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Warning for Revel lovers

I have read these forums for some years, and have never contributed,  but feel I really must let people in on what is happening at Revel. I ordered a pair of Salon2's  in March '21 through the great folks down at USA Tube Audio in Scottsdale,  who I can unreservedly recommend for excellent customer service. After ordering the Salons, Revel estimated their delivery at the end of April. When that date approached the delivery was changed to end of June. Then it was changed to August, then November, then February.  '22. Just found out the new delivery date. It is August '22. Well, you might say, this is supply chain, pandemic related. Read on. During my year-long wait, Paul and Charlie down at USA Tube several times tried to find out what the story was for the delays. I also wrote to Revel to try to get updates; I had sent them 50% down to reserve the speakers. The most either I or USA Tube received back was a one or two terse sentences which shed no light on what the issues were effecting delivery targets. During this time, I sent some equipment in to Audio Research for factory restoration. It took them 6 months to get the job done, but they were excellent at keeping me in the loop, and I always knew when to expect them to finish the job. Just last week I canceled my order to Revel. I will receive a refund, but there was not one word from them apologizing or attempting to explain what happened. I have since ordered a pair of Aspen FR30's from PS Audio, and have already been contacted by them several times for updates and videos of in home installations. Anyway, they are delivering the first couple of pallets as I write this, and somehow are able to honor their commitments to their customers. Though I will have to wait for mine, I have high confidence they will arrive at my house when Paul and company say they will.

 

The point of my ramble is that the high end community is rather small, with many excellent companies competing for for business within it. It is sad to note that one of the absolute best, Revel, is now under the corporate umbrella of Harmon, which is under the corporate umbrella of Samsung. They have not been represented at the last two T.H.E. shows in Long Beach, home state for Revel. They sent me an email back in January, announcing a change in their management, along with no information on the status of my speakers. They appear to have had no interest in keeping a buyer of their flagship product either happy or informed, for an entire year. I am not a wealthy man. I've been trading and buying audio products for almost 40 years, and was excited to lay down a large commitment in capital for some amazing speakers. I am assuming that sometime in the recent past Revel, after having been absorbed by its corporate overlords, was "restructured" (read gutted), and is not currently equipped to supply a quality product to discerning audiophiles. It also appears that the parent company is content mass-marketing cell phones and "speakers that rock", but sound the same whether playing MP3, CD quality, or high rez. If anyone out there is thinking of sinking a bunch of money into a high end speaker, Caveat emptor! P.S. I own a pair of original Salons, and have always enjoyed Revel's products. Very sad

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lordmelton's avatar
lordmelton
877 posts
 

I guess the good folks over at ASR are crying into their stats now that Revel has shat the bed and screwed the pooch......lol!

sunilkhanal1
1 posts
 

I had been considering getting a pair of Salon2s myself, and was a bit concerned after reading this post. However, I just recently received my pair and felt like someone thinking about buying might benefit from hearing my experience. When I placed an order in late August 2022, my dealer said a delivery was expected in December. It was a long wait, to be sure, but the speakers did get delivered in December. Unfortunately there was shipping damage (someone in the delivery chain drove a forklift blade through the speakers) to the speakers - but Harman was actually quite prompt in replacing them. So overall, it was a long wait and some bad luck, but I am overall happy with how Harman handled the process. 

The speakers are superlative. Anyone getting them won’t be regretting the decision. 

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kingbarbuda
514 posts
 

Does anyone know of a brand whose products and customer support improved after the company was purchased by a larger company?

jaymark's avatar
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jaymark
510 posts
 

Thing is there is so much variability in product availability.  Service for high end gear by manufacturers is also highly variable.  So there are examples available at either extreme and everything in between.  I will definitely more strongly consider a company's service record than in the past when purchasing their product new or even on the used market.  A good experience I had was with PassLabs.  I had purchased one of their amps used and about 18 months later it quit powering up.  My first query was not answered but my second one was.  I got a box from them shipped it and they repaired it for next to nothing.  I did inquire as to what they fixed but got no response back.  Nevertheless, compared to my experience with some other reputable companies, I rate this a good experience.  Maybe I am grading on the curve.

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steve59
1,760 posts
 

I bought a demo pair of salon 2's from a dealer for an amazing price because they had done a show. Black with no blemishes for less than 1/2 list price, cash no tax!

The reason for my post is to say even at the price it was so much more than I was comfortable spending that I was emailing support with supply questions and nearly everything that kept me up at night. Not only was Revel service prompt with Emails and when 9 months later I decided to resell them a Revel tech actually called me on my phone and patiently answered all my questions. I was concerned about reselling a product that might be flawed in any way, so, this guy under the direction of KV took all the time I needed to look up the inventory of every driver, durability of the titanium drivers, he subjected them to every over the counter product with the intent of damaging them. I don't know what to say? How the mighty have fallen:(

I read KV and his brain trust are no longer part of samsung/revel so keep an eye out for their next start up. It is interesting to me that Revel was basically and independent under the HK umbrella that produced nothing of their own and with everything being outsourced margins are smaller and supply and demand aren't in the control of the parent company.  

The salon2 will need 500 watts per channel to operate as designed and don't be afraid to buy 'slightly used' as they're one of the more bulletproof models out there.

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