I share both your sentiments on the sound, and the experience listening to Shangri-La - I play it frequently.

Revel forum is dormant! It's just you and me Karl!

Yeah, the brand just doesn’t generate much buzz. Harman hasn’t done much to build retail excitement. They’re too busy making boukou bucks partnering with automotive manufacturers. I get great pricing because of it though.

I listen to my F52s and C32 everyday. They sound great in my application and keep on working. Can’t ask for more.

I went downstairs last night and Tidal was working! It was around 10:00 pm and the next time I looked at the clock it was 1:30. The Salon and Salon2's are so much more $$$ than my previous speakers and while the Beethovens, f52's, R105/3's and R107/2's were no slouches they all sounded more alike than different when it comes to putting music in the room with a couple boxes, the beethovens were very intimate speakers and could pull me into the soundstage enough to disregard the shortcomings. The salon2's I have installed are so different in their presentation it still startles me how good they are! These speakers have been most rewarding to room placement and moving my chair an inch can snap the stage into place. Zep, The Band, Traffic, Rolling stones, The Who, CS&N, and The XX played last night and I probably could have gone on til' sunrise enjoying each piece of music sometimes dancing in my chair(not pretty)happy i'm not wishing for more bass, more detail, loudness, etc. All the PM'd speakers left me wishing for something despite thoroughly enjoying them while 4 months in and a day at Axpona and I still sit captivated and amazed during the listening sessions with my Salon2's.

Interesting about some of your previous speakers, Steve. I've had both R105/3s and 107/2s. My failing memory of the 107s in particular is that their overall presentation as regards "weight" was similar to the way I perceive the Salon 2s. They were the first domestic speakers I owned that made bass you could feel. The 105s even with the Kube didn't match the 107s for impact without an eq but were good at imaging. Neither can touch the Salon2 in a broad range of qualities, but since they're decades older you wouldn't expect them to. At the time I doted on them both, particularly the 107/2s.

I agree the 105/3's once bi-amped with a kav300il on top and a B&K 4420 with the kube on the bass I was able to get some audible bass, but the midrange was the story with 93.5 db eff they were exciting rock speakers. I have a pair of R107/2 with the rosewood finish serving up ht in my living room and they still look and sound terrific up there. I brought them down to do a side by side with the salon1's and it wasn't even close, the salon does music so effortlessly I forget how good they are til I put them up against something else! Still the old kef's still do the job and fit the room so they're staying and the salon1 are for sale.

Steve, your experience the other night getting caught up in a multi-hour listening fest is a familiar scene as it happens to me a lot with my Salon2’s. :banana:

I liked my B&W 800D2’s but I never had the get lost in the music for hours experience that happens frequently with the Revels. I’m not sure why, as the 800’s were very nice. It just didn’t happen. :dunno:

IMO, Revel staying conservative with the tweeters serves the music better, the lack of sibilance especially with female singers may lack immediate excitement (I'm comparing to ML's and the like) lends to more enjoyable sessions.

Revel speakers have very flat frequency response on and off axis. It's one of their design goals. B&W are "voiced" to accentuate the high end at the request of recording engineers to help them hear detail. That's the explanation I read somewhere a while back.