Tannoy Reveal 402

I should come clean straight away and admit that I am something of a Tannoy fan-boy. I've even been to the Scottish factory (This model seems to be made in China) and seen them being built! But I'll write an unbiased review...

Features: Nice choice of inputs; XLR, 1/4" and mini-jack. Volume. High cut/boost. A nice feature is the aux in - a mini-jack input that sends to the other speaker (cables included), if you use that input a selector switch places the speaker in the left or right position.
No bass cut/boost which is a shame as that's usually the problem area with close monitors, due to not being in an ideal listening position in the room, most of the time, atop a mixing desk normally.

Sound: This is where these bad-boys deliver. The tight bass, clear mids and crispy highs that made Tannoy what they are today, are all produced wonderfully. It's no surprise these speakers are used in countless professional studios around the world.
As soon as I plugged them in I listened to some classic albums; Miles Davis, Al Green, Gil Scott-Herron, and the recent Led Zep remasters that have recently landed on Spotify, to name a few. Songs like Hide and Seek by Imogen Heap come alive and run down your ear-canals like butter. Oh man, it's like you are in the control room while the album is being recorded! Listening to Tom's Diner by Suzanne Vega it becomes clear why the guys developing mp3's back in the day used that track to test their algorithms and listened to it all day, it just sounds so good!

Quality: I was slightly disappointed in this aspect as one of the aux inputs is loose, making it unusable. It seems the tip of the mini-jack is not making contact with the socket inside, as if I pull the cable to one side it makes contact and the signal comes through. Thomann offered to replace the speaker but I didn't feel it was necessary. Apart from that, the rest of the build is solid and flawless.

If you are coming from the famous white Yamaha monitors you might find the high-end slightly dim but Yamahas are famous for being very bright, an old studio trick is to actually place tissue paper over the tweeters to dim the high-end!

To sum up: Tannoy sound on a budget. You will not be disappointed.

Me: Nearly 15 years freelance audio engineer.

I have owned these Tannoy Reveal 402 monitors for almost a year and they have provided me with sound I needed with no disappointments. I have used them as a part of Home Studio set-up connected with focusrite scarlet 6i6 to record and monitor my guitar and keyboards.

The sound is clear and loud enough for a small room studio, but when no sound is flowing you can still hear low noise coming out but it is nothing serious. These can also be used for other entertainment such as home cinema.

The price of these monitors are a great deal for the sound and the built quality.

Got those for almost 5 years now and got to admit my mixes sound much better in comparison to their big brothers. They are more balanced, they have very clear mids and because they are small they are ideal for a home studio setup. They are also quite loud. What is also very important is that I can mix for hours hours without them causing me any ear fatigue. Bear in mind that I mix some very heavy music like death metal with those. They are also a pleasure when listening to music.

Pros
The 3,5mm jack so that you can hook them up everywhere.
The balanced sound
Looks
Suitable for small rooms

Cons
For their price can’t find any really.

I was looking for a set of small front ported studio monitors for a while and after some reasearch settled on the Tannoy speakers. Tannoy have always tended to make very good studio monitors.
I have been using these in my office and studio for a while now and really like the sound of them. I find some speakers have a very bright sound and smaller drivers tend to lack depth. I find the Tannoys are farily neutral and flat (to my ears) and for a small cabinet have a good amount of low end.
Being 4inch cabs they do not take up a large amount of space which in smaller rooms is helpful.
I really like the protective done on the tweeter as it does protect it really well.