Thinking of Kef Blade 2 to replace Revel Salon 2

Ejlif,

First of all as a Blade dealer, we must appologize if you were not treated well by another dealer. Some dealers are great while others maybe not so. 

As per the Blades performance vs the Salon yes the Blades are better, how much better is up to personal experience.

We showed the Kef Blades at the New York Audio Show in 2012 and 2013 and when they were setup with good equipment, we were showing them with Chord reference gear, and the entire system was fantastic. 

The Blades threw a gigantic sound stage, with thrilling dynamics and room filling bass, the top end was crystal clear and the speakers are extremely coherent.

The Blades have a number of advantages over the Salons, first of all every driver is made out of the exact same material so the speakers sound very coherent.

The Blades are a true point source and the wave guide that Kef has built into the midrange ensures a very wide panoramic soundstage. 

The big Blades when they coupled with the room had a bass response that sounded like you were in a club, and when you increased the volume the sound just got louder and cleaner.

We went over and heard the $10k YG Acoustics they were not better just alot more expensive.

The Blades are a true destination speaker, and they represent a lot of what is possible in audio.

If you are ever in our neck of the woods, we would be deighted to demo them for you.

Dave and Troy
Audio Doctor NJ

Ricredi the Blades are very demanding of setup, Kef is usually famous for setting up pretty mediocre demos.

Most of the time they do not plan real matching gear that is usually used with $20-30k speakers so their sound quality at ahows is many times underwelming.

We should the Blades with $30k 480 watt monoblocks and a $20k preamp. One Kef Blade showing was with the Parasound JC 1 we had the jC 1 and compared them to the pair of amplifiers from Chord that were $15k monoblocks, and at the time the JC 1 were $10k the difference in sound between the JC 1 and the Chord monos wasn’t subtle and the next up monoblocks just took it up another notch.

So we would say that Kef like many manufactuers doesn’t necessarily do shows well.

Same thing with Paradigm, The Personas a $35k pair of speakers was shown at one Axpona show with a $4,500.00, Anthem integrated amplifier, we have the same amp and it is a good sounding, competant product but we would never recomend such a setup, you don’t sell a $35k set of speakers with a $4.5k amp, which is also a dac, it just normally isn’t done that way, most of the times your electronics cost as much to double the price of the speakers not 1/8th the cost!

So the sound quality of that demo, of course would be highly compromised compared to what gear you would normally use with such a set of speakers.

We use a $19k amp, with a $16k preamp, and digital sources which range from $8k to $35k so our set of Persona 9H sound magnificent.

The best way to judge any of these uber sets of speakers is at a competent dealer who has shown the care and respect that all speakers of this class deserve.

Dave and Troy
Audio Doctor NJ

Great move yystandabarbara, the Blades are really impressive, you still may want to consider the Blade ones, as they still sound larger with even greater bass output then the Blade 2.

Personally we have heard the Salon’s and they were nice speakers, never got the same spread of sound with the Salons, they always seemed to sound more like speakers then the way the Blades disperse sound into the room.

The Uni Q is a fantastic driver which becase it is a true point source can do things that a non point source configuration just can’t do.

The Salon’s are still an excellent speaker just one starting to show its age vs some of the newer designs.

All it takes is to read the KEF whitepaper on the Blades to see the remarkable extent of the engineering that KEF went to in creating the Blades drivers.

Dave and Troy
Audio Doctor NJ

Ricred1 it all depends on what you find appealing between the two speaker systems. 

The Blade does dynamics, and big image with focus very well, it is also quite extended on the top with a very natural midrange.

The Monitors are a bit more laid back in the upper treble and midrange, they do sound very large and have excellent bass. 

I have heard the Monitors and they sound a bit sleepy sounding. 

Our personal recommendation is for you to try a more visceral sounding line of electronics over the Rowland, such as the T+A or keep the Rowland and move to a more exciting speaker which compliments the warm sounding Rowland gear.

Dave and Troy
Audio Doctor NJ

I agree with you on the sound of the Rowland being a bit on the warm side of neutral, almost never heard Rowland sound forward although it is possible with the Chord Dave which is a slightly forward hyper detailed piece.

Overall with the Rowland gear and the Monitors I would think the system might sound a bit sleepy.

Dave and Troy
Audio Doctor NJ

David_Ten and YYzsantabarbarbara, yes the T+A gear does sound fantastic on the Blades, we have yet to find a speaker that the T+A gear doesn't sound suberb on.

The T+A gear is very natural sounding, with good top to bottom performance, the top end is detailed with a warm liquid midrange, the bass is a bit on the slightly warm side, and the dyanmics are excellent. Gear throws a huge soundstage. 

Couple that with a non exisitant noise floor, reasonable price point, superb construction and a great feature set and you can see why we endorse the line. We had the older C 800 Luxman preamp which we tested vs some of the other preamps we had and it was not better than the CJ GAT and a few others. it was nice and the construction was good but did not sound as magical as the T+A gear. 

We haven't tested the lastest Luxman but our findings with their last series of products including the 20 watt Class A integrated the gear was excellent but was still bettered by a few of our other brands vs the T+A gear which we haven't found yet another brand that we have tested against which was better that wasn't 3 times the price.

We tested the T+A HV power amp  and the power supply vs a $90k set of Boulder amps, and the Boulder mono blocks were a bit better in clarity and soundstaging the T+A was better in the bass, and this was an unfair comparision, of  a $32K stereo amp not T+A best setup vs a set of MONO amps, we can only imagine the difference running a set of the T+A amps in mono. 

We won't say that the T+A gear is the best on the planet, but when you look at all the products do well, for the price and the sound quality you can see why we endorse the line so highly. 

For the record we tested against, CJ ART/GAT a tube setup,  the Thrax Sparticus and Mono amps, the Boulder a $90k set of amps, the Krell MRA $125k flagship Krell amps, Devialet D 400  Monos, Electrocompaniet, and Chord Monoblocks and preamp combo.

Dave and Troy
Audio Doctor NJ

The two speakers sound very similar, the Blade 1 is the bigger of the two and has a bigger overall image and more deep bass. 

Image wise the larger Blade is going to sound more like the big image you get from the Monitors Audio. 

Our demo room is exactly 26 long 20 wide with a 10 foot celing the Blades sound fantastic in that room. 

Dave and Troy
Audio Doctor NJ Kef Blade Dealer

I do agree that on paper those measurements do make it seem that the Kef Blades do not go that low, the reality is they do. When you feel the pressure that is being generated by 4 of those bass drivers and the bass is locked into the room the Blades have prodigious low bass with speed and articulation and tremendous kick. 

We were doing ellectronic dance music on a pair of Blades in a 26 by 20 room and it felt like you were right in the club.

Also when we showed them at the 2012 New York Audio Show in the Waldorf the bass was like a giant subwoofer. 

The Blades are designed to work with the room and all of Kef's measurments are convervative. 

Go listen to a pair of Blades and judge for yourself.

Dave and Troy
Audio Doctor NJ