Revel Ultima Salon 2's vs B&W 802d's

Nab2,

I would like to hear your comparison/opinion of these two speakers. Did you decide which pair you are keeping?

I recently went to a local dealer who had both speakers set up in same room; the new B and W 802 diamond; not the 'd' models; and the Revel Ultima Salon 2's...the B and w were powered by recommended Classe power amp; revel's I think by Parasound...
The revel's sounded to me just magical; great shimmer and prat on the high's and very impressive low end; great detail on drum kick's and plucked double base strings on female jazz. Sound was coherent; warm; detailed; spacious and everything I would want in a speaker; I also heard the Wilson Sasha's the next day; and I think the Revel's held their own against the Shasha's..and even in the set up I heard; had a better low end then the Sasha's; Sasha's had minimal improved top end, but not by much to my ears..and Sasha's were playing with a hugely more expensive digital front end and VTL tubed mono's..
On the other hand; the B and W's sounded 'veiled',closed off and chocked; no prat; nothing special...this was by comparing same cd's in same room; same time to Revels...if I was buying; based upon my auditon; I would go with the Revel's...I had an open mind; and let the music tell me which one was better; I do know that many people love the b and w's with Classe; and these speakers cost around $15k vs the $22k of the Revels; so everyone's ears and budgets are different..is the Revel worth $7k more retail? To me it does..but that is why its important to do your own listening test with similiar set ups and conditions; and listen to your ears, WAF, and budget; and dealer support..in the end its all good; you just want to avoid buyer's remorse at this price point; or have 'listening' fatique from speakers that don't cut it when you get them home. just my two cents....good luck

oops; to correct my last post; the Revels were in fact powered by the Mark Levinson amps...not Parasound...

Did you listen at Definitive Audio in Seattle? Your experience sounds similar to mine, auditioning-wise.

Last year I listened to the "new" 802Ds, at Definitive (they just came in) and they certainly didn't sound veiled at all. Interesting that you had that impression.

Personally, I don't care for the sound of Wilson speakers. They seem "voiced" for a particular spectral balance, and I prefer a much more neutral speaker. Dave Wilson must like "Technicolor" frequency response curves. I do like Wilson's fit and finish over the Revel's. Harman clearly spent the bucks on R&D, drivers, and cabinet construction, and the Salon2 looks cool to my eyes (especially in black), but it doesn't look like $22K.

Where the Revel cleans house, IMO, is in imaging. I've had my pair for a about a year now, and I'm still amazed by the soundstage they throw. Just amazed. A couple of nights ago I was letting someone else sit in the sweet spot in my room, and I sat in front of the right speaker. Even in that skewed position I still heard the image coming from between the speakers and not from the speaker in front of me.(!) I've only heard two other speakers that can pull off that trick, the OHM Walsh (I heard the 4000 in a private home) and the Linkwitz Labs Orion, and neither one of those seems to do the pinpoint imaging trick in the sweet spot.

Nonetheless, I can understand where different people, with different preferences and priorities, would prefer the 802s or the Wilsons. I suppose that has always been one of my complaints with high-end audio, in that many of us want to search for the "one best" solution. As with musical instruments, I'm not sure there is such a thing wrt speakers in real rooms.

I think a more truthful comparison should have been made with the same amps; "and the Revel Ultima Salon 2's...the B and w were powered by recommended Classe power amp; revel's I think by Parasound", or ML as you later described. These are vastly different amps and therefore, will reveal the differences in these speakers based on the power derived from the amplifier and the amplifier design itself. That does not make it a close A/B comparison, unless you hook up each speaker to the same amp.

I for one, do not think that Classe amplifiers are an automtatic match to all of the B&W's, as any amplifier for that matter, and the same could be said for matching amplifiers with Wilson's or Revels.