Revel Ultima Salon2 pictures

Welcome to the forum p59teitel ! Thank you for joining. Great photos. Love your signature. :roflmao:
 
p59teitel said:
Hi David (et al.) -

Good post re: comparison between the S5 and Salon 2. Just one correction: all Salon 2 drivers save the beryllium tweeter are titanium.
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Cheers P59. Just fyi, I described the Salon 2 as having aluminium bass drivers based on the Stereophile review, however I see they've since switched to titanium bass drivers. I think my general point contrasting apples vs oranges remains valid however.

Bodhi :vistory2:
 
Welcome, Peter !
Excellent choice of speakers !
The Salon2's are the real deal !

 
Here's a few pictures of my system with Revel Salon 2. View attachment BA6A5824.JPGView attachment BA6A5827.JPGView attachment BA6A5833.JPGView attachment BA6A5834.JPGView attachment BA6A5848.JPGView attachment BA6A5853.JPGREF 5SE.jpgscreen up.jpgscreen down.jpg

Speakers - Revel Salon2, Voice 2, 2 pairs of Embrace for rear and side, Revel B15 and Sub30.
Amps for HT- Krell Evolution 403E, 2 S275 for sides asn rears.
Amps for 2 channel music - Audio Research REF250 mono blocks
Preamp - ARC REF 5SE
Sources - Esoteric K03, ARC CD9
Computer playback - Apple Mac Mini with Berkeley USB converter
HT processor - Krell S1200
power cords and condition: Shunyata Triton, Zitron Anaconda and Python
Interconnects and speaker cables: Audioquest WEL, Wild, Everest, Diamond USB

Rich
 
Awesome how the drivers of the revels tie in with the silver on the Arc 250s. And super cool how you have diffuser panel on tv screen
 
Hey Pete, how would you describe the sound of the Symphonic Line gear with the Salons ?

What have you compared it to ?

Thanks !
 
Thanks for post photos of your great Revel speakers, Rich.
 
MDP said:
Hey Pete, how would you describe the sound of the Symphonic Line gear with the Salons ?

What have you compared it to ?

Thanks !
Click to expand...

Mark, the Symphonic Line gear is a great match with the Revels. I'll go through it piece by piece.

The monos are slightly warm, fast and super-dynamic. The top is sweet although not rolled off, and the bass has weight, body and texture. The manufacturer seems to disdain specs or at least doesn't worry about providing them, but a less powerful model is said to provide 120A of peak current, so it would seem they are comparable to other heavy hitters like Soulution and Gryphon in that department. Using an iPhone sound meter app to measure, I've driven the Revels to 118dB peaks at my listening seat with them before audible clipping starts (not something I do every day!).

The tube pre adds an additional touch of warmth and richness of texture, and gives a deep and tall soundstage that extends past the speakers. Players and singers are properly sized within those spaces. It is the oldest piece in the system, originally made in 1999 but stripped down to the circuit boards and rebuilt to then-current standards in 2011. To give you an idea of how important it is in the overall system sound, a year ago I put in a bad tube and cooked some stuff on the power supply board, and was without it for a month. I used the Plinius M8 pre-amp that I'd kept...and I couldn't wait for the SL pre-amp to come back. Choice of tubes can make a sizable difference in sound; the Telefunken E88CCs I'm currently using are detailed, extended and really get the imaging thing down pat, while the Mullard CV2492s give that rich Mullard midrange. The stock EH 6922 tubes it comes with don't come close to doing it justice; they are detailed and have some drive but don't give the holographic imaging and sweetness that better tubes do.

The CDP is still in that awkward teenage stage. So far it is extracting quite a bit more detail and more powerful bass from CDs than the Ayre player does. The decays are impressive, to say the least, and it carries the system dynamics even further. It also brings vocals a little more forward than the Ayre does; this would address what some say is a perceived weakness in the Salons (it's never bothered me). The power supplies are massive for a CDP, and I'm waiting for them to break in and for a wee bit of upper-mid stridency to continue to go diminish, but I can already proclaim it a winner.

In terms of comparisons, only other amp I've used on the Revels was a Plinius SB-301. That amp brought the bass in spades and was pretty dynamic too. It was a bit rolled off compared to the Symphonic Line sound, but I have to admit it sounded great when I replaced its stablemate Plinius pre-amp with the SL pre-amp, and I could have easily lived with it for a very long time if the opportunity to get the SL monos for a bargain price had not come up. The SL amps better it in soundstaging, detail, and depth - as they should for amps that go for three times as much.

I've also heard the Salons with a Mark Levinson 532, in a very damped audio store room (my listening environment is the antithesis of damped, LOL). That amp was nice and very sweet on acoustic music and small jazz combos, but I thought it too polite and lacking speed and dynamics for rock or more complex classical.
 
Pete - nice write up! Symphonic amps are Class A I believe - exactly what the Salon 2's need! Body and warmth and a little help in the mids.
 
p59teitel said:
Mark, the Symphonic Line gear is a great match with the Revels. I'll go through it piece by piece.

The monos are slightly warm, fast and super-dynamic. The top is sweet although not rolled off, and the bass has weight, body and texture. The manufacturer seems to disdain specs or at least doesn't worry about providing them, but a less powerful model is said to provide 120A of peak current, so it would seem they are comparable to other heavy hitters like Soulution and Gryphon in that department. Using an iPhone sound meter app to measure, I've driven the Revels to 118dB peaks at my listening seat with them before audible clipping starts (not something I do every day!).

The tube pre adds an additional touch of warmth and richness of texture, and gives a deep and tall soundstage that extends past the speakers. Players and singers are properly sized within those spaces. It is the oldest piece in the system, originally made in 1999 but stripped down to the circuit boards and rebuilt to then-current standards in 2011. To give you an idea of how important it is in the overall system sound, a year ago I put in a bad tube and cooked some stuff on the power supply board, and was without it for a month. I used the Plinius M8 pre-amp that I'd kept...and I couldn't wait for the SL pre-amp to come back. Choice of tubes can make a sizable difference in sound; the Telefunken E88CCs I'm currently using are detailed, extended and really get the imaging thing down pat, while the Mullard CV2492s give that rich Mullard midrange. The stock EH 6922 tubes it comes with don't come close to doing it justice; they are detailed and have some drive but don't give the holographic imaging and sweetness that better tubes do.

The CDP is still in that awkward teenage stage. So far it is extracting quite a bit more detail and more powerful bass from CDs than the Ayre player does. The decays are impressive, to say the least, and it carries the system dynamics even further. It also brings vocals a little more forward than the Ayre does; this would address what some say is a perceived weakness in the Salons (it's never bothered me). The power supplies are massive for a CDP, and I'm waiting for them to break in and for a wee bit of upper-mid stridency to continue to go diminish, but I can already proclaim it a winner.

In terms of comparisons, only other amp I've used on the Revels was a Plinius SB-301. That amp brought the bass in spades and was pretty dynamic too. It was a bit rolled off compared to the Symphonic Line sound, but I have to admit it sounded great when I replaced its stablemate Plinius pre-amp with the SL pre-amp, and I could have easily lived with it for a very long time if the opportunity to get the SL monos for a bargain price had not come up. The SL amps better it in soundstaging, detail, and depth - as they should for amps that go for three times as much.

I've also heard the Salons with a Mark Levinson 532, in a very damped audio store room (my listening environment is the antithesis of damped, LOL). That amp was nice and very sweet on acoustic music and small jazz combos, but I thought it too polite and lacking speed and dynamics for rock or more complex classical.
Click to expand...

Thanks Pete, I sure wish I could hear your combo. I've always wanted to hear a great tube amp on the Salons. Mike had ARC REF 250's on his Studios at one time, and he still talks about how great it was.
The Hegel H30 does some similar things as your SL amp, it brings the vocals a little bit more forward in the soundstage, which I really like. It also does a 3D soundstage that's to die for.
 
Thanks, guys. Mike, you're exactly right about what is needed from accompanying gear. I don't always buy into the current market-speak excuse-making mechanism that tells us Speaker X only drilled those holes into your eardrums at the show because it wasn't partnered with Brand Y components...but as a general rule, some lushness is good for these fellas.

Finding that lushness can get pricey, but the Salon 2s are worthy of the investment. They provide a great skeleton and it's up to you to put the meat on the bones, so to speak.
 
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