TANNOY REVEAL 501A REVIEW
Posted on Mon 15 August 2011 in entries
It’s been a long while since I have brought you a review of a studio monitor, so today I decided to set-up a pair of Tannoy Reveal 501A’s in our Poole store and write about what I heard! Plus, being in the same price range as the popular KRK RP5 G2 speakers (which I have a fair amount of experience with), it would also make sense to draw some comparisons between the two models, so here I go…
TANNOY REVEAL 501A – INTRODUCTION
Let's start at the beginning with a little bit or jargon to explain exactly what this product is…
Tannoy is a name that goes hand-in-hand with studio monitors, having earned themselves a respected reputation with a number of their previous products. The Tannoy Reveal 501A is an active nearfield monitor, aimed at the studio on a budget. Tannoy advertise them as being a small and compact speaker, for the home studio owner that does not have a huge wad of cash to spend, but still strives for monitors that deliver a true, flat and detailed response. In fact, Tannoy claim that the Reveal 501A’s deliver such a wide bandwidth performance that they will ‘impress even the most seasoned pro.’ Now that is quite a bold statement to make, but is it just marketing talk? I shall have to find out for myself…
TANNOY REVEAL 501A – FIRST IMPRESSIONS
Well, these certainly are small speakers. With their 5 inch lo/mid-driver and 1 inch soft dome tweeter, both encased in an MDF enclosure and plastic baffle, these certainly appear to be speakers that would be most suited to studios where space is a problem. In comparison to the KRK RP5, they are ever so slightly taller, but not by much.
In terms of the look, I like them! I mean, they don’t look like anything really special with their simple black design with white trimmings, but they look like a studio monitor, which I guess is all you can ask for! I must admit that I prefer that fluorescent yellow burst of the KRK's, but with studio monitors it is all about the sound. In fact, I don’t think that I would like my studio monitor to look breathtakingly flash, as it would almost seem like the manufacturer was trying to make up for the fact that the sound wasn’t anything that special!
TANNOY REVEAL 501A – TURNED ON
I had the Tannoy Reveal 501A’s set up side-by-side on a switching system with a pair of KRK RP5 G2’s and I was ready to start the sound tests, which let’s face it, is the only real test that matters...
I began by selecting an old electro tune in the form of Enola Gay by O.M.D. and I had a good listen to every part of the song on each speaker. I then moved on to a bit of Billie Jean by Michael Jackson, Smack My Bitch Up by The Prodigy, Prison Song by System Of A Down, Midnight Request Line by Skream, Run Em Out by Breakage and Roots Manuva, Traffic by Tiestö and a few others. I intended to cover a variety of different genres in order to give these monitors a thorough testing. Here is what I concluded…
If you are looking for budget speakers to produce predominantly bass-driven music, then you simply have to opt for the KRK RP5 G2's. Compared to the Tannoy Reveal 501A’s, the KRKs have a much more natural (and extended) bass response, giving the output a much warmer sound. When listening to Dubstep and deep Drum and Bass songs (and even the O.M.D. and Michael Jackson tracks), the Tannoy’s just didn’t give me the depth that I craved to monitor those all important bass frequencies. After listening to the songs through the KRK RP5’s, the bass sounded much duller in comparison.
However… I much preferred the high-end response of the Tannoy Reveal 501A. In fact, I was very pleasantly surprised by this! I thought that the Tannoy Reveal 501A’s really excelled when listening to The Prodigy’s ‘Smack My Bitch Up’, especially on the intro. The added high-end ‘sparkle’ of the Tannoy Reveal 501A really brought the breaks to life and made the whole track seem a lot more energetic! In fact, when I switched back to the KRK RP5, the whole track seemed like it had had some of the life sucked out of it as the sound was less raw and sounded more 'neat and tidy'. I guess that a lot of this is to do with the fact that the Tannoy Reveal 501A has an extended high-frequency response compared to the KRK RP5 G2 and so switching from the Tannoys to the KRKs limits the whole song to a slightly lower portion of the frequency spectrum.
TANNOY REVEAL 501A – SUMMARY
I can’t deny that the Tannoy Reveal 501A isn’t a great little product. However, I imagine that you will now be wondering, ‘which is better, the Tannoy Reveal 501A or the KRK RP5 G2?’
Now, that is one very tough question, mainly because they both have strengths in completely different areas! For monitoring bass frequencies, the KRK shone way above the Tannoy’s, but for high frequencies, the Tannoy’s owned the KRK’s!
I guess that an advantage of purchasing the Tannoy’s is that you can always incorporate a sub into your set-up to extend the bass response… the KRKs do have a ‘High Frequency’ dial on the back to extend (or cut) the gain of their high-frequency output (as do the Tannoy's), but even with it turned up to the maximum, it does not rival the Tannoy Reveal's.
However, on the other hand I think that I prefer the overall sound of the KRKs, as I tend to produce deep bass music… but I would really miss the high-frequency detail of the Tannoy Reveal 501A when it came to chopping up my breaks!
Of course, ideally you would want to combine the characteristics of both speakers to create the ultimate monitor… ah, how I love my Focal CMS65’s! However, if you are really on a budget, you will just need to decide what is more important to you… do you want a nice deep bass representation (but lose out on the fizzy details at the higher end of the spectrum), or would you prefer some really crisp sounding speakers that lack a bit on the bottom end. Personally I would advise anyone working with bass-driven music (e.g. Dubstep, Drum & Bass, Electro. etc. ) to go for the KRKs and anyone who works with music where the main focus is breaks and percussion (e.g. Oldskool, Jazzy breaks, some types of Rock music, etc.) to get the Tannoy Reveal 501As. Even better, if you can get yourself down to our showroom in Poole, we have both the Tannoy Reveal 501A’s and KRK RP5 G2’s set up (plus a load more), so you can hear and compare them for yourself!
If you are looking at the Tannoy Reveal 501A's as a secondary monitor, then I would say that they would be very adept at this, with their less prominent bass response. I would love a pair of these next to my Focal CMS65 plus Sub set-up, as it would allow me to reference my mix in a different way. In fact, I think that the Tannoy Reveal 501A would be an excellent Yamaha NS-10-esque addition to a studio, as I think that generally, if you can get your mix sounding good on these, then it should sound good on most commercial systems. Don't think that they are an alternative to a pair of high-end professional monitors though... you should always get the best speakers that you can for mixing on!
I hope that you learned something from this review! For more information on the Tannoy Reveal 501A, or to buy one, click the link below...
Tannoy Reveal 501A (Pair) - More Info/Purchase
Tannoy Reveal 501A (Single) - More Info/Purchase