I just auditioned the Revel Salon 2...

[AcuDefTechGuy]

...at my brother's friend's (Phillip) house in Texas.

Electronics were the Mark Levinson 532 amp & 326 preamp & 512 SACD player.

The room was like 15' x 18' x 12' celing. The Salon2s were 1 ft from the front wall and 2' from the side walls. The tweeter setting on the back was set to Zero/Flat - out of the box setting.

Simply put, I thought the sound of the Salon2s were the best I have ever heard. Period.

For example, that old "background" bass guitar in "Hotel California" that I could barely discern on the B&W 802D, 800D, & RBH T3/P all of the sudden became so distinct and clear along with the rest of the music!

It was amazing I almost cried - for a few seconds.

I have never heard sound that clear, smooth, detailed, dynamic, with powerful tight bass before.

The RBH had bass, but not that kind of resolution & detail.

The B&W did not have that resolution, detail, & bass.

I played Mozart's Piano Concerto #20 and my usual favorite pop music. Phillip also had one of those Harman Kardon demo disc that had a bunch of tracks on there. It was amazing. But it was "demo" material, so they were supposed to sound great.

The amazing thing was that my old CDs now sounded better than before!

No tricks. No gimmicks. The songs just sounded better - more resolution, more details, more information.

So I would give the Salon2 a "10", the T3/P an "8", and the 800D a "5".

The Revel Salon2s are the best speakers I have ever heard to date. And they are monopole speakers!

I would like to audition the Linkwitz Orions next.

 

[its phillip]

Ask your brother's friend Phillip to help a fellow Phillip out by donating those speakers

 

[MinusTheBear]

...at my brother's friend's (Phillip) house in Texas.

Electronics were the Mark Levinson 532 amp & 326 preamp & 512 SACD player.

The room was like 15' x 18' x 12' celing. The Salon2s were 1 ft from the front wall and 2' from the side walls. The tweeter setting on the back was set to Zero/Flat - out of the box setting.

Simply put, I thought the sound of the Salon2s were the best I have ever heard. Period.

For example, that old "background" bass guitar in "Hotel California" that I could barely discern on the B&W 802D, 800D, & RBH T3/P all of the sudden became so distinct and clear along with the rest of the music!

It was amazing I almost cried - for a few seconds.

I have never heard sound that clear, smooth, detailed, dynamic, with powerful tight bass before.

The RBH had bass, but not that kind of resolution & detail.

The B&W did not have that resolution, detail, & bass.

I played Mozart's Piano Concerto #20 and my usual favorite pop music. Phillip also had one of those Harman Kardon demo disc that had a bunch of tracks on there. It was amazing. But it was "demo" material, so they were supposed to sound great.

The amazing thing was that my old CDs now sounded better than before!

No tricks. No gimmicks. The songs just sounded better - more resolution, more details, more information.

So I would give the Salon2 a "10", the T3/P an "8", and the 800D a "5".

The Revel Salon2s are the best speakers I have ever heard to date. And they are monopole speakers!

I would like to audition the Linkwitz Orions next.

Great stuff. What does the owner think about these speakers and did he audition anything else before he purchased the Revel Salon 2? You know what you have to do now ADTG? Fund your Salon 2 purchase with selling of the DT's.

 

[walter duque]

I feel the same way about Sonus Faber Stradivarius. After I auditioned them I didn't turn my system on for about 6 months.

 

[zumbo]

My midlife crisis speaker list is growing longer than my midlife crisis car list. Always wanted to hear a good set of Revels.

 

[InTheIndustry]

...at my brother's friend's (Phillip) house in Texas.

Electronics were the Mark Levinson 532 amp & 326 preamp & 512 SACD player.

The room was like 15' x 18' x 12' celing. The Salon2s were 1 ft from the front wall and 2' from the side walls. The tweeter setting on the back was set to Zero/Flat - out of the box setting.

Simply put, I thought the sound of the Salon2s were the best I have ever heard. Period.

For example, that old "background" bass guitar in "Hotel California" that I could barely discern on the B&W 802D, 800D, & RBH T3/P all of the sudden became so distinct and clear along with the rest of the music!

It was amazing I almost cried - for a few seconds.

I have never heard sound that clear, smooth, detailed, dynamic, with powerful tight bass before.

The RBH had bass, but not that kind of resolution & detail.

The B&W did not have that resolution, detail, & bass.

I played Mozart's Piano Concerto #20 and my usual favorite pop music. Phillip also had one of those Harman Kardon demo disc that had a bunch of tracks on there. It was amazing. But it was "demo" material, so they were supposed to sound great.

The amazing thing was that my old CDs now sounded better than before!

No tricks. No gimmicks. The songs just sounded better - more resolution, more details, more information.

So I would give the Salon2 a "10", the T3/P an "8", and the 800D a "5".

The Revel Salon2s are the best speakers I have ever heard to date. And they are monopole speakers!

I would like to audition the Linkwitz Orions next.

These are really sharp speakers, although I LOVED the funky look of the last Salon model.

I had only a 20 minutes demo of these at a shop in Columbus about 8 months ago. They had them running with two JL Fathom subs set up as L/R in a similarly sized room. I thought they were really really great speakers. The dealer had some sort of weird tribal bongo drum, kazoo, horn bebop stuff going on. Not my favorite thing in the world. At $20k I felt like I would feel more visceral impact from the speaker and would like to have heard them without the massive subwoofers, which I thought were being way underused. To be fair to Revel, I don't have much confidence that the shop had taken a lot of time to set everything up correctly. While Triad is one of my least favorite speakers (I became a dealer for a short time a few years ago and really was disappointed with the stuff), their Triad Platinum setup that was part of a $Six Figure reference theater was absolutely abysmal. Fit and finish on the Revel product was 1st rate, though!

Revel & Harman have some of the best real world testing methods for designing and building loud speakers. I respect the company a great great deal and have even kicked around becoming a Revel dealer several times over the past few years, but don't know where I would fit the line in to do it justice in terms of sales volume. It's truly a shame what's happened to the Harman family of business over the past few years. I've always thought they were one of the classier companies out there.

I'm glad you loved the Salon 2's. They are IMPRESSIVE! I'm just hoping the "No need to spend more than $10k on speakers", "But the freq chart isn't such-and-such", or "All amps are the same" crowd doesn't jump out from behind their BIC, Sherwood setups to grief you too hard!

 

[just-some-guy]

those are very nice looking....

 

[oppman99]

I've always wanted to get my ears on a pair of Salon 2's. They're on my "maybe someday when the house is paid for" list.

 

[highfigh]

I'm glad you loved the Salon 2's. They are IMPRESSIVE! I'm just hoping the "No need to spend more than $10k on speakers", "But the freq chart isn't such-and-such", or "All amps are the same" crowd doesn't jump out from behind their BIC, Sherwood setups to grief you too hard!

BIC and Sherwood? Toss in a pair of Omega 3 or MicroAcoustics speakers and you'll REALLY have something! Not sure what, but it will be something.

 

[Boerd]

29Hz to 18kHz ±0.5dB ??? That is something.
Looking at the drivers - 1 inch, 4 inches, 6.5 and 8 inches - this tells me every driver is only used in its optimal range hence the accuracy and "effortless" sound. Plus the 1 megaton cabinet must help too.
Never had a chance of listening to it but to me this seems to be a very fine speaker (probably best)... I have all the respect for manufacturers that do post detailed specs of their speakers (anybody would post specs like this )
The only spec missing is the max SPL - my bet would be these speakers can play VERY loud (given the distribution and number of drivers).

Thanks for sharing your experience!

 

[highfigh]

29Hz to 18kHz ±0.5dB ??? That is something.
Looking at the drivers - 1 inch, 4 inches, 6.5 and 8 inches - this tells me every driver is only used in its optimal range hence the accuracy and "effortless" sound. Plus the 1 megaton cabinet must help too.
Never had a chance of listening to it but to me this seems to be a very fine speaker (probably best)... I have all the respect for manufacturers that do post detailed specs of their speakers (anybody would post specs like this )
The only spec missing is the max SPL - my bet would be these speakers can play VERY loud (given the distribution and number of drivers).

Thanks for sharing your experience!

Well, it's not about whose stereo can be the loudest, it's a matter of sound quality and I don't think I need to tell you that loud does not equal good, even though many people still think it does. Obviously, a large room needs more SPL but having heard these in a room of similar size, I would have to say that SPL won't be a problem.

 

[GranteedEV]

Simply put, I thought the sound of the Salon2s were the best I have ever heard. Period.

And it's not even Harmon's highest end speaker

 

[walter duque]

Sorry, wrong post.

 

[just-some-guy]

And it's not even Harmon's highest end speaker

what is ?

...........................

 

[GranteedEV]

what is ?

...........................

I don't know if it's better than Salon as I've heard neither but purely from a cost standpoint, the Everest 66000 rolls in at a cool $70, 000 @_@

 

[AcuDefTechGuy]

Great stuff. What does the owner think about these speakers and did he audition anything else before he purchased the Revel Salon 2? You know what you have to do now ADTG? Fund your Salon 2 purchase with selling of the DT's.

Phillip said he had auditioned the B&W 800D & Wilson Audio Shasha. He said the Shasha was "closer" to the Salon2 than the 800D, but still not as great as the Salon2.

He has never heard the BP7000SC.
I guess the BP7000 is just not high-class for him.

I would still want to audition the Linkwitz Orion speakers.

At this point, I just can't see any speakers sounding better than the Salon2, but you never know.

Phillip said that when he auditioned the Salon2, they were using Mark Levinson components, so he bought identical components because he didn't want to take any chances.

 

[Kitsum]

I'd like to hear the Salon 2 in the same room with the KEF 207/2, I'm not sure i could pick a winner, they are different but both great speakers from the reviews i read. Well, I can only afford $10K speakers made before the year 2000 for now.

 

[AcuDefTechGuy]

I had only a 20 minutes demo of these at a shop in Columbus about 8 months ago. They had them running with two JL Fathom subs set up as L/R in a similarly sized room.

The pair of Salon2 had so much tight bass that the sofa was shaking and the walls were shaking!

I love to place my hands on the walls just like I do at home with my speakers when "testing" the bass.

I can see using subs on a lot of tower speakers, but the 3 pair of speakers I've heard that do NOT need any kind of subs are the RBH T2/P, DefTech BP7000SC, and Revel Salon2.

The T2/P had the most bass output followed by the BP7000SC followed by the Salon2, but they are relatively close. All 3 pairs will shake the walls and sofas with absolute authority!

The Salon2s had the TIGHTEST bass, however, followed by the RBH T2/P.

And the Salon2s had the absolute best detail, resolution, and separation.

I've read A LOT of great reviews on A LOT of speakers, all claiming the same thing over and over again.

But the Salon2s are the real deal.

I still cannot believe I was able to clearly and distinctly hear that "background" bass guitar on "Hotel California' on the Salon2.

On the BP7000, I can hear it, but I have to totally focus on it or it will be lost in the background. And even with total focus, it is still lost for most of the song.

On the RBH T2/P & B&W 800D, that bass guitar was almost nonexistent - even LESS detail than the BP7000!

But with the Salon2, that background bass guitar was no longer in the background. It was right in front of me! My jaws dropped. I had goose bumps.

 

[MinusTheBear]

Here is an interview with Kevin Voecks, engineer behind the Revel Salon 2 discussing the design goals. This speaker is something else, it doesn't surprise me your thoughts on this speaker is nothing short of amazing.

http://www.stereophile.com/interviews/608kev/

 

[highfigh]

The pair of Salon2 had so much tight bass that the sofa was shaking and the walls were shaking!

I love to place my hands on the walls just like I do at home with my speakers when "testing" the bass.

I can see using subs on a lot of tower speakers, but the 3 pair of speakers I've heard that do NOT need any kind of subs are the RBH T2/P, DefTech BP7000SC, and Revel Salon2.

The T2/P had the most bass output followed by the BP7000SC followed by the Salon2, but they are relatively close. All 3 pairs will shake the walls and sofas with absolute authority!

The Salon2s had the TIGHTEST bass, however, followed by the RBH T2/P.

And the Salon2s had the absolute best detail, resolution, and separation.

I've read A LOT of great reviews on A LOT of speakers, all claiming the same thing over and over again.

But the Salon2s are the real deal.

I still cannot believe I was able to clearly and distinctly hear that "background" bass guitar on "Hotel California' on the Salon2.

On the BP7000, I can hear it, but I have to totally focus on it or it will be lost in the background. And even with total focus, it is still lost for most of the song.

On the RBH T2/P & B&W 800D, that bass guitar was almost nonexistent - even LESS detail than the BP7000!

But with the Salon2, that background bass guitar was no longer in the background. It was right in front of me! My jaws dropped. I had goose bumps.

I'm not sure why you call the bass 'background'. Have you tried moving around in your room to listen to that part of the song? Try reversing the polarity of the speaker wires, too. If it's that far in the background, you may have a phase cancellation or you may be sitting in a room mode that's either a null or negative amplitude. After reading your comments the first time, I made a point of listening to the bass (not much effort there, since I play guitar and bass) and since I played with the distance settings of my receiver recently, I have it dialed in pretty well- bass guitar has never sounded better here and that makes me very happy.

I'll have to ask the local rep if he still has the pair of Salon 2 that I listened to, briefly. He hadn't set them up properly and I didn't have much time to listen.