Julian, because of that signature of you we all have to look every day on those ugly things!! :D
Seriously, my dealer always has the Caldera's ready for audition. I like their sound a lot. :yes:

Coming back to Revel: heard them a couple of times and liked them too :thumbsup:

Julian.......Ah, yes. The pool house speakers.


http://i71.photobucket.com/albums/i1...g?t=1291313785

You're 100% right on with all of this....but I have to say it is kinda cool knowing that the industry/audiophiles generally agree that they're one of the best box speaker ever made and still are!! :thumbsup:

What was that you said about my ugly speakers?

And, Bart, I do love yours too! :yes::yes::yes:

http://www.hometheater.com/images/10...jpg?1282071962

Owning Salon 2's has been one the best things that I have experienced in this wonderful hobby. I listened to many speakers before I bought them,a lot of them were very good, but when I heard the Salon's for the first time I knew I was going to buy them.

The only downside, to me, is that you will never know how good these speakers can be if you don't feed them enough power. I initially had MC 501's driving them,and thought they sounded spectacular,until I had an opportunity to try amps that were much more powerful. I think that if you love the sound of your McIntosh gear, and why wouldn't you, that the 1.2kw amps are a must audition and certainly not overkill.

Your system and room are absolutely beautiful.I'll bet you can't wait to get home at night!!!

Amp suggestions?
 

Thank you. I actually work from home ... so I can sneak up stairs for a few minutes throughout the day...and I do!

Fortunately, I have a 200 watt McIntosh SS amp at home, and I swapped it out this morning. As I sat there listening, I thought, "hey, it's holding its own thank you very much". Bass seemed MUCH tighter. Then I swapped back in the 2301's. Oh boy...was I wrong. The 2301's are just MORE of everything (at the same volume). Voices jumped out of the speakers, soundstage was wider, deeper, bass was "more", but not as tight as my SS Mc amp.

I'm not sure it was a fair fight (200w Mc SS amp vs 300w Mc Tube Monoblocks)...but it was all I had.

My dealer is willing to swap my 2301's for McIntosh 1.2's (plus the difference of $3500) - but I'm not sure I can bring myself to part with the 2301's. According to my calculations, I should only need 256 w/channel to achieve 110.4 db. But I guess there are peeks in there of almost double 256? No, I'm not listening at 110.4 db (closer to 96) - but the meters are hovering at or over 300w.

The complex crossovers in the Salon 2's likely takes biamping out of the question I suppose. I would love to put a pair of 601's on the bottom and use the 2301's on the mid/high - but not sure I can? I have the MEN220 and can use its active crossover. I have a call into Revel to discuss (their support is outstanding). They worked with me for almost 2 months (inching things along) to get my speakers properly placed. That's patience.

So the main issue I'm having with the 2301's is that I think the Salon 2's are driving them WAY too hard.

Wow!! What a great rig!

I gave Salon 2's a couple of auditions, before I went with Wilson, but that was before I joined this forum, so I was not "playing follow the leader." ;) I think Salon 2 is a great speaker, but like all speakers they are subject to (1) personal taste, (2) system synergy, and (3) room interaction. Set up correctly, they sound great. :)

I absolutely agree,they are straining your amps. When I was talking about the need for more power, I wasn't talking about loudness, I was talking about
"control"!! These speakers are very demanding on an amplifier and they need the amps to grab them by the nuts and tell them whose boss.
I understand your reluctance to part with the 2301's, they are, by all accounts, a fantastic pair of amps, but if you love the speakers I think you should at least demo the 1.2kw's in your system!.

Salon 2's can definitely be bi-amped, there is a dealer in Dallas that has his Salons bi-amped with 4 Mark Levinson No.53's!!
The regional rep from Revel told me it was amazing !!

I spoke with the folks at Revel today. They advised power in the 500+ range, but cautioned against anything more than 750 watts (and then proceeded to give me a technical talk on overheating drivers....all very interesting). When I asked about bi-amping (active or passive), they weren't in favor of it. When I asked about 1200 watts vs 600 watts, they thought the 600 watt amps would be a better fit. Now I'm really confused!

When I spoke with my Mc dealer, he indicated the "sonic signature" of the 601's was different, and in his opinion, better than the 1.2's for the Salon 2's. Not sure if anyone here has an opinion on this...? What I don't want to do is end up with the 601's and wish I had more power. My back can't take much more carrying big a$$ amps up and down the stairs! :)

A friend of mine who knows a heck of a lot more than me about this stuff, told me "the Salon2 is difficult to drive. It really comes alive with a big amplifier behind it. The difficulty to drive is not just because of the lowish sensitivity; they have impedance dips and phase-angle swings that make it tough on an amplifier."

Maybe 4 601's biamped is the ultimate answer! :)