Revel salon 2 vs vandersteen 5a carbons

If I could afford them, I would have 5a's or carbons in my system. These are one of the finest speakers systems ever designed and manufactured. Time and phase coherence I wouldn't sacrifice in any event and for that reason (classic) Thiel and Vandersteen get my nod. 

I can't imagine a meaningfully better speaker than the Salon 2 within its price point.. Great to look at too. Can be purchased ridiculously priced on Agon .

Obviously both great speakers and will, as usual especially at this level, be a matter of personal preference, system synergy, and room interaction.  I've not heard either but did hear the original 5a well set up at a dealer for an extended demo with my music and they were quite awesome.  Assuming you can't hear both and that you likely won't be disappointed with either, I'd go for the Vandys for their powered and adjustable bass, adjustable rear tweeter to fine tune treble, and time/phase alignment.  If the Carbons really are meaningfully better than the original 5a I heard it's really hard to see going wrong or being in any way disappointed.  FWIW and best of luck. 

Revel by a large margin. I would actually take the Revel's over the vandersteen 7's, that's how good I think the revel's are. You might need bigger more powerful amps for the  revel's, not sure. I just got back from RMAF and listened to the salon 2's in a small room and they were still one of the best sounding rooms of the show, and the best for its price range. The only other speaker that I liked as good or better than the Revel's were the Raidho's that were $110,000.
Just my opinion

Thanks for your  input!