Revel Salon 2 versus WP 8

at the end of the day it does come down to personal preferences, in the past I have liked, and still do like the wilsom max2s, and the wilson sofias, i think overall
they are a great speaker, but after hearing the new revels the wilsons have a much harder time justifying there existence, the revels sound much less colored from top to bottom , with much better driver intergration than any wilson I have heard, and yes I do think the wilson tweeter is voiced a little on the bright side, but your tasts may differ... I say this not to offend any wilson owner , or anyone else for that matter . I think that you can put a great sounding system together with wilsons, I also can say that for right now the revels are without question the best speaker I have heard regardless of cost, and I have
heard some very expensive speakers out there !

Brianmgrarcom, I see in your system you have McIntosh electronics with your Wilsons. That is a combination you don't usually see and I've wondered why as I imagine they do very well together. Obviously you think so, can you offer a little insight?

Jamnesta, for me it has been a wonderful pairing; this is the longest I have went without making changes. I tried a Jeff Rowland Concentra II at one point, hoping to recoup some money, but the McIntosh was far better with the Wilson's. This surprised me a bit because I used a Concentra II with B&W N803's with great success in the past.

I don't understand people saying the W/P 8 is on the bright side... If anything it is rolled off gradually as it approaches 20KHz. When people say something like that, I tend to assume they haven't listened to the W/P8 in a decent environment and/or are basing their remarks on hearsay.

Now, if you truly want to hear a bright speaker, check out a B&W Diamond tweeter speaker. Personally, bright doesn't bother me, as I used to own the 802D which had excellent highs (attack and decay were extremely accurate, more so than anything else I've heard), though it was lacking in mid-bass and mid-range clarity. Those speakers were a bit bright, but I definitely wouldn't call the W/P 8 bright... If you like, you can look at my in-room response measurements in my System thread. There is an overall excellent gradual decline in the 1/6th octave in-room frequency response measurements (both in the singular measurement, which was at a lower "normal listening" volume for me, and the overlay, which was taken at a considerable increase in volume).

Given, it is a well designed room in terms of acoustic treatment (Rives Audio), but if you are spending ~$28,000+ on a speaker, you should at least be treating the 1st reflection points in your listening environment as well as randomly adding absorption and diffusion in order to kill slap echo. The only thing I can imagine that would spark a comment that the W/P8s are too bright, is listening to the W/P8s in a bad environment. In such a situation, only an excessively rolled off speaker will not sound bright...

Since I had a chance to audition both Salon2 and W/P8 I can say that both speakers are good. Honestly, I like Salon2 little bit more. For all seeking speaker in this class check out new KEF Reference 207/2 as well. It is really as good as John Atkinson said in his review.
Regarding W/P8 sounding bright... To my ears they sound little bit "hot" in lower treble(not high treble). I even personally discussed that "quality" with Peter Mcgrath on one of his presentation of W/P8s(he setup the system with W/P8s on that presentation)... So, we can asume that prominent lower treble is Wilson sonic signature.

Regarding Escalante Fremonts check out review in February issue of Stereophile... I audition Fremonts as well and was not that impressed with their sound.