Revel Salon 2 vrs Kef 207/2

Part of the what is going on with the Revel's and in-room placement is that their drivers are matched speaker to speaker to very tight tolerances. So it is relatively easy to put them in your room and just sort of eyeball the placement and they will sound good/acceptable but I have found, owning the Studio2's, that very small changes in position are audible. So when set-up right you can hear really deeply into the recording.

When I worked at Legacy Audio we would get a pallet of Eton mid-range drivers in and they would be tested for voice-coil alignment issues but prior to Legacy's purchase by Allen Organ their freq. resp. was not tested. The crossovers would be adjusted individually so that a 'pair' of speaker gave relatively the same response. That method works 'ok' unless you need to replace a driver, it is really impossible to reach the same level of precision as the bigger mfg'ers.

I started matching the mid-range drivers as it made my job easier (less adjustments needed) when it came time to adjust the crossover and match a pair of speaker to one another, (one of the things I did when employed at the Allen Organ plant in Macungie PA to every Legacy speaker that came out of PA at the time).

Anyhow sorry going off on a tangent but with firms like Revel or KEF or B&W or JM Labs that make their own drivers they have a significant advantage as they really can match drivers with in fractions of db instead of being in the 2,3,4 db off at a given frequency. Wilson does not have that benefit even though they work closely I sure with their vendors it is not the same thing. This was part of what drove Dunlavy, their rejection rate of drivers from Vifa that didn't cut the mustard was something crazy like 60-80% per pallet. Legacy was more of the 'use every part of the animal' mentality. I have no idea what their current practice is but that is what was happing in 1999.

There is a reason for the cost of some speakers, tight tolerances cost a lot of $$$

The way any speaker interacts with a room is unpredictable. Pkoh70 may have found the Revels more placement sensitive than the KEF, but that doesn't necessarily mean such will always or even usually be the case. The reviews of the Salon 2 I've seen don't indicate they are particularly picky in this regard. Certainly not in Wilson territory. In any event, in my view all this is immaterial. What is important is whether or not a speaker works in your room, not how much work it might take to find the optimal spot.

I'm lucky enough to to have a rectanglar room with a vaulted ceiling. I moved by Studio 2's around for a few weeks until I placed them using the 1/5 rule. That is, with the center of the speaker front 1/5 of the room width from the side and 1/5 of the room length from the back wall. After my jaw got off the ground I installed the spikes and have never enjoyed music as much. Placement had a huge impact on firming up the low end. No more boom, just a tight and controlled bass foundation.

The Cardas website has some very instructive comments on speaker placement. While I'm tempeted to try the 1/3 rule, logistics make it impossible for me to move the speakers that far from the back wall.

ancient thread but both speakers are becoming affordable to the working class music lover. System matching, room\room placement, personal preference all matter the biggest factor is that Revel and Kef I own 107/2, 105/3 from kef and salon 1 from revel and both companies use their $$$ in the R&D dept first marketing less, solid engineering means years of trouble free enjoyment. BTW Focal is making some beautiful music for $10k and less.