REVEL Salon2s - What Amp is needed? Subs needed?

Irv is right about the possibility of your amps being out of spec by now. Things like capacitors are pretty much near the end of their useful lives after 20 years, depending on how much use the amps have had. At least get them checked out so you know they're giving you all theyre capable of.

I am using a BAT Rex preamp into Krell 402e for my Revel Salon2 speakers. The sound is wonderful, extended, dynamic. I love the speakers for their ability to play at lower levels with musical involvement. And yes they do play beautifully loud when called for--without being tiring or too bright. As for bass: if there is deep bass on the recording you will get deep bass out of the speaker. They do not have fake bass with a bump at 100 hz. They will reveal which recordings are compressed or have no real bass.

I do think that you do need a high powered amp. I would go to mono bloc amps if I had the space/setup. My listening room is an 18 ft. square library with a 11 ft. ceiling. The room is very well damped and there are no reflections or echo; it is also open on one side with large sliding doors.

The speakers fill up the entire lower level of the house easily with warm, listenable sound. Vocals particularly sound lovely when heard from another room.

To add a sub to a speaker of this caliber would be a real shame. A couple of hundred watts will do, but real power will bring them to life.

Adding a sub is shame? Have you ever heard the Salon 2s with a great sub? And I mean for music. Yes, the Salon 2 reaches down to 20Hz, but at what loudness level and distortion level? If you want music to sound live you need high volume levels, and subs do more loudness at lower distortion. Not to mention you can place the sub(s) for best bass response in a room, and the Salon 2s for best imaging.

Don't confuse better bass with more bass.