Better speaker value here?

Not sure sure where you can get the 2's for $10K. $12-13K seems more common. FWIW, I would go with the Salon 2 in any case. I just can't get around the looks of the 1. Also, resale would be better (until the Salon 3's start showing up)

Thank you for your response. I have a line on a pair of 2's that is close enough to 10K. I don't find the looks of the 1's to be so awful. Just my opinion.

I haven't heard the Salon2's, but I've read the Stereophile and Soundstage reviews. This speaker comes off as an overachiever at $22K, with the transparency and detail of a minimonitor combined with the power and bass extension of a true full range speaker. Getting a pair for something close to $10K strikes me as a stone cold bargain (relatively speaking).

I'll kick back in here as well, while I've never heard the Salon 1, I have had the pleasure of hearing the 2's in three separate systems/rooms/times and in each, I was extremely impressed. They seem to possess a freedom from frequency and time/phase errors that allow integration in a wide variety of rooms and systems. With the right amps (and this is not a trivial matter as they are beasts to drive)They are truly full range with subwoofer like reach into to lowest octave. Yet on smaller scale music, they do indeed sound like high end mini monitors as the top three drivers act as a cohesive unit with well matched dispersion characteristics. For $10k, this would be a difficult speaker to improve upon.

Thanks for all replies. I would love to hear from someone that has heard both the 1's and the 2's and could speak to the issue of how much the 1's give up to the 2's in terms of overall performance. Even at $10K, the 2's are quite a chunk of change for a working class guy like myself. If the original salons are close enough, I might "settle" with them, and put the extra 5K somewhere else. Running Mythos ST set up now.

Value is a word rarely heard in these forums. I have heard both, as well as the Studio 2. I think the Salon 2 is better than the 1 in almost all respects, particularly the mids and highs. The clarity of the 2 is really better. The Studio 2 has slightly less low bass and bass dynamics than the Salon and may be the "best buy" of all.

I would pay $10k for the Salon 2 way before I would pay $5k for the 1. That being said, for similar money to the Salon 2, I preferred the Magico V3 and bought a second hand pair after seriously auditioning the Revels and Sophia II/III.

The Salon 2's are a very musical speaker. When I heard them I tried to find warts, but couldn't. They are very pleasant to listen to and should make you happy.

Thanks Teeshot. Exactly the kind of response I was after. What was it about the V3's that you preferred to the Salon2's? Also, the speakers will need to pull dbl duty in my HT. Does Magico even make a center channel?

I do not know if magico makes a center channel. The magicos, to a degree or two more than the Revels, sound very uncolored to my ears. The Revels sounded very good to me, with excellent bass, but more colored; the Sasha II sounded very colored to me. The magico has less low bass but what is there is very tuneful and differentiated.