Avalon Eidolon Diamond vs Revel Salon 2

The Salon 2 camp is busy listening to MUSIC, not dissecting the sound of speakers, or the SOUND coming out of the speakers, which is what the Eidolon Diamonds are good at. The Salon 2 reminds you of music, not hi-fi. The Avalons are one of the several examples of speakers using the Accuton drivers that sound thin and resonant to many listeners. I never thought they could sound natural until I heard the Estalon. That's an example of a speaker using Accuton but with the naturalness that the Eidolon Diamond miss.

I own none of the speakers in my post so I have no built-in prejudice.

The Revels give you music. The Eidolon, sound. Big difference.

I owned the B&W 800 Signature in the past. Classical music was so much more natural than Avalon speakers. But B&W is very poor in cross overfilters. There is almost no depth, so I sold them. I still don't like the sound of Avalon. But this is a matter of personal taste. The thing I disslike most is the average touchable 3d image with very sharp individual focus of instruments and voices. Wenn you compare a Monitor Audio Platinum speaker with Avalon you know how big this difference is. And you can not go back to the average focus of instruments and voices anymore. A friend of mine had a concertroom with a Steinwaywing. A room for about 65 people. Here I learded how direct and small a voice or instrument sounds in real. I call this intimacy. When I hear Avalon speakers you are aware how much less focussed instruments and voices are and the lack of this intimacy in sound. I could not life with this with the differences in real in mind.

Commenting on Audiogon threads have, more often, become a pissing contest, or possibly a venue for those with an agenda. I would like to iterate the responsibility of commentators making overall assessments upon any one piece of equipment. I have heard Wilson speakers sound amusical within certain systems and absolutely magical in another. This has held true with several other assembled systems.
Genesis, Vandersteen's, Proac's, Tidals, YG's MBL's, Aerial's, Spendor's, Green Mountain, Venture's... with each the experience has offered a distinct presentation. Associated equipment, including cabling and isolation, typically varied; and, of course the space and room differed.
These contestable fusses about what sounds more real...Magico or Rockport...or fill in the mfg. is too often foundationless. It is in line with judging the quality of a live performance by the sound quality of the room. I usher a number of shows each year, with the opportunity to roam the theater. As vantage points change, so does the sound quality. Often, the sound is unacceptable. Denouncing the performers, I believe is poorly directed.
My objective in responding to Bo1972 is in defense of a speaker, I know from experience, is capable of impressing both audiophiles and music lovers. I also believe this to be true of most high and mid end systems...if the effort is put forth.

Siddh,

I agree wholeheartedly. There are plenty of Good brands out there that sound great. Many times on the Agon forums the conversation disintegrates into a pissing contest. I feel dealers should be upfront and tell agoners that they are dealers and that Caveats apply. You should never let someone who is only behind a computer typing words on a screen determine what sounds best to you. Go out and listen to the equipment. There are plenty of shows all across the country and with the current climate in high end audio many brick and mortar dealers should be salivating at the prospect of having interested parties in their showrooms.

Ptss, It's impossible to intelligently disagree with the subjective negative comments here regarding either of the speakers you're interested in.

First of all, both of these speakers systems are incredibly revealing of EVERYTHING upstream as well as is the room and their setup within that room.

Some years ago my initial encounters with Eidolons at shows and in showrooms were similar in some respects to what some have mentioned here. On three occasions I chose to purchase speaker that seemed more extended and vibrant than the Eidolon, which seemed sleepy and underwhelming in direct comparison in an unfamiliar environment.

Once home my choices never satisfied as I was always found myself listening to the system and not the music. I replaced cables and electronics in an effort to attain the cohesive musicality I wanted without success. Frankly, I was an uneducated listener.

I'm a working professional Bass player with a great deal of time spent recording. During a session in Los Angeles I was called on by a very famous music producer who asked me to record a simple twelve bar bass line on Upright for another project. I often ask people what they listen with at home. Interested in audio this producer invited us to his home. There I believe I heard ceramic Eidolons at a higher potential for the first time using unmastered mixes and much later, as I said in my earlier post above, at home.

The Eidolons sonic accuracy and musicality could be a very subjective topic. I have a great many unproduced track recordings of my Bass playing on 1/4" magnetic tape and digital files. I've used the digital files to audition other systems at shows and stores. So far the only other speaker that sounds musically correct to me is the Vandersteen Model 7. This could easily be a product of my ears comfort with the two speakers similar attention to time and phase in their design.

I recently switched back to tube amplification and Cardas cabling. I use Hypex nCores to power my Avalon two way studio monitors. Powering the Eidolons with the switching amplifiers offers a completely different presentation of high resolution and transparency.

Opinions can be very helpful if the context is clear. Beware of generalities and absolutes as there are simply far too many variables in this hobby. If you're ever fortunate enough to hear a system that speaks to you make note of every aspect of it as well as the room.

Have fun.