After an exhaustive search, I ended up with the Revel Salon 2's. I've owned the Salon 2's for about 3 months now. They are not only a great looking speaker, but they deliver a very neutral sound and an absolutely massive wide and deep soundstage. I am currently powering them with McIntosh 2301's and let me be honest, they sound gorgeous, but they are overwhelming even the 2301's. A knock against the Salon 2's is their incredible thirst for power. They are very inefficient. A pair of McIntosh 1.2's are possibly in my future.
I found the Salon 2's to be very room sensitive. After weeks of talking to the good folks at Revel, constantly asking "where's my bass?" trying to sort through the lack of bass, it turned out the problem was my room. Some room acoustics and the incredible McIntosh MEN220 room correction and I now have the speakers I knew I always had!
My question is this, why do these speakers not get a whole lot of respect? I see people on forums constantly asking for suggestions and the usual culprits are always mentioned, Sonus Faber, B&W, DynAudio, Wilson, etc....but rarely the Salon 2's. Why? Are they just not as well known? Do they look too much like a traditional speaker? Is it their inefficiencies to drive? Are they just not for many folks tastes? I'm just curious. All the other speakers mentioned are wonderful in their own right....so I'm curious why not the Salon 2's? Are they a hard speaker to "love" in an audition?
I also wanted to get a thread going for the Revel Salon 2 owners out there (come on, there must be a few!)
I would love to know what other Salon 2 owners are using as amps. What about your success with placement? What do you have your settings (on the back of the speaker) set to? Have you considered anything else since owning the Salon 2's?