Thinking of Kef Blade 2 to replace Revel Salon 2

@yyzsantabarbara   We have similar circumstances. I have a four year old and my downtime for listening (in peace) is late at night. : )

Right now I'm listening at an average SPL of 51dB which is soft conversation level and the music is very enjoyable and fully rendered.

I auditioned the T+A PA 3100 HV for six weeks in home against a number of amplifiers. I've had my new unit in system for six weeks now.  I'll be posting a full review once I am totally comfortable with it in my system. 

It is definitely worth your consideration. Audiotroy's descriptions of this integrated amp are consistent with my findings.

David_Ten and YYzsantabarbarbara, yes the T+A gear does sound fantastic on the Blades, we have yet to find a speaker that the T+A gear doesn't sound suberb on.

The T+A gear is very natural sounding, with good top to bottom performance, the top end is detailed with a warm liquid midrange, the bass is a bit on the slightly warm side, and the dyanmics are excellent. Gear throws a huge soundstage. 

Couple that with a non exisitant noise floor, reasonable price point, superb construction and a great feature set and you can see why we endorse the line. We had the older C 800 Luxman preamp which we tested vs some of the other preamps we had and it was not better than the CJ GAT and a few others. it was nice and the construction was good but did not sound as magical as the T+A gear. 

We haven't tested the lastest Luxman but our findings with their last series of products including the 20 watt Class A integrated the gear was excellent but was still bettered by a few of our other brands vs the T+A gear which we haven't found yet another brand that we have tested against which was better that wasn't 3 times the price.

We tested the T+A HV power amp  and the power supply vs a $90k set of Boulder amps, and the Boulder mono blocks were a bit better in clarity and soundstaging the T+A was better in the bass, and this was an unfair comparision, of  a $32K stereo amp not T+A best setup vs a set of MONO amps, we can only imagine the difference running a set of the T+A amps in mono. 

We won't say that the T+A gear is the best on the planet, but when you look at all the products do well, for the price and the sound quality you can see why we endorse the line so highly. 

For the record we tested against, CJ ART/GAT a tube setup,  the Thrax Sparticus and Mono amps, the Boulder a $90k set of amps, the Krell MRA $125k flagship Krell amps, Devialet D 400  Monos, Electrocompaniet, and Chord Monoblocks and preamp combo.

Dave and Troy
Audio Doctor NJ

Is there a significant difference between the Blades and Blade 2s in a room that is 20' x 26'. Does the Blades sound better and/or require a subwoofer? 

The two speakers sound very similar, the Blade 1 is the bigger of the two and has a bigger overall image and more deep bass. 

Image wise the larger Blade is going to sound more like the big image you get from the Monitors Audio. 

Our demo room is exactly 26 long 20 wide with a 10 foot celing the Blades sound fantastic in that room. 

Dave and Troy
Audio Doctor NJ Kef Blade Dealer

Back to the original topic.  I did get the Blade 2s and the Salon 2s are now sold.  Overall I am happy with the switch.  I was amazed to hear that the Blade 2s completely dominate the Salon 2s in the bass in my room.  I was a little worried that the Blade 2s wouldn't cut it in the bass.  Not the case, they are better over here.  To me the Blade 2s are as good in the tweeter as the Salon 2.  Just not the same transparency and air. That Salon 2 has a great tweeter!  Everything else about the Blade 2 I like better than the Salon 2 though so it's a trade up in my opinion and the looks of the speaker is better to my eye as well.  Such a cool and futuristic art piece that looks great in my room which matters to me a lot.  I can imagine that the Uni Q driver has many mixed opinions about it.  Overall I think the speaker plays music well and I've had many thrilling moments sitting in front of it.