Revel Salon 2 with Pass Labs amps

Duddleston has been getting right for several years now.
First with the Focus SEs, then the Whisper XD , then the Signature and now the Aeris.
From the Aeris to the Helix they remove the room from the equation period!
Looking at the specs at first glance the Salon 2s might be close to the Focus SE but certainly not in the same league as the Whisper or Aeris.
When you buy the Whispers they fly their tech guy in to tune them.
Not much to get wrong.
I agree about the Wilson/B&W comparison too clinical for me.
Plus B&W is 70% hype 30% product.
If you haven't heard the XDs you owe it to yourself.
Just listening to them now with Big Sam's Funky Nation its like a live performance.

I did hear both the Legacy Focus SE and Whispers when auditioning speakers last year (and ended up with Salon 2s). I actually preferred the Focus SE to the Whispers, which I thought was surprisingly bland and overly polite.

When compared to the Salon 2s I found the following: the Whispers are similar in that you can get away with less than ideal room placement - I moved the ones I auditioned around to several spots and they didn't lose much or get the room too involved when put in tight spots. The Salon 2s however are significantly more transparent, create a wider and deeper soundstage, and have better driver integration. They also provide the low end weight the Whispers don't, and are faster and more dynamic.

I'm sure some might prefer the more "polite" sound of the Whispers, but regardless of personal preference, the claim that Salon 2s aren't in the same league is utterly laughable fanboy talk.

Now, the Focus SE: I liked them quite a bit more than the Whispers and actually thought them a solid bargain for the price (I also listened to Paradigm S3s in that price range and liked the Focus SEs much more). The drivers were reasonably well integrated and they had the low end weight the Whispers oddly lacked. But the big problem with them was that they had poor treble dispersion and a tiny sweet spot. Once I stood up from the listening chair, I lost at least 5 db from the top end. Wasn't gonna work for me, as my system is in a 28X16 room that doubles as my office and I don't like to be tied to my chair all day long. Too bad, as it crimped an otherwise very good speaker. Maybe Duddleston can research ways to improve on that.

Fanboy talk I think not.
If you liked the Focus more than the Whisper there was something fundamentally wrong.
I can see why you weren't impressed.
The room is the sweet spot.
As for bass slam there are several pieces it took weeks to get used to the slam.
It literally scared the shite out of me even though I knew what was coming.
They do it all from the shimmer of a symbol to the thunder of a tympani.
My room is a 16' x 24' with a horrible 12" x 24 " built out corner and a sloped 16' cathedral ceiling.
The back eight feet of the room is only an eight foot ceiling to boot.
Plus their is curved staircase on the one wall.
The sweet spot is pretty much the same through the room now.
I can't stress enough the importance of having a Legacy tech set the speakers to the room.
He spent a day and a half calibrating them with a mic and wave analyzer.
BTW which should come in the price from your retailer.
They also store a copy of your settings as well as giving you one.
Initially I thought I made a mistake with the Whispers(prior to room calibration )because the base was so much warmer and defined on the Focus SE.
My friend a longtime audiophile and said to me be patient. To prove his point after the Whispers were set to the room he disconnected one of the them.One Whisper presented as much sound as two Focus SEs.
The only down side to the Whispers is that they are cable whores. That and it is paramount to use good quality one piece Y splitters from the processor.
Initially we used adapters because of my impatience.
as I type this I am in the back corner of the room with very nice imaging.