Better speaker value here?

Thanks for all replies. I would love to hear from someone that has heard both the 1's and the 2's and could speak to the issue of how much the 1's give up to the 2's in terms of overall performance. Even at $10K, the 2's are quite a chunk of change for a working class guy like myself. If the original salons are close enough, I might "settle" with them, and put the extra 5K somewhere else. Running Mythos ST set up now.

The Salon 2's are a very musical speaker. When I heard them I tried to find warts, but couldn't. They are very pleasant to listen to and should make you happy.

Value is a word rarely heard in these forums. I have heard both, as well as the Studio 2. I think the Salon 2 is better than the 1 in almost all respects, particularly the mids and highs. The clarity of the 2 is really better. The Studio 2 has slightly less low bass and bass dynamics than the Salon and may be the "best buy" of all.

I would pay $10k for the Salon 2 way before I would pay $5k for the 1. That being said, for similar money to the Salon 2, I preferred the Magico V3 and bought a second hand pair after seriously auditioning the Revels and Sophia II/III.

Thanks Teeshot. Exactly the kind of response I was after. What was it about the V3's that you preferred to the Salon2's? Also, the speakers will need to pull dbl duty in my HT. Does Magico even make a center channel?

I do not know if magico makes a center channel. The magicos, to a degree or two more than the Revels, sound very uncolored to my ears. The Revels sounded very good to me, with excellent bass, but more colored; the Sasha II sounded very colored to me. The magico has less low bass but what is there is very tuneful and differentiated.