparent. If you give the individual tones of the vibraphone a chance to unfold, it can sound amazing, especially when the cabinets add the necessary amount of harmonics to create a great illusion of a real thing. Mari Boine's Grandma was similarly spellbinding through the Atalante 5. The big native drum was really big and its regular pulses went through the room like seismic waves. The vocals, for a change, reminded me of 1950s recording techniques, when the orchestra played a minor role and the performer behind the microphone was at the centre. Back then, sound engineers could record the human voice in a way that few can today. And Mari Boine - despite being a modern recording - sounded exactly like that through the Atalante 5. That is, with a strong emotional bond between the man and the technology. It was an amazing experience.
Tonální věrnost
The overall minimal rigidity of the open design only becomes apparent when playing too loud. Then the cabinets start to interfere with the sound and the speakers become stressed. By ‘too loud’ I mean the loudness of around 85-90dB at the listening position. If loud to you means the usual 75dB (which is already quite loud), you can relax - the Atalante 5 have no problems at this level.
That being said, I probably wouldn't choose the Revival Audio for classical symphonies and other complex music where you need to play forte, and expect quick responses and unaffected tonality at any volume. But that doesn't mean you should retreat to acoustic jazz or vocal pieces only. For example, Yello (Capri Calling) was a firework of sensuality, Depeche Mode (Thieves) was soothingly brooding, and Camouflage (Spellbound) was playfully charming. Yet each of these recordings kept its individuality through the Atalante 5; in other words, the speakers did not mask the essential differences in how these records had been produced and mastered.
Prostorovost
The Revival Audio Atalante 5s were not difficult to set up either, and I found they gave the best results when aimed directly on my ears. The Atalante 5's top end is subtle and seamlessly integrated into the midrange, so there are no hints of forwardness. Plus, there's the asymmetrically placed midrange section that can be used to improve the balance and imaging depending on how far the speakers are from each other. The manufacturer recommends having the tweeters outside if the speakers are close to each other, and inside if the speakers are positioned far apart.
One extra thing. During taking listening notes, I turned the volume down to the very minimum. Moments later, my ears alerted me that the guitar, which wailed deep in the mix behind the left speaker at normal volume, was still wailing in the same place even during this ultra-quiet listening. I realized that the spatial presentation had remained completely unchanged, no matter how soft or loud I listened. With most loudspeakers, as the volume decreases everything shrinks in proportion to the point where the musicians become miniatures and the stage is the size of a shoebox. Not here, with the Atalante 5 the scale was maintained, just everything was quieter. Interestingly, the vibrancy and tonality of the reproduction is also maintained, which is quite rare even with high-end speakers.
Revival Audio design philosophy, like Harbeth’s or ATC’s, falls into the "why fight resonances when they can be used to your advantage and still enjoy the music" category. The point is that Revival Audio are much more affordable than the British competitors. Harbeth HL5s, for example, are 50% more expensive and hardly offer anything what the Atalante 5 does not have, or the ATCs, whose prices start at triple the Atalante’s asking price. Add to this a really perfectionist and luxurious design, a seductive midrange and a truly sensational soundstaging capabilities. Sounds like a recipe for success.
Doporučení prodejci
Dreamaudio, Bratislava, +421 907 838 806
Web výrobce: http://www.revivalaudio.fr
Připojené komponenty
- Sources: Taiko Audio SGM Extreme streamer, Pilium Devine Line DAC Elektra, Paul Pang Quad Switch, xDuoo X10T II digital transport, Rockna Waveform DAC
- Amplifiers: Pilium Devine Line Ares preamplifier, Pilium Hercules monoblocks
- Interconnects and speaker cables: Siltech Triple Crown, Vyda Laboratories Orion, InAkustik Toslink
- Power conditioning Pilium DCF, Torus Power AVR2 16, Siltech Ruby Mountain
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