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.

While the sound of the monitors is excellent, and build quality is great, the earlier models of the 402s are notorious for their buzzing, even with no input plugged in. Unfortunately, one of the two speakers I ordered were affected by this issue. It's not loud enough to be heard during louder sections in music, however as dynamics drop, or songs end, it's hard not to notice. Unfortunately, I will be forced to return mine.