Revel Ultima Salon 2/Marantz MA9S2?

[jdandy]

Tom.......Your Marantz MA9S2 amplifiers are beauties. I can see why you are proud of them and don't plan to swap them for anything.

[jeffkrag]

Originally Posted by jdandy

Jeff....... . .

Well, you did.

Thankfully, I finally listened

And now I'm enjoying audio bliss

[jeffkrag]

Originally Posted by tom1120s

I have yet to hear the Salon2's - but they are the ones I am referring to. As indicated, I am not going to change up the current set up I have with the Marantz gear. I like it that much. Again, My thoughts are that how the amp(s) operate with enough current (and wpc) have more effect than just wpc. My JBL Arrays are rated at 89 and sound quite nice driven by a lonely 300 wpc(8 ohm)600 wpc(4 ohm)-better than the McIntosh MC402 I had before. As a matter of fact, I just came across a picture of the Salons WITH the complete Marantz reference system but because of reasons I do not know(perhaps I have to be a member?), I can not upload it. It was at a audio show.......

I really do think the question here is how the Salons would sound with what you have. My guess is they will sound fantastic, as the Marantz amp is plenty powerful and of sufficient high-end quality to do justice to the Salons. Read the many reviews (and forum discussions) of the Salon 2 and you will find that many lower powered but high-quality amps were used by reviewers (and owners) to their great satisfaction. I have read that Revel themselves voice the Salon 2 with the Levinson 432h, which is a 300wpc amp. So, if Mike doesnt mind, let me put his suggestion in some context: the Salon 2, IMHO, will sound great with good power from a quality amp. You have that. However, the beauty of the Salon 2 is that you can probably make it sound even better with a higher power/quality amp if you so choose. It's that good of a speaker. The question is, can you live with great sound, or will the fact that you may not wring every last bit of greatness out of the Salon 2 with your current amp going to bother you? Only you can answer that, but, IMO, be not afraid to go forward with the Marantz/Revel combo.

You can thank me later

PS- Dan, how'd I do at my first attempt at "AA harassment school?"

[MDP]

Originally Posted by tom1120s

I realize this entire site seems to be designed for McIntosh users, hell, I had a McIntosh MC402 before to the Marantz. Saying that, I was looking for information regarding the suitibility of the MA9S2 mono blocks with this particular speaker in a Marantz forum(at least that is what I thought).

No matter. Thanks again for your help.

Ok,I just finished reading this entire thread. Your MA9S2 amps are fantastic amps,absolutely first rate. I agree with you about current,and this may surprise a few people, but the way your amps double down really means something and I think they will do a fine job driving the Salon 2's !!
How loud do you usually listen ?
What kind of music do you listen to ?
What are your room dimensions ?

The Salons can certainly "Use" the extra power if its available , but I still think your Marantz amps are up to the challenge !!

As I've said before,there is no other speaker that can touch the Salon2's for the money spent, and I highly recommend you go and listen to them.

If you have any other questions, feel free !!!


Mark

[joeinid]

Originally Posted by MDP

Ok,I just finished reading this entire thread. Your MA9S2 amps are fantastic amps,absolutely first rate. I agree with you about current,and this may surprise a few people, but the way your amps double down really means something and I think they will do a fine job driving the Salon 2's !!
How loud do you usually listen ?
What kind of music do you listen to ?
What are your room dimensions ?

The Salons can certainly "Use" the extra power if its available , but I still think your Marantz amps are up to the challenge !!

As I've said before,there is no other speaker that can touch the Salon2's for the money spent, and I highly recommend you go and listen to them.

If you have any other questions, feel free !!!


Mark

+1

[tdelahanty]

Your MA9S2 amplifiers are rated at 600w/4ohms and can supply current peaks of 150 amps. I would not be as worried with the Salon's sensativity as much as the lowest impedence. If you over drive the amps they will shut-down and go into protect mode, I've seen this with electrostatics that dip below 2 ohms and no harm was done. Just how loud do you want to listen ?

[tdelahanty]

Go to Marantz's web-site and read all the reviews for the MA9S2's, I think one of them used the Salon's. You will need to do a search for the MA9S2 since it is no longer listed as current product. Remember what you discovered when you replaced the 402, the MA9S2's outperformed the 402 in bass punch and control. Although the 452 is a huge improvement over the 402 it is an Autoformer based amp. It will never approach the current drive (capability) of your MA9S2 which has much lower output impedence (aprox. 0.01 ohms).
It is nonsense (unrealistic) to compare your amp to one which will output 1.2kw, four time the power.

[toddmorr]

interested to see how this turns out for you tom. I have B&W 800d, not particularly efficient speakers either. I'm thinking about upgrading from my current Rotel 200w/channel amp and the Marantz monoblocks are at the top of the list. Have heard Mcintosh and thought it was too flabby and the bass muddled. If I can find a pair of the Marantz I will likely pull the trigger....I just find it hard to believe that 600w/4ohms high quality power is not enough, even for inefficient speakers like the Salons or the 800d.

[Ritmo]

I've had the Salon 2s for 2 yrs. Originally, I drove them with an Anthem amp producing 225 w/ch and I was dissappointed with the purchase. I decided to upgrade the electronics and moved to ARC including a 450 w/ch class D amp - wow, a significant improvement. The speakers sing with good quality gear. My room is 19X16x10.

I've heard them with ML 300 w/ch and they sound nice.

While the Salon 2s love power, quality makes a bigger difference than the number of watts.

[tom1120s]

Originally Posted by toddmorr

interested to see how this turns out for you tom. I have B&W 800d, not particularly efficient speakers either. I'm thinking about upgrading from my current Rotel 200w/channel amp and the Marantz monoblocks are at the top of the list. Have heard Mcintosh and thought it was too flabby and the bass muddled. If I can find a pair of the Marantz I will likely pull the trigger....I just find it hard to believe that 600w/4ohms high quality power is not enough, even for inefficient speakers like the Salons or the 800d.

Interesting. From what I remember, Marantz targeted the B&W Nautilus speakers in producing these mono blocks. They were built with the mission of driving less than ideal speaker loads and I recall the B&W speaker to be the template.