For Salon, the goal was to achieve an off-axis response that approximately matches on-axis response. Salon-2 has steep, fourth-order crossover slopes in order to prevent distortion that may occur when drivers work outside their optimal range.

Salon2 is slim 2.3” taller, 3”narrower, 7” shallower and 72 lbs lighter than its predecessors. Salon2 has got smooth curve and its speaker-terminal panel is covered by a door of plastic. The curved portion is black in color and its drivers are now free from external mounting. There is one new magnet fastened to it that can cover all six drivers.

The Salon2 uses titanium, a material that is known for its greater tensile strength. In order to increase magnetic performance, dual motor pole-pieces are placed between two neodymium magnets. Its small magnet/motor structures provide good internal speaker volume. A new aluminum flux-stabilization rings are used that reduces flux modulation in order to reduce distortion. The tweeter of Salon2 has low density but high stiffness. There is a unique pin at the back of tweeter that helps in breaking up the standing waves and reduces harmonic distortion and induction modulation. Salon2 woofers use aluminum cones and are reflex-aligned with hyperbolic, downward-firing 16”/4” in order to eliminate chuffing noise especially when the speaker is driven at the higher level. The terminal panel of Salon 2 is covered with a smoked plastic so as to maintain enclosure’s curved exterior.

The door is light and too small in order to generate sonic disturbance when the speaker is playing. Voice-coils of Salon2 are oversized 2” for the woofer and 1.5” for the midrange that maximizes output and minimizes the dynamic compression. Vent holes have been cut through the motor’s pole in order to remove heat from the inside of woofer’s motor and to reduce air noise inside voice-coil.

Terminal panel of Salon2 has two rotary controls so as to adjust tweeter level and low frequency compensation. The tweeter level control offers five positions: 0, and +-0.5 and +_1.0dB. Low-Frequency compensation control has three settings: Contour generates small(-1.5dB) with audible bass cut of range 30 to 50Hz in order to deal with standing-wave effects present inside the room. Boundary reduces the bass from 5dB to 50Hz. Air-core conductors are used on each board. Pair of heavy gold-plated binding posts is mounted in a cast- aluminum panel set. Dual pair of posts means that the Salon2 can be now driven by 2 stereo amplifiers or with double speaker cables. If you prefer more conventional arrangement of stereo power amplifier and two pair of speaker cables, two jumper straps connect the posts of the upper and lower drivers. If we talk about the soundstage, this speaker produces huge transparent sound. This system has an ability to focus and image sonic information.

The most unique feature of Salon-2 is its smooth and very high-level overall performance. It is almost impossible to trace any kind of fault in the sound as all the characteristics stay firmly at high level. Everything right from balance, resolution, timing and coherence, everything is excellent especially in case of classical music. Overall we can say that Salon2 has been designed and engineered in such a way so as to reproduce uniform music.

When searching for new loudspeaker manufacturers, I tend to look for interesting speaker designs first and foremost, because audio technologies are pretty much similar. A good design and speaker construction could very well complement the integrated technologies and might prove to be exactly that thing which separates awesome speakers from average ones.

I think the Revel brand name would only ring some bells in an audiophile’s mind. That’s why Revel claims that some of its products are hailed by audiophile critics and music lovers alike as the world’s best loudspeakers. I don’t know about that, but when you look at their Legacy Ultima Salon series, the fact that they might be right begins to make more sense.

Apart from that futuristic cool look, the Salon is endowed with seven proprietary high-performance drivers that are able to provide true full-range response to reach below and above the limits of human hearing. The lowest frequencies are handled by a trio of 8-inch woofers, which feature multi-layer mica and carbon-filled co-polymer inverted domes that are behaving like a piston over their assigned frequency range. Thanks to some complex magnetic mechanisms, the deep bass response is extending all the way down to the lowest bass registers with an in-room low frequency extension of 16Hz.

Revel was very strict towards a smooth bass-to-mid-range transition and that’s why they included a unique mid-woofer, a 6½ inch mid-bass transducer that is housed in its own separate sub-enclosure within the lower enclosure.

The upper enclosure includes a 4-inch high-performance driver that is endowed with a high-performance neodymium magnetic motor system. This driver handles the mid –range frequencies, while a titanium tweeter covers the high frequencies.

For detailed tech specs check out the official Revel page. As for the price… you somehow feel this will set you back a small fortune just by looking at it. Online speaker providers have the Ultima Salon model for about $14,200.