Thinking of Kef Blade 2 to replace Revel Salon 2

I heard the KEF Blades at RMAF and was underwhelmed. I don’t know if it’was the setup or not. Based on what I’ve read about the Paradigm Persona 9H and 7F they may be the speakers to listen to. I’ve heard Salon 2s several times and really like them. The Personas are said to be on the ruthless revealing side also, so if that’s would you prefer I suggest trying to audition them.

Ejlif,

First of all as a Blade dealer, we must appologize if you were not treated well by another dealer. Some dealers are great while others maybe not so. 

As per the Blades performance vs the Salon yes the Blades are better, how much better is up to personal experience.

We showed the Kef Blades at the New York Audio Show in 2012 and 2013 and when they were setup with good equipment, we were showing them with Chord reference gear, and the entire system was fantastic. 

The Blades threw a gigantic sound stage, with thrilling dynamics and room filling bass, the top end was crystal clear and the speakers are extremely coherent.

The Blades have a number of advantages over the Salons, first of all every driver is made out of the exact same material so the speakers sound very coherent.

The Blades are a true point source and the wave guide that Kef has built into the midrange ensures a very wide panoramic soundstage. 

The big Blades when they coupled with the room had a bass response that sounded like you were in a club, and when you increased the volume the sound just got louder and cleaner.

We went over and heard the $10k YG Acoustics they were not better just alot more expensive.

The Blades are a true destination speaker, and they represent a lot of what is possible in audio.

If you are ever in our neck of the woods, we would be deighted to demo them for you.

Dave and Troy
Audio Doctor NJ

I heard the KEF Blade 2 at RMAF and LOVED them.  As a matter of fact. I told my wife who also heard them that  they were the first speaker I have heard that would make me want to sell my GE Triton References for.  I liked that it wasn't as ruthlessly revealing as other speakers and they sounded great from whatever position I was in.  You owe it to yourself to listen to them.

I haven't heard the Blades much except at one audio show.  I heard the most realistic presentation of piano that I've ever heard from a speaker!

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