Revel Salon 2 vrs Kef 207/2

Vav, if not aware, Stereophile reviewed the 207/2's. They also named them joint speaker of the year, ironically with the Salon 2's.

Brian

It all came down to the associated equipment (especially amps)hooked up to the speakers. I am positive the KEF and the Salon2 are great speakers.

Before I got the Salon2, I auditioned it with different amps. The speakers sounded very different (day and night) with different amps. I suggest you audition speakers with different electronics to identify its characters (if any) before you make up your mind.

Vav, I demoed the 207/2s again yesterday and they are a VERY good speaker for $14K. I auditioned them back-to-back with the 205/2s, and it's not even worth the comparison. I was surprised how bright and harsh the 205/2 sounded, and the bass was really lacking. Both the 205/2 and the 203/2 have been very disappointing to me, with similar distortion in the highs once you crank up the juice. The mids were also thin on both speakers.

The 207/2, on the other hand, was balanced throughout, and was not harsh on the highs, though slightly metallic. Bass extension was also impressive. The speaker reminded me a lot of the B&W 800 series, actually. I would say the 207/2 approaches the 802D, though for my taste I like the B&W better, and falls somewhat short of coming close to the 800D, though in design it probably resembles the 800D more than the 802D. But being the same price basically as the 802D, they are both great and it could be just a matter of taste. I would love to get those two speakers in the same room, however, to really have a proper shoot-out.

After having heard the 205/2, I would say the 207/2 is a quantum leap from that speaker, and it's surprising to me that there could be such a huge jump in quality in the same line between respective models. I think KEF should have created a 206 model to fill in the gap as there is SUCH a difference between the 205/2 and the 207/2.

I'm going into the Wilson dealer tomorrow and will listen to the Sashas again. Will be interesting to see if I still like them that much more than the 207/2s now that I will have heard them with only a couple of days in-between. It's never a fair comparison being in different rooms, driven by different gear, and the days apart spacing, but the timing will be closer than when I initially compared them last time.

I think in terms of value, though, the 207/2 is definitely a better buy than the Sasha, with it being roughly half the price, and there is no way the Sasha is twice as good as the 207/2. Then again, at this level, diminishing returns is a given.

And yes, to the others, 207/2 can be had for $14K. It's only $20K if you get the high gloss options instead of the standard finishes. To me, that makes the 207/2 a $14K speaker. The dealer did try to tell me the gloss improved the sound (because of "lessened vibrations" and "reduced harmonic distortion" due to the "hard finish"), but I have a hard time believing that. The model I heard was in high-gloss, but he didn't have a standard finish model for me to compare to (probably wisely), so to me, that's an unsubstantiated claim.

Overall, the 207/2 performed well in my audition, and for $14K, I think it's a good buy and you could definitely do a lot worse.

Sorry to change up people, but please do yourself a favor and also try out the new Utopia 3's, especailly the Scala.

Since you asked for other recs:
I recently heard the Rockport Ankaa, which at 25-27k is priced right there with Sasha. WOW! I have listened to lots of speakers recently and this has basically blown everything else away. I need to listen to Sasha soon to make a comparison, but would highly recommend the Ankaa.