Quote:
Originally Posted by MDP
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!!!
|
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.