Revel Speakers

[steve59]

There's a lot of great speakers out there for $10k. I was listening to the Dynaudio C60 and the dealer told me Magico is cracking the $10k price point this summer with a new speaker, I got another audition of the Salon2 in a different room and, my oh my, I bought them! anybody want to buy a pair of Salon1's?

 

[tdimler]

Smart decision! I also own Salon2's. Doubtful we will ever get an unbiased comparison, but based on Magico's pricing and marketing strategy, I expect the Salon2 to still set well ahead of the new $10K Magico.

 

[steve59]

Smart decision! I also own Salon2's. Doubtful we will ever get an unbiased comparison, but based on Magico's pricing and marketing strategy, I expect the Salon2 to still set well ahead of the new $10K Magico.

What do you drive your Salon's with? I've heard some say the Salon2's need 500 wpc to come alive, but my hegel h360 seems to be doing a nice job.

 

[twitch]

What do you drive your Salon's with? I've heard some say the Salon2's need 500 wpc to come alive, but my hegel h360 seems to be doing a nice job.

500 watts ?? utter nonsense ..........

 

[Bruce B]

What do you drive your Salon's with? I've heard some say the Salon2's need 500 wpc to come alive, but my hegel h360 seems to be doing a nice job.

Yeah, you don't need that much. I have Pass XA-100.5 amps powering mine.

 

[tdimler]

What do you drive your Salon's with? I've heard some say the Salon2's need 500 wpc to come alive, but my hegel h360 seems to be doing a nice job.

Jeff Rowland 625 S2

 

[steve59]

^^^^ I would love to hear that system.^^^^

 

[DonH50]

I "know" (via the 'net) several folk using Parasound, various ATI, and Benchmark amplifiers in the 100 W'ish range that do OK driving Salon2's. Depends upon where you sit and how loud you like to play them, natch... They are not terribly sensitive speakers (barely better than my previous Magnepans) and have some low impedance bumps. I would spec them at 4 ohms nominal as that's where they lie over much of their range.

 

[steve59]

I think if I had found the h360 while I still had my revel f52 speakers I would have had the perfect combination, with my salons I catch myself wondering how high the ceiling is for these speakers

 

[BruceD]

Smart decision! I also own Salon2's. Doubtful we will ever get an unbiased comparison, but based on Magico's pricing and marketing strategy, I expect the Salon2 to still set well ahead of the new $10K Magico.

I'd take the Salon 2's over Magico's--with my comparisons the Revels project a far more cohesive and sonically "fuller" presentation

The music envelopes with the soundstage--the Magico's sounded constipated to me.

Once I listened to the Tidal Piano Diacera's --popped across the hall to compare the Revels

--the Salon 2's were better-- WTF( thinking how??)-- giant killer speakers.

I'd own em!

BruceD

 

[GSOphile]

I am a happy Magico S3 MkII owner, but I must say that if you have the room and the setup flexibility, I'd certainly choose the Salon 2s over the A3s.

 

[DonH50]

Since my room is very dead (though I am making it a bit more "live" now) the off-axis response did not matter much to me. What did matter was clean transient response, a stable image, and something that would not sound "small" coming from big panels (Magnepans). One thing I tend to notice is how sounds (vocals and instruments) transition among drivers up and down the frequency range. ESLs and to a certain extent Maggies do this very well using full-range (mostly) or very broad overlap among drivers. Too many conventional speakers seem to change sound character as frequency changes. Imaging and "soundstage" changes as well as the timbre in some cases. Back when I used to be able to test speakers I would do frequency sweeps and sometimes the difference was startling (perhaps more to the dealers than to me after many years playing at this). The Salon2's did not seem to do that, or at least much less than other speakers at and well above their price range.

There are so many good speakers these days that you (or maybe just me) often have to look and listen closely to distinguish among them. That is one of my benchmarks.

Note I have not heard speakers in the class most here have auditioned; my listening topped out with Focal, B&W, and a couple I've forgotten in the $30k to $50k a pair range.

FWIWFM - Don

 

[steve59]

Nothing new in the $10k range is going to touch the salon 2's including the F228be which I heard in the same room with the same gear tho not at the same time. Once I finally got them set up best the cabinets did disappear during playback and bass doesn't sound like a speaker reproducing bass it sounds like a string instrument with as much difference between notes as a lead guitar. I very nearly gave up on my salon's because I thought they were too big to image well in my room. Glad now I kept inching them around.

 

[Kal Rubinson]

Nothing new in the $10k range is going to touch the salon 2's including the F228be which I heard in the same room with the same gear tho not at the same time.

I did the blind comparison test between these two (and a third speaker) at the Harman facility. A report on that experience will accompany my review of the F228Be coming up soon..........................

 

[steve59]

I appreciate your reply. I have my own reservations about the harman listening test since they only test 1 speaker at a time it won't reveal how the speakers throw a soundstage and imaging is high on my list of priorities in my 2 channel system.

 

[Kal Rubinson]

I appreciate your reply. I have my own reservations about the harman listening test since they only test 1 speaker at a time it won't reveal how the speakers throw a soundstage and imaging is high on my list of priorities in my 2 channel system.

True although "how the speakers throw a soundstage and imaging" is highly dependent on your room acoustics and set-up, especially in a 2 channel system.

 

[microstrip]

I did the blind comparison test between these two (and a third speaker) at the Harman facility. A report on that experience will accompany my review of the F228Be coming up soon..........................

Kal,
Just read the report. Can you confirm that all blind tests were carried in mono, using just one arbitrary channel of a stereo recording?

 

[Kal Rubinson]

Kal,
Just read the report. Can you confirm that all blind tests were carried in mono, using just one arbitrary channel of a stereo recording?

Just one arbitrary channel from a dozen or so stereo recordings.

 

[microstrip]

Just one arbitrary channel from a dozen or so stereo recordings.

Thanks. I find it disturbing - not because the mono approach reduces the value of the tests, but mainly because half stereo can sound tonally unbalanced. Sound engineers do not expect that their recordings will be listened that way.

You refer that any "thinking audiophile would benefit from this experience". I must say I fail to see why - IMHO nothing positive seems to be gained from it. Why do you think it can be useful to audiophiles?

 

[Kal Rubinson]

Thanks. I find it disturbing - not because the mono approach reduces the value of the tests, but mainly because half stereo can sound tonally unbalanced. Sound engineers do not expect that their recordings will be listened that way.

OK. First, let me retract the word "arbitrary" since the channel track was selected for having adequate balance. I had earlier selected and submitted the pool of recordings, they were quite familiar to me and I not think that there was anything strange about the individual channel tracks played. After all, it was also with unknown speakers in an unfamiliar space.

You refer that any "thinking audiophile would benefit from this experience". I must say I fail to see why - IMHO nothing positive seems to be gained from it. Why do you think it can be useful to audiophiles?

It forces one to particularize one's assessments rather than to simply express a preference. One has to convince onesself of the reasons for the preference.