Revel Ultima Salon 2's vs B&W 802d's

First of all I must apologize to Audiofeil for my remark. I was caught alittle by surprise that he referred the 802D as sounding (overall) unnatural. Afterall, this is a forum for civil discussion,not verbal attack. You said the mids sounded alittle peaky. The 4K peak you mentioned is only about 3db from a graph I have seen. Yes vocals are important to me, but what I noticed about the 802D is its lack of edge and sibilance in this regard. The vocals sound very natural to me. I'm a bit confused about the oddness of the soundstage you mentioned. The soundstage is upfront but still having width and depth. The placement of instruments and vocals on the soundstage seem very stable and natural to me. Many speakers have a deep soundstage at the expense of sounding distant and lacking dynamics. The lower priced Vandersteens come to mind in this regard. I also like many other aspects of the B&W's. They have a very natural lower midrange timbre that I think does justice to percussion. Piano comes to mind.

I do agree everyone likes what they like, that's why there are so many different brands and types of speakers out there to choose from. Although people can get the wrong impression of a product if proper matching of components is ignored or an otherwise great sounding system is put into a poor acoustically treated room. I believe these are the most common reasons for a person either liking or dis-liking a given product. And sometimes a person will dismiss
a product simply because it sounds merely "different" to what they're use to.

As I said before, I have listened to The older Revel Salons,but I prefer the B&W's. Just my personal preference.

Don't sweat it Mr_m.

Different strokes for different folks.

Speakers are the most "personal" component in any system. If it makes you feel better I'm not a big fan of Usher and Eggleston either.

Flame away boys and girls.

Audiofeil, it's nice to see there are others that feel the same way.

Mr m wrote "I'm a bit confused about the oddness of the soundstage you mentioned"

It seemed odd to me and I am not sure why, I will try and describe what I heard but it was just one demo of the 802Diamond. I demoed the older 802D about 5 times a few years ago before I passed on them. I have also owed the 803s and still have a pair of 703s in the second bedroom system.

Anyway the soundstage (just my opinion) sounded a little off. It was like the mids, highs, and bass were on different planes. The mids projected forward while the highs were back a little farther and the bass bloomed through out the room as bass does. The sound stage seemed very small in stage when directly compared to the Sophia 3. Now the 802diamond did throw a very DEEP soundstage but it's width seem narrow. The stability was like a soap bubble to me. When I really focused it was beautiful but if I got distracted I lost it. On the other hand the Sophia's sound stage was not near as fragile.

I noticed it most on female vocals and much less on male vocals. Female vocals seemed to stage more narrow than male vocals. It made me think that the 6" driver was crossed over a little to high and it was starting to beam (just a guess, i really have no idea). Room/side reflection will play a big part here.

OK I've still got to get "extended" time, but the other day I got a spare hour to listen. Got to say that IMO the Revels really kill the 802's. The 802's are great speakers but in an A/B test the 802's sound like the Revels just with a couple of sheets draped over the speaker. IOW's if you took a blanket and spread it over the Revels you would get the 802's. BTW I still like the 802's - always have always will. I still remember the first time I heard them.