Revel Salon 2 vrs Kef 207/2

egrady, I agree with you on your points. That's why I have even higher regards for the KEF 207.2. They sounded right in dealer demo, and they sound equally right at home. They are not too picky on placement (due to Uni-q) I guess, The sweet spot area is big (you don't need to sit straight at the center of listening position nervously) the system matching wise, you don't need monster power to drive them (fit with right cabling) you can easily configure the sound to your liking. Given it's sheer size and given it is really a full-floor standing speakers, I was bit worried about the bass control..but the KEFs deliver powerful but clean, tight bass that cross over to the high well balanced that you don't need to worry about the bass bloat. It was almost like a "plug and play"...They will sound good right out of box. I said in my previous post that for long term satisfaction at home, KEF 207/2 will be a safer bet. These are some of the reasons why. I just know that world-class speakers Salon 2 are, when brought home, I will have much more headaches to deal with to get them right. Wrong placement/room size, wrong system match, wrong cable match upstream, you got yourselves speakers that could potentially fatigue you right out. then you got yourselves over $20k headache. These are the observations from my 20 years of painstaking experiences. However, once again, these comments are personal.. My ears prefer clean, well balanced sound but with much emphasis on the mid, how musical they sound while still being detailed, transparent, and dynamic. Anyway, shopping for a new speaker is always an enjoyable experience so do yourselves good and try as many speakers before deciding..It amazing the # of choices you have out there nowadays...Personally I would always lean toward manufacturers that design and manufacture their own drivers, over those who outsource to Scanspeak or Audio Tech. or other less known driver manufacturers.

How do you know the Revels will have more placement issues than the KEFs? Uni-q would have little to do with it, incidentally.

The conclusion that the KEF is generally more system/room compatible than the Revel is hard for me to follow. Other than the fact that the Revel does need more power. In fact, they both are more flexible than most large floor standing speakers because they have tone controls and large sweet spots.

It may be easy to get 90% of what the KEF can do following a basic room placement rule-of-thumb, but to get 100% out of any speaker almost always takes many trial and error efforts.

I'm wondering, Egrady, if he formed that conclusion after my original post regarding my week of inching around the Revels to get the right placement. The Revels were, truth be known, more difficult to place that my previous Legacy Focus, but I suspect that the Focus was inherently easier to place because it had front and rear woofers, and back-facing rather than down-facing ports. But I'd chalk that up more to the Legacys being easy to place than the Revels being more difficult than normal.

As I mentioned previously, the KEFs and the Revels are both very, very good. There are differences between them, but they are so close to the same level of achievement that it will end up being mere personal preference for which you choose. The KEF's mid-bass, at least in my audition, definitely struck me as plumper than the Revel's, and some people might be drawn to that. On the other hand, the Revel's reproduction of cymbals still strikes me as unmatched by any speaker I've ever heard. So, because there are subtle differences, it is easy to see how an individual could develop a preference for one over the other, even though either one exceeds the performance, overall, of just about any other speaker I've ever heard.

Hi Irvrobinson,

no I came to my conclusiong after my audition using various systems upstream, Salon2 required more juice, not just more, but right one. Like you said it was more sensitive to the placement as well. Anyway, I agree with you that KEF does produce plumper/little more body in the mid which I personally like. (gives good body/texture/depth to the instruments I think) And also, yes, they both exceed in their performance at their price point in my view. I have heard some that cost twice/three times much which didn't come near KEF/Salon 2 in terms of sound quality..Don't get me wrong. I contemplated in buying Salon 2. With right system match, right room setting, and placement, they are super. However for those who do not have the luxury (most don't) then I am just saying be aware that it will require some efforts/$$ to get to 100% vs. KEF which I felt was more listener friendly to get to that 100%. cheers and have a wonderful Christmas..it is got dang hot here which wipes out the Christmas atmosphere.. ;-)