Revel Salon 2 vrs Kef 207/2

I have lived with many speakers through my years of pouring my savings to upgrading my systems, but nothing, I mean nothing has satisfied me more than the sound that the new Kef 207/2 makes. I have lived with Wilson WP 7, Thiel 3.7, Dynaudio c4, Harbeth SHL5, B&W Nautilus, ATC 50 or whatever and so on..They were all respectful speakers, but always, something seemed to fall short. My last audition before choosing the KEF 207.2 was between Salon 2 and KEF 207.2, because both of them were so highly reviewed by Stereophile and TAS. In end, I felt they were both extremely superior speakers at their price points, but KEF 207.2 excels above Salon 2 on several points. They go very very loud without ever getting irritating or loosing balance. Also the mids which almost accounts for over 80% of the music we listen to, KEF is so much more smooth and natural while being as transparent, detailed as you would want them to be. Top to bottom, nothing irritates you, and the highs on KEF is truly "high-end" high, being able to go extreme without ever getting edgy. Finally, the body of instrument has real weight and heft true to real sound and never will sound thin, which may happen to such detailed and trasparent speakers. To sum up, super balanced with finesse. You will find Revel Salon 2 superior in it's own right, but for years of listening to many different types of music, most likely you will be better off with KEF 207.2. However the taste of music is down to each individual and you would eventually have to audition with your own ears.
In these days where some speakers are reaching well over 100k, I think KEF 207.2 is well positioned and more people will appreciate the high value of these speakers when they hear what these speakers can deliver. In my country I am blessed with options to audition many high-end speakers in one location..unfortunately I have lived in US and I know that option is not readily there. I hope you can audtion them close by to where you live, then you would know where I am coming from. They will prove shortcut to getting to audio bliss without wasting $$$ upgrading and changing systems to match to your need. ;-)

While I find the previous post thoughful and well reasoned, my thoughts are slightly different. Once you start looking at speakers at this level your room and equipment take on greater and greater significance. Dealer demos are next to worthless as a tool to determine long term satisfaction. Only after you've heard the speakers in your room with your stuff LONG TERM can one be sure. Even small changes in placement can have a big impact on the ultimate result, the best placement can take some time to find.

Both the KEF and the Revel are world class speakers. I don't think anyone can say with absolute percision one is materially superior. Personal preferance on sound priorities along with associated equipment and the environment are variables that make comparing speakers at this level difficult at best. What I find interesting is the description of the strong points of the KEF match almost exactly what I'd use to describe by Studio 2's.

One speaker worth shortlisting that is priced at $21K right between sasha and kef is the Verity Audio Parsifal Ovation. I replaced my Revel Studio's with the Parsifal Encore's. If you're listening to smaller acoustic smaller ensembles this speaker is hard to beat with true "midrange magic". They are also the smallest footprint of any true high end speaker I have ever come across. On the downside of the small size factor is they raise the question what on earth justifies their pricetag, but based on sound quality they are very competitive in its priceclass.

Stereophile reveiwed both . Kef feb 08 ... Salon june 08 ... They were both very well liked , and tied for speaker of the year . Iv'e heard both and refer the Salons . Although I'm biased as I own the Salon 1s, and would not part with them for anything .

egrady, I agree with you on your points. That's why I have even higher regards for the KEF 207.2. They sounded right in dealer demo, and they sound equally right at home. They are not too picky on placement (due to Uni-q) I guess, The sweet spot area is big (you don't need to sit straight at the center of listening position nervously) the system matching wise, you don't need monster power to drive them (fit with right cabling) you can easily configure the sound to your liking. Given it's sheer size and given it is really a full-floor standing speakers, I was bit worried about the bass control..but the KEFs deliver powerful but clean, tight bass that cross over to the high well balanced that you don't need to worry about the bass bloat. It was almost like a "plug and play"...They will sound good right out of box. I said in my previous post that for long term satisfaction at home, KEF 207/2 will be a safer bet. These are some of the reasons why. I just know that world-class speakers Salon 2 are, when brought home, I will have much more headaches to deal with to get them right. Wrong placement/room size, wrong system match, wrong cable match upstream, you got yourselves speakers that could potentially fatigue you right out. then you got yourselves over $20k headache. These are the observations from my 20 years of painstaking experiences. However, once again, these comments are personal.. My ears prefer clean, well balanced sound but with much emphasis on the mid, how musical they sound while still being detailed, transparent, and dynamic. Anyway, shopping for a new speaker is always an enjoyable experience so do yourselves good and try as many speakers before deciding..It amazing the # of choices you have out there nowadays...Personally I would always lean toward manufacturers that design and manufacture their own drivers, over those who outsource to Scanspeak or Audio Tech. or other less known driver manufacturers.