Better speaker value here?

Value is a word rarely heard in these forums. I have heard both, as well as the Studio 2. I think the Salon 2 is better than the 1 in almost all respects, particularly the mids and highs. The clarity of the 2 is really better. The Studio 2 has slightly less low bass and bass dynamics than the Salon and may be the "best buy" of all.

I would pay $10k for the Salon 2 way before I would pay $5k for the 1. That being said, for similar money to the Salon 2, I preferred the Magico V3 and bought a second hand pair after seriously auditioning the Revels and Sophia II/III.

Thanks Teeshot. Exactly the kind of response I was after. What was it about the V3's that you preferred to the Salon2's? Also, the speakers will need to pull dbl duty in my HT. Does Magico even make a center channel?

I do not know if magico makes a center channel. The magicos, to a degree or two more than the Revels, sound very uncolored to my ears. The Revels sounded very good to me, with excellent bass, but more colored; the Sasha II sounded very colored to me. The magico has less low bass but what is there is very tuneful and differentiated.