HELP B&W 802D or Revel Ultima Salon2

I suggest that if you like the the 802D's : support your local dealer and get them these from him

I've been interested in hearing the Salon2's as well and I just found a dealer around me that has them so I'm going to try to audition them by next week. Where I live though, they cost considerably more than the 802Ds so I'm not sure it's a fair comparison.

About the 802Ds, however, what a FANTASTIC speaker! I loved them so much while auditioning that I bought them! They were way expensive for what I originally budgeted, but after hearing them against so many other speakers for over two months, from Focal, Wilson, Paradigm, Swan, NHT, Energy, Def Tech, Klipsch, JBL, KEF, MartinLogan, Quad, and others, the 802Ds crushed most of these. I even tried some ID speakers from AV123 and Salk and only wasted my money with shipping back and forth. The only one that came close was the Wilson Sophia which was excellent and was in my final two, but I preferred the 802Ds in the end.

If just remembering about the listening experience makes your hair stand up, then I think you've found your speaker. Only my final two did that for me, which made my decision easier. You can read all the reviews you want and get as many opinions online as you want, but those can be as adverse as they can be helpful. Bottom line is you know what you like best so don't be afraid to jump in if you really like something.

On that note I have a friend that also took a long time auditioning and finding a pair of stereo speakers for his dedicated listening room. He found one that he really liked, but he went online and a bunch of strangers trashed it and said he HAD to hear these other ones, which had better FR, had this and that type of driver, got these reviews, etc. He went and heard them, THOUGHT he liked them better than what he initially chose, bought them and now he totally regrets it. He basically convinced himself that they were "better" because it seemed "everybody else" thought so, and thus he had to get them. Then he got them home and after breaking them in, they still don't do it for him and all he does is dream about his intial choice. Now he wants to sell them but his wife is so pissed he spent that kind of money and is unhappy with them that she's forbid him from buying anything else, even if he sells the speakers he has since he will have to take a loss and she thinks he's just wasting money.

What my friend learned is that "everybody else" isn't paying for his speakers, "everybody else" aren't using his ears, and "everybody else" doesn't matter at all, only his opinions matter in the end.

So a very expensive lesson to learn. Anyway, you should demo the Salon2s if you are really interested in them as well and demoing more and more speakers is always good, but you should do it with an open mind and be honest with yourself, not try to convince yourself you "should" like something because a review or people on the web told you you should like it.

I've owned both. Both are great speakers. I loved the diamond tweeter on the 802Ds, but overall I liked the integrated sound of the Salon2 better. You really should go listen for yourself though...

And Jkalman........awesome system you have there!
Thanks again for everyone's input.

Thanks!

I haven't posted here since around a month ago, so I didn't notice I had already posted in this thread.... Hehehe, sorry about that!

I am in the same boat, deciding between the new B&W 802 Diamond, Salon2 and Focal Scala and Andra3