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Revel Ultima Studio 2??

I have my heart set on these speakers based on reviews and aesthetics but unfortunately up here in Portland Oregon there are no dealers that carry the Ultima 2 line. I am keeping my eye on Echo Audio hoping that a used pair shows up that I can actually listen to before dropping 8K plus on without hearing them first. I would be grateful if there is anyone in the area that has the Studios, Gems, or the Salons that would let me listen to their set up so I could hopefully confirm these are the next speaker for me and jump on the next piano black pair that shows up on Audiogon. Just for reference I currently have a 5.2 set up with Aperion Verus grands for the front three, jl f112 and svs sb 13 ultra for the subs, Emotiva XPA-2 and ERC-3, and Pioneer Elite SC-61 as the receiver. I feel like my set up sounds amazing but find myself with the upgrade bug and just wondering how much better things could really sound with the Revels. Any input would be greatly appreciated by this relatively new audiophile.

Scott
scottfields1979
shakeydeal
979 posts
 
I don't think going from a single chasis Emotiva amp to monoblocks is going to solve your issues. It's still an Emotiva amp. And as long as you insist on concentrating on mixing music with HT, you are never going to get quality two channel performance. My two cents.....

Shakey
frozentundra
207 posts
 
Great Speakers;

The delicacy-detail resolution of the tweeters is spectacular 
Electronic’s DO make a big difference 
Amp especially!!

I listened to Revel F208’s with my old Peachtree ICE amp and pre at home .
The pairing was very fatiguing and low on bass power
( darn near horrible)

Be prepared to spend some money on electronics after buying, but the Salon’s are capable of being the “final speakers you want to own”

Good luck in this strange hobby 

jeff
frozentundra
207 posts
 
Oops:

I run the Studio2 into the mid 90 dB with the Pass XA30.5 amp
I rarely see the needle move (30 watts class A ) and 130 Watts ab 

My guess if your amp is 150 Watts, you will have more than enough

The 200 Watt ICE amp would not play as loud as the Pass

Huge power reserves is somewhat overrated among our elitist audio group, unless you’re filling a concert auditorium.

jeff

ps: I’ve listened to Emotiva amps
      Pretty nice for price but the high end is not real delicate, more a digital type highs
     Just my opinion 
      Great speakers , though


jeffersondavis
31 posts
 
Compared to the Revel PerformaBe they have less "air" due to the tweeter's off-axis response brick walling past 8KHz. It's going to be a little dark for people who prefer a brighter speaker.
steve59's avatar
Ag insider logo xs@2x
steve59
1,767 posts
 
I had the salons and the salon2's and they're very good speakers with excellent support so fear not and buy used. I use a Hegel h360 now, b4 that was an anthem 225i and a parasound A21. The speakers both v1 and v2 let me hear the difference between amps. The gent I sold the A21 to replaced the emotiva's with it and loved the improvements, personally I find the Hegel to be more involving and better in the mids and the Mark Levinson 400watt mono's we're even better. I agree with others and suggest that you buy more affordable speakers if you plan on keeping the emotiva's. ATI has some high power class d amps that salon owners vouch for. Find a dealer that will let you bring home amps and when you find 'the one' offer him 50% for the demo, he'll say no but it will get things rolling. Your amps will sell fast.
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