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Honest opinions on my two picks of loudspeakers

So I wanted to see what most of you thought or what your pick would be between the Revel Salon 2 towers and the McIntosh XR100's I'm torn between both with looks and performances with my choice leaning more toward Mac since I'd be powering them with the 452 and the whole matching thing, but I will also be pushing these quite hard at times (rock-metal) and I want a well built power capable speaker for the long haul..I was considering Wilson's as well and have not cut them out just wanted some respectable opinions on my two narrowed down choices we all are familiar with pricing and these two options have a considerable difference between the two so I'm torn which is the better bang for my bucks!! 

Thanks all..
128x128shawnscola
58 responses Add your response
tomic601's avatar
tomic601
12,914 posts
 
@j_damon thanks for the clarification, I meant the pro sound end of things, an awesome bass for sure, so good to know still kicking
oranda
13 posts
 
Heard Revel, but not the Salon 2s.  I've been a fan of McIntosh for years, and have heard the XR100s.  Buy the Salon 2s. 
itzhak1969
515 posts
 
@oranda, Since you heard theXR100s what's your impression about them ?
tdimler
132 posts
 
I'll second the notion that Salon 2's will get louder than you need.  F208 BE also a very worth contender.  JBL also an excellent choice but I would be looking at the 4367's or Everest.  Salon 2's needing a lot of power is a little bit of an urban legend.  I use a 330 watt Rowland 625 S2 that does the job well, but I also used an ARC Ref 75 SE for fun one time and it powered the Salon 2's quite well. I was shocked.  
j_damon
388 posts
 
@tomic601 Ton Wickersham was an engineer at Ampex working on multitrack machines at the time, that’s how the Dead managed to use one of the first multitrack recorders, after that Ron was asked by Owsley to modernize electric guitars and basses, Owsley stated that guitar technology was stuck in the ‘50s, Ron came up with basses first, Jack Cassidy had the first and Phil Lesh has the second one, Ron did other engineering for the Dead and the wall but Alembic was not a pro sound company really, they were all about electric instruments 
j_damon
388 posts
 
Ron, not Tom
j_damon
388 posts
 
I should clarify, Ron engineered a pre amp circuit in the instrument with with true variable tone filters and low impedance pickups, the luthier work, which is beautiful and revolutionary and now widely copied, was performed by many including Rick Turner and Doug Irwin 
tomic601's avatar
tomic601
12,914 posts
 
Thanks, there is an excellent history of the company written by Susan Wickersham on the Alembic website, including the retail store/ custom pa work. So happy they are still around!!!
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