Agenda

2. Agenda History of Revel Our mission Our product philosophy Research Design Listening Production Products Multichannel audio Multichannel-specific products Future products

3. History of Revel • Dr. Harman wanted a loudspeaker company as unsurpassed as Madrigal • No such loudspeaker company existed - it had to be created • January 1996 announcement • Company goals and direction • Unsurpassed performance and industrial design • Unparalleled resources • People, expertise, facilities, financing • Unheard of in high end audio • Around 400 U.S. speaker companies, Revel given unique opportunity to do it right

4. Revel Mission - Produce the World’s Finest Loudspeakers • What constitutes “the world’s finest loudspeakers”? • Acoustical performance-first and foremost • Unsurpassed quality • All visual aspects

5. Revel Mission-Produce the World’s Finest Loudspeakers How? • First rigorously designed high end loudspeakers • Combining high-end sensibility with state of the art research and development • Double-blind listening tests demonstrate listener preference • Renowned industrial design team producing loudspeakers that look as great as they sound.

6. Revel’s Product PhilosophyOverview • Research • Design • Listening confirmation • Production

7. Revel’s Product PhilosophyResearch • Research should be the first step • Avoid trap of false assumptions

8. Revel’s Product PhilosophyResearch • Resources to do genuine research • Industry-leading researchers • Dr. Floyd Toole • Long working relationship at Canadian National Research Council • Sean Olive • Many others

9. Revel’s Product PhilosophyResearch • World’s leading research to determine: • How we hear (starting at the beginning) • Important factors in perceived sound quality • Room acoustics • Loudspeaker/room interaction • Making listening tests valid scientific data • Only then do we know what we are trying to achieve!

10. Revel’s Product Philosophy - Research • Tradeoffs involved in all speaker design • Optimum performance can only be achieved by selecting the right priorities

11. Revel’s Product Philosophy - Research • What is the relative importance of various sonic characteristics? • Timbre • Directivity • Resonances • Distortion • Dynamics • Phase • Waveform preservation

12. Revel’s Product Philosophy - Research • Our listening tests and breakthrough measurement process are used to determine how significant sonic characteristics are affected by: • Transducer diaphragm, surround, motor, voice coil and former materials and construction • Enclosure shape, construction, materials, and damping • Filter network (crossover) component types and characteristics

13. Revel’s Product Philosophy - Research • How can these questions be answered? • 1000’s of double-blind listening tests • Our ears are the ultimate authority • Dozens of areas objectively investigated • Result is phenomenally powerful

14. Revel’s Product Philosophy - Research • We have determined what is sonically important: • Timbre-overwhelmingly dominant • Directivity – off-axis responses, critical to timbre • Resonances – must be kept below audible threshold • Dynamic compression-usually overlooked, but very significant • Distortion - frequency-dependent thresholds

15. Revel’s Product Philosophy - Research • ...And what is not important, or less important… • Waveform preservation – not audible • Phase-audible in specific ways • Individual transducers must have good phase performance to enable proper crossover operation • Phase shift per se, is not audible in loudspeaker systems

16. Revel Product Philosophy - DesignNow That We Truly Know What the Goal Is… • Designing products to address the results of our research:How do we characterize and measure: • Timbre? • Resonances? • Distortion? • Dynamic compression?

17. Revel Product Philosophy - DesignMeasuring Timbre • Timbre is the most significant audible characteristic - requires the greatest emphasis • Simple “on-axis” measurements of little to no value • Gave speaker measurements a (deservedly) bad name

18. Revel Product Philosophy - DesignMeasuring Timbre • Massive research effort comprised of in-room measurements and double-blind listening tests • Assures research and measurements have a basis in the “real world”

19. Revel Product Philosophy - DesignMeasuring Timbre • Breakthrough measurement process has been developed that has a high correlation to sound quality • Requires a combination of many measurements • Must be made in a very large anechoic chamber to retain important resolution • Sophisticated post-processing of all data based on the extensive in-room measurements and listening tests • Only U.S. High end loudspeaker company with such facilities

20. Direct Sound Measurements An improved method with an average of 7 measurements Mimics brain’s processing Commonly seen as “on-axis” response

21. Equally Important Early Reflections Reflections with short delays are just as important as the direct sound. Appropriate weighting for each boundary based on extensive research. Most loudspeakers perform poorly in this test.

22. Reverberant Sound Contributes to Perception of Timbre The loudspeakers’ output in all directions contributes. Includes sound heard after multiple reflections from all boundaries.

23. Single Calculated Curve Correlates Closely to Sound Quality Weighted average of all measurements based on measurements in many listening rooms.

24. Revel Product Philosophy - Design Having created measurements that have been proven to be sonically relevant, what tools are required to provide optimum performance according to these new tests?

25. Revel Product Philosophy - Design Three State of the Art Anechoic Chambers Provide high resolution results Do not suffer from disadvantages of simulated chambers

26. Revel Product Philosophy - Design 180 Hz 4 pi anechoic chamber 5,000 cubic feet (142 cubic meters) Full transparent floor

27. Revel Product Philosophy - Design 60 Hz 4 pi anechoic chamber 10,000 cubic feet (283 cubic meters) 1200 four foot (1.2 meter) wedges Calibrated to +/- 0.5db below 60 Hz

28. Revel Product Philosophy - Design 2 pi anechoic chamber 7,000 cubic feet (198 cubic meters) with 800 three foot wedges

29. Revel Product Philosophy - Design Complete in-house transducer design and production Optimum transducers for each specific application State of the art transducers not available from any vendor Midranges are limitations in many speakers Inadequate spectral range Inadequate power handling/high compression OEM woofers have power handling and compression limitations

30. Revel Product Philosophy - Design Unequalled design resources FEA (finite element analysis) design of motor systems, surrounds, and spiders

31. Revel Product Philosophy - Design -Unequalled Design Resources Laser scanner for domes, surrounds, and enclosures Enabled fully pistonic midranges Optimized surround behavior for greatly reduced distortion and smoother midrange response Optimized enclosure shapes, materials, and construction

32. Revel Product Philosophy - Design • Laser interferometry • Diaphragm development Revel Midrange Competitor’s Midrange

33. Revel Product Philosophy - Design Unequalled transducer design resources Rapid prototyping with stereo lithography Fast samples of any 3-dimensional parts, such as baskets Enhanced ability to try multiple iterations Dr. Green from ER dropped by to help us

34. Revel Product Philosophy - Design Dynamic (Power) Compression Does more than rob the music of life Changes timbre as the music plays Frequency-dependent and non-linear Revel has reduced dynamic compression to levels previously associated only with horn-loaded systems

35. Revel Product Philosophy - Design Dynamic (Power) Compression We have developed quantitative tests Has given us valuable data regarding what is effective to reduce compression Tests are performed throughout both the transducer and system development processes Sub-15 with LE-1– compression results

36. Revel Product Philosophy - Design Dynamic (Power) CompressionMinimized in All Revel Loudspeakers Huge voice coils for given application Salon, voice, embrace 1 1/2” (38 mm) voice coils in 4” (102 mm) midrange Gem 2” (51 mm) voice coil in 5 1/4” (133 mm) woofer Sub-15 uses 4” (102 mm) single layer flat wire voice coil

37. Revel Product Philosophy - Design Dynamic (Power) CompressionMinimized in All Revel Loudspeakers High-order filters (crossovers) drastically reduce compression compared to 1st-order systems Tight gaps to optimize heat transfer designed with F.E.A. (Finite element analysis) Large motor systems for heat dissipation

38. Revel Product Philosophy - Listening Tests Rigorous listening tests are true measurements, not just opinions. The ability to perform truly objective listening tests is a huge advantage. Double-blind listening tests prove revel’s superiority. Six varied listening rooms. Five fixed rooms at 2100 ft3 (59 m3), 3000 ft3 (85 m3), 4500 ft3 (127 m3) , and 5400 ft3 (153 m3).

39. Speaker Mover Listening Lab Automated speaker mover to eliminate speaker -position variable or to efficiently test its effects (e.g. off-axis performance, digital room EQ ) Physically and acoustically optimized and equipped for scientific testing of two-channel and multichannel configurations Acoustically transparent screen hides identities of loudspeakers Experimental design, control, collection and analysis of data automated under computer control

40. Speaker Mover in the Listening Lab

41. Detail of Speaker Mover

42. Double-blind Listening Room (MLL) From Front

43. Automated Speaker Mover: Why? Loudspeaker Position has significant influence on perceived sound quality. The effect can be as great as the differences among loudspeakers (Olive et al., JAES vol. 42, 1994) Therefore, in listening tests, variable of position MUST be eliminated or controlled For in situ tests, position effects can only be controlled and balanced by testing each loudspeaker in each possible position

44. Before Speaker Mover…. Example: A/B/C/D Loudspeaker Comparisons Position: 1 2 3 4 Trial # 1 2 3 4 5 6 …. x 4 speakers = 24 possible speaker-position permutations per program Example: With 4 programs there would be 96 trials (with no repeats)

45. AfterSpeaker Mover….Example: A/B/C/D Loudspeaker Comparisons Position: 1 2 3 4 Trial # 1 2 3 4 5 6 …. x 4 speakers = 24 1 possible speaker-position permutation per program. Example: With 4 programs there would be 96 4 trials (with no repeats)

46. Speaker Mover Analysis Station • Multi-dimensional analysis provides important data for ongoing research • Guards against erroneous conclusions

47. Blind Vs. Sighted Tests P R E F E R E N C E 8 R A T I N G 1G 1D S T 7 6 BLIND SIGHTED

48. Blind Vs. Sighted - Summary • Visual cues have statistically significant influences • In “sighted” tests opinions can be influenced more by product identity than by the sound of the product. • In “sighted” tests listeners were less responsive to differences attributable to position or to program. • In other words - Believing is Hearing

49. Comparative Listening Tests • Revel sonic superiority proven before product release Double-blind listening tests prove superiority

50. Renowned Multichannel Listening Facilities • Used by F.C.C. for U.S. high definition (DTV) television audio standard listening tests • 5,400 ft3 (153 m3)