Thinking of Kef Blade 2 to replace Revel Salon 2

Ricredi the Blades are very demanding of setup, Kef is usually famous for setting up pretty mediocre demos.

Most of the time they do not plan real matching gear that is usually used with $20-30k speakers so their sound quality at ahows is many times underwelming.

We should the Blades with $30k 480 watt monoblocks and a $20k preamp. One Kef Blade showing was with the Parasound JC 1 we had the jC 1 and compared them to the pair of amplifiers from Chord that were $15k monoblocks, and at the time the JC 1 were $10k the difference in sound between the JC 1 and the Chord monos wasn’t subtle and the next up monoblocks just took it up another notch.

So we would say that Kef like many manufactuers doesn’t necessarily do shows well.

Same thing with Paradigm, The Personas a $35k pair of speakers was shown at one Axpona show with a $4,500.00, Anthem integrated amplifier, we have the same amp and it is a good sounding, competant product but we would never recomend such a setup, you don’t sell a $35k set of speakers with a $4.5k amp, which is also a dac, it just normally isn’t done that way, most of the times your electronics cost as much to double the price of the speakers not 1/8th the cost!

So the sound quality of that demo, of course would be highly compromised compared to what gear you would normally use with such a set of speakers.

We use a $19k amp, with a $16k preamp, and digital sources which range from $8k to $35k so our set of Persona 9H sound magnificent.

The best way to judge any of these uber sets of speakers is at a competent dealer who has shown the care and respect that all speakers of this class deserve.

Dave and Troy
Audio Doctor NJ

Dipole planar speakers generally sound more alike throughout a room than do point source speakers. A few weeks ago I attended the premiere demo of the new Magneplanar 30.7, and Wendell Diller deliberately did not provide seating, instead encouraging all attendants to move about the room. The room was on the large size (maybe 15' x 25' with a 12' ceiling), and the sound the 30.7 created was very uniform throughout the room. Some people don't have the 5' behind the speaker that planars really require for best sound, however.

If you’re at all open to other options, a nice pair of Joseph Audio Pearl 2s just came available here. One of the best I’ve ever heard at a show and winner of more than one best of show awards. The fact that they very rarely show up here seems to indicate they sound good at home too. They don’t give up anything to the Salons on the bass side, and although I wouldn’t call them ruthlessly revealing they certainly do not mask detail. Imaging and soundstage were among the best I’ve ever heard along with pulling a superior disappearing act, and as they have good dispersion characteristics they also image well off axis. Anyway, given your stated goals and that the Pearls just popped up I thought I’d give them a mention.  They likely won't last long here so if interested I'd act sooner rather than later.  Sure wish I could afford'em.  Best of luck.

If only I had room for JA Pearls....