Tannoy Reveal 502

I was looking for affordable but good sounding monitors for my home recording studio. I wasn't looking for a particular brand; the only condition was the speakers were front-ported.

After reading reviews and watching scores of youtube videos, my pool was reduced to Tannoys, KRKs, Samsons and Thomann's Swissonic.

Testing:

Fortunately, I could test all (except for Samson) in person in the Thomann's store in Treppendorf using CDs I knew well, for example, a rather demanding prog-metal song Day 3: Pain from the Ayreon's Human Equation album.

Now, I know that sound perception often depends on personal taste, but there's an objective twist to that - how many details you hear and how is the recording spread across the audible spectrum.

Long story short, I've never in my life heard the said song in such clarity, detail and spatial spread as on the Tannoy Reveal 502s (this side of pro-grade monitors in studios).

At first, you might find low end a bit lacking, especially next to the KRKs, but that's down to 2 reasons.

a) the KRKs appeared to be 'tuned' downwards, in other words, a dance music piece would sound OK. Still, they lacked spectral clarity. Eventually, I ran the song thru all displayed speakers in this size/price category. Compared to Tannoys, the all sounded 'muddy' in their own way.
b) most commercial speakers and headphones enhance basses so you inevitably arrive with your own bass bias.

Having said that... the bass line, or lines, rather, (bass guitar and synth) were clearly identifiable and separable and in the mix over Tannoy 502s, they did their job in the mix without issues. You can always select the high-cut option. Which I did... and ended up reverting to the neutral option which I thought provided the best balance.

Also to keep in mind... I knew that my room has more natural bass than the optimized room at Thomann's. Back home, the sound retains all the crispiness and the room helps on the low end for casual listening.

Features:

I'm not gonna double up on connectivity features description but there's one feature I find amazing.

The 3.5 mm input and the Monitor Link feature. Here's how it works:

Connect an external audio source (another computer, iPod/iPhone.... anything with a common audio out headphones port) to one speaker. And then Use the Monitor Link to connect it to another speaker. Bang - you hear your iPod in stereo ;)

For me this means that I can hook up my guitar synth directly to the monitors and directly monitor the sound through the monitors along the mix - in other words, there's 0 latency as it doesn't run via DAW software. What's not to like! :)

What also helps that connecting mini jack cable is included. With EACH speaker, so if you buy a par, which you'll most certainly do, you're all set.

BTW, each speaker comes with both the EU and the UK plug.

Magnetic shielding, or lack thereof:

My two external hard drives sit 15 and 30 centimeters below one of the monitors separated by 5 and 7 centimeters (respectively) of quality IKEA plank :) No problems there. So far, after 4 months, I haven't experience any interference issues.

Built quality:

They feel heavy and solid; they do project sturdy quality while being the best looking monitors in this price range.

Having hesitated about the size of the speakers I'd need, I decided to go with the smaller size (8" would have been overkill for my small control room) and haven't regretted it.
The monitors produce more than enough volume and just enough bass to have a great mixing experience. The front porthole is a nice feature, making it possible to place the speakers closer to a wall without nasty side-effects for the bass frequencies.
I'm mixing mostly heavier, guitar and drum oriented music and the frequency response for this kind of music is perfect. Enough mids, but not too boxy, clean, but not too harsh highs. I guess I could use a tad more bass, but I do think a dedicated subwoofer would serve me better for this purpose than an overall larger monitor, so I'm going that route.
The build quality on these is good, they're sturdy and heavy. And they look awesome :)
So in short, a great purchase, recommended for the low to mid budget home studio ar even as auxiliary monitor for professional, higher budget studio's.

I really wanted to like these monitors; They have a lot going for them. The price per monitor is amazing, they look beautiful, and the sound quality and imaging are phenomenal. They have a very balanced frequency response, though they're definitely not for bassheads.

Unfortunately, a common issue reported by lots of owners of these monitors, and one which is allegedly acknowledged by Tannoy themselves, is the fact that these monitors emit a constant, irreparable hissing sound when switched on. It's worth mentioning at this point that the hissing does not get louder or quieter based on what volume you have your monitors set at.
How noticeable it is and whether it could be a dealbreaker for you depends on your application. I was using them for DJing in my bedroom, so the monitors were fairly close (< 4 feet) to my ears. I kept the volume fairly low in order to spare my hearing, and the hissing was always noticeable and became slightly distracting/annoying over time. If you are going to be a fair bit farther away from your monitors, or if you are certain you'll only be playing music loudly on these then the hissing will be much less noticeable to the point where I would definitely go for the purchase.

Sadly, because of this issue, the 502s weren't really doing it for me, so I've sent them back

I got a pair of these monitors like almost 2 weeks ago and I thought I shouldn't review them right away as I was tempted to do. Instead I've waited for almost 2 weeks so I can have a decent opinion about them.

Right when I plugged them in and threw some music, the first thing that spiked me was the power, godly they are loud. Also after setting them up in the right position and sit in the sweet spot, which is quite big, I had a revelation.

I will try to express my experience in the best words possible. Music sounded so spatial and clear, I could literally hear every instrument, identify it and tell how important was it to the song. I never had the feeling that I have 2 speakers in front of me, it was like I was in a room, the one created by the reverb, and actually listening to that artist singing.

Now getting more technical, bass can get really really low for their size, I never expected to go as far as ~50Hz and it's so tight and you can identify bass notes quite easily. At high volume you can actually feel it in the stomach a little which is amazing thinking they have 5" woofers.

Talking about mids, they are really present, but not more or less than bass or highs. You can clearly hear every instrument and the vocal is present and in your face when is the case.

Highs are well defined and not harsh, I can literally work for hours without feeling ear fatigue. They are not mushed or just white noise, you can hear every transient very clearly.

About stereo image, it's wow! There are no words to explain the feeling I had when I sit in front of them. You can place an instrument in the stereo field without any troubles, even the smallest pan can be heard. When you pan a little to the left/right you can actually hear it when it moves a little to the left/right.

The only downside could be the hiss. There is a small hiss from the tweeters. The good thing is it can't be heard if you stay at a minimum distance of 70-80cm in a really quite room and without music playing. As soon as you play music even at low level, you can't hear the hiss anymore so I guess there is a trade for good sound, but thank god it's not that bad as it sounds.

In conclusion, I can say it gives you the precision to mix your songs the way you actually want and they will translate really well on any other device. Keep in mind you need some time to adjust to new monitors, listen a lot of music before starting to mix, I guess it's quite obvious.

I really love them, best bang for the buck!

I knew that I was ordering top quality as I've heard the baby brother 402's but I wasn't quite prepared for just how good these 502's are. My room is a good, above standard size but has (at the moment) some reflection problems. These don't worry about it! I have totally clear and precise audio even at the lowest level output. Utterly fantastic. And with Thomann's top quality service from the the first instance of the order all the way through to on time perfect delivery, there just isn't any hassle or worry. You know the thing that really makes it perfect though!? I haven't been pestered for reviews. I've had no repetitive email ads. This is perfect service. Thank you Thomann.

These are my second pair of Tannoy studio monitors that I have.
I bought these because I have Tannoy 6 series passive monitors and I assumed the quality would be equally good with these Reveal 502's.

Well I was pleasantly suprised, with these bad boys. The sound quality is great.
These are perfect for any producer who is working in a small/medium sized studio.
The highs and mids are clear. Bass is good for mixing.

What I like the most about this monitors is, that it has the aux cord option. Makes your life whole lot easier. You can just plug your laptop/phone/tablet to it and listen to music instantly. Reveal 502's are great, for just listening music too, you will have fun & pleasant music listening experience.

I'm very happy with my purchase.