Revel Salon2s: Seeking Advice


All,

 

There's a closeout on new Revel Salon2s locally and it's a speaker that's always intrigued me and been widely praised for characteristics I like in a speaker (detail, neutrality, punches above its weight, good midrange and bottom end). My concern is if it would be a lateral move based on my current speakers so I wanted to ask your opinions.

 

Current setup: Focal Kanta 3s, Parasound JC5, Pass Labs xp22, Denafrips T+, Lumin U1 + X1 PSU, great cabling, dedicated 20amp circuits, etc.

 

Any thoughts on if I should look into the Revels further versus what I currently have? Tangentially I have also considered trying tube pres but consider speakers as the foundation of the system and don't want to pass up this up unnecessarily. TIA!

christianb5s4

Revel’s Ultima series speakers (Salons and Studios) are uniformly outstanding. I have owned Studios for two decades, which are very similar to the Salons but with one fewer bass driver. I use two mono 600 watt power amplifiers, and, at 85+ db levels, these Studios rarely call for more than six watts.

While I am a huge fan of Revel Ultima speakers, I, regrettably, urge not to buy the Salon IIs for one compelling reason: spare parts availability. Over the past year, I have thrown away over $17,000 of these speakers because drivers had failed and no replacements were still available. That was really painful!

christianb5s4, Was this going to be a purchase of opportunity or are you looking to upgrade the Kanta 3's? 

Demo is a must to decide- it’s very subjective.  
Probably most would prefer the Revel’s over the Focals, but only you can decide what you like.