Revel Salon2 vs. B & W 802D vs. Wilson W.P.7?

None of the above. The Salons and B&W's have really good tweeters that will show up the grain in those electronics, and the WP 7 has a titanium tweeter which suffers from resonance problems that will drive you out of the room with grainy gear like this. Buy something with a mellow silk-dome tweater and that, generally, is more appropriate for Lexicon gear.

My opinion is for the Revels...I had 802's and got rid of them, and know the Wilsons and won't have them.

I’ll bite. I own B&W Signature 800’s and previously had N801’s. Great speakers but power hungry as can be. I have run 700 wpc and 800 wpc monoblocks (at 4 ohms) with success. You need a lot of power for B&W 802’s and up.

At CES in January the WP8’s and Revel Saloon 2’s really stuck out for me. I only went one day but these were at the top of the heap. Both were very smooth (most speakers at CES were rather harsh). The WP’s were driven by about $100,000 or more in VTL gear and they re-tubed the amps for the WP’s. The Revels were in a small room not really set up correctly and were driven by a digital amp. It was a board maker who wanted to show off their amps. So, in my limited experience, you have B&W’s needing huge power, WP’s needing a serious front end (which seems to be confirmed by everyone who owns them) and Revels on a pieced together chip amp and a 1980’s CD player (I think it was a Revox). Go for the Revels.

All three of those are a LOT of speaker for the Lexicon amp. I'd either scale back on speaker cost and buy a beefier amp for the fronts, or at least know when in the future my budget would afford the ability to upgrade the front channel amplification.

We all can believe, and post, what we want, but for me there are a few things that have been said that don't match my experience...

...the WP 7 has a titanium tweeter which suffers from resonance problems that will drive you out of the room with grainy gear like this. Buy something with a mellow silk-dome tweater...

Why not replace the grainy gear if this is truely the case rather than mask it? I have heard silk dome tweeters plenty hot, it is how it is implemented. I have never had a resonance problem listening to the W/P 7's that gave me the desire to run from the room.

WP’s needing a serious front end (which seems to be confirmed by everyone who owns them)

Who are these people you allude to confirming this claim.

Wasn't it Wilson himself who "tricked" people at a show while demoing WATT/Puppy's by using a very inexpensive front end?

Anyway, I have owned 802D's and own WATT/Puppy 7's and the choice is easy for me between those two. I do not have experience with the Revels, but what I have read seems positive.

Briangrarcom: The Wilson tweeter rings between 4 khz. and 8 khz. as a result of a break-up mode occurring higher in the frequency spectrum. It is plainly audible to me and to many others, and has been commented upon and written about at length. It is most noticeable with music featuring string instruments.

Someone over in the AVS forum had problems with Lexicon gear and new Revel Studios and is now upgrading his gear.

If you are looking at high end speakers make sure you will be driving them with the appropriate gear.

I believe they tried to correct the ringing on the WP 8 - something to do with damping the back wave. However what is disconcerting is that the tweeter clearly shows significant audio compression at a mere 95 db SPL (this is a difference plot of response at 70 db versus 95 db SPL form Soundstage, which use NRC labs). Of course most home speakers suffer this kind of problem, but a speaker of this calibre really ought to be able to play cleanly at much higher levels, IMHO.

Well I have had all three and I can tell you that the 802d is not in the same class as the other two. The Salon2 and the WP7 are both very good and it just comes down to taste. The WP7 is a cleaner sound do to their cabinet having no distortion. The Salon2 is a more forgiving speaker as far as room placement. The top end both sound very very close.

The Jackasses who say the wilson tweeter has resonance problems or bright hot ect have no idea what they are talking about. It just takes one person to start that and everybody runs with it. Unless you have heard these speakers in your own environment don't give advise. I use to believe that crap and never give the wilson a chance but now that I did I think the wilson speakers are some of the very best. The Salon2 is another speaker that ranks right up there also.

We are not "jackasses". But your speakers have a crap tweeter, and you are evidently deaf and a yahoo.

I haven't heard the WP8, but I agree the Wilson "sound" is excellent, right up there with the best I've heard. I have heard the Sophia 1, MAXX1, WP7 and Alexandria, and never found them to be bright or ring in the 4-8khz range.

I agree the Wilson "sound" is excellent, right up there with the best I've heard.

I agree. FWIW: Rigid Metal or Ceramic woofers are often used in high end systems and people love them and buy them (lightweight "piston" operation means small low cost motors, such as 1 inch voice coils, can be used and they are efficient and very linear in response).

However these designs ALL have ringing problems! Why else do manufacurers use sharp Q notch filters to dampen ringing and why else do some use two rubber dampers on the edges of the driver cone. Why else do paper/pulp/polypropelene and woven and doped kevlar designs exist...these less stiff designs offer better internal damping - less ringing - even if they are less ideal "pistonic" (and generally require an expensive larger voice coil for better diaphragm support)!

Speaker design is often a compromise...thats all. However, I'd be wary of this particular tweet - note that it is used extensively in another highly regarded manufacurers speakers ...so perhaps the other manufacturer deals with the ringing problem more effectively in their crossover design.