Former Revel Salon Owners: What Did You Switch To?

Jeff, after careful consideration and extensive listening experience with numerous alternative speakers, I upgraded my Salons to the Evolution Acoustics MM-Twos. The upgrade is very substantial and highly recommended.

I think you will have a hard time finding a speaker that beats the Salons at its price point. The Salons are truly world-class speakers with superlative transparency and timbral accuracy. The Evolution Acoustics speakers are the only speakers I found to clearly top the performance of the Salons in the reproduction of large scale orchestral music at a price that is within the stratosphere.

The Revel Salons were my last dynamic speakers. Before that I had several versions of the Wilson Watt/Puppies and prior to that Thiel 3.6's. Before all those loudspeaker boxes with their dissimilar drivers and inherent distortion inducing crossovers and cabinets, I had owned and thoroughly enjoyed the Crosby modified Quad ESL-63's. I have returned to Quad electrostatic loudspeakers two years ago and purchased the Quad ESL-2905. Truth be told, for years I had missed the Quad's seamless, accurate, musically involving and non-fatiguing presentation. Switching back to the Quad's after many years absence was heavenly! Simply stated - Quad ESL-2905's sound like music and the Revels sounded like "Big Hi-Fi". Good Luck with your search!

Being once very familiar with the Salons. As an alternative I would point you in the direction of the Aerial 20T's, Dynaudio C4's, Avalon Isis, Focal Utopia, or Montana XP's.

My personal favorites are the Aerial and Dyn C4's. The Aerial 20T being what I'm in love with and one I plan on living with for a loooooooong while.

ttowntony- The Avalon Isis are $65k new! I don't think that's in the ball park for Jeff, and certainly out of the league for this comparison. Maybe you meant a lesser Avalon model? However I agree they are excellent (they had better be at $65k!!).

I also agree with your suggestion of C-4's. I recently compared the latest version of the Salons to the C-2's in the same room with the same pieces driving and actually preferred the less expensive C-2's more natural laid back tone and deeper more defined soundstage. The C-4's should be a step up from the C-2's and they go for about $9-$10k used.

i agree with mmike84. the dynaudio c-4's are a great sounding speaker. i listened to them with cary equipment and they sounded very very nice. the salons are 1 of the best speakers i have heard. IMO, the salons are superior over the aerial 20t's. besides the dynaudio's, I also like the avalon isis, and usher speakers.

I sold my Salons when I moved back to the U.S. from Brazil in 2005, mostly because I did not want the hassle and expense of schlepping them back. I had Vienna Acoustic Mahlers here in the States, which I stuck with. The Mahlers were half the price, but in some ways more satisfying than the Salons. Overall, however, the Mahlers were less refined than the Salons (which is to be expected given the discrepancy in price).

I sold the Mahlers to purchase a pair of Ultimate Monitors, which are best described, if I may be so obnoxious, as an insider's speaker. They served me very well until we moved last December and they failed to gel with my new listening room. I purchased a pair of Escalante Design Fremonts, which I have been greatly enjoying (they do measure poorly in-room, but my ears don't care). They play big and deep like the Salons, but are more engaging and are much more efficient, which leads me to my main knock on the Salons ...

They are only 86 db. efficient, which means they need to be run with high-powered amps. Given that most high-powered amps sound bad, you are really, really limited as to amp choices.

I am not certain that I will stick with the Escalantes, as I have a willy for a pair of Evolution Acoustics. Time will tell.

I will have to second cincy_bob's view. I to sold my Salons in favor of the Evolution Acoustics MM3's.
I searched for almost 2.5 years to upgrade my speakers. Auditioned too many to list, both in stores & homes.
The Evolution's were the best I heard IMHO. They bettered many speakers listed above. Are they the best, there will always be something better. They are very very special.
The Salons are a great speaker in their price range, no doubt.
If you can , please audition the Evolution Acoustic speakers, you will not be disappointed.

What kind of price range are the evolution acoustics at?

Call or email Jonathan at Blue Light Audio.
He is great to work with & very helpful.