Quote:
Originally Posted by Mikado463
Agreed Lew, IMO, the F208's are the best 'box' speaker under 10k that I've heard to date.
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No doubt in my mind, at least compared to everything I looked into. And since my focus is really about comparing them to the Salon2s, I'll offer more of my personalized sense of the differences.
The F208s don't have the big time low end extension, slam and liquidity (think ease....lack of "grain") that the Salon2s provide but....they have all the smoothness of FR within the impressive extended bandwidth they do traverse with excellent clarity and articulation. They (208s) are modestly more sensitive, although my impression is that given enough power, the Salons will play with more force (loudness) before going into power compression. Still, the F208s provide all the suds I'd ever need. I also think the 208s are a bit less critical of placement. They were very easy to fit into my room which seems big enough for the Salons.....but just. The Salons are a bit more sensitive to placement, I think. Although curiously, they have ended up almost exactly where I felt the F208s provided the best balance of imaging and low frequency quality in my room. It's just that if I move the Salons off their sweet spot, I can hear more differences, especially in LF balance. I suppose I shouldn't be surprised since the Salon's added LF extension compounds the possibilities for room interactions.
They are both excellent at modest levels. It seems to be a family trait although they also both seem to come alive when given some stick, yet neither need to be pushed to the limit to sound their best. Quite the contrary, actually. They both sound best in my room before playback levels get out of control (of the room?). A minor factor: my wife prefers the looks of the F208s. I think I agree with her though the Salons look just fine to me
I think Ken got it right in his comments about the differences. It's the LF that I was thinking about before they got here, but the Salon tweeter (and midrange) is a brilliant bit of engineering integration that makes the greatest difference in my daily listening on most program material.