OK y'all, as promised, reporting back on the status of the Salon2 ... Actually spoke with one of the Harman Luxury US regional reps yesterday, below are the FACTS ...
- The entire Ultima series has been discontinued, EXCEPT the Salon2 which is still a current model and in production
- Salon2 margin is very minimal (not sustainable is how I read that) as Revel has not raised the price to keep up w/production costs over the years ***
- The reps sense is the Salon2 will in fact be discontinued sometime in the next 12 months for good
- Revel just produced and received into their warehouse a small run of Salon2 in black and mahogany, only ~14 of each
- In addition, there are more units coming mid-December. These will be new A stock units with full warranty and support.
- If you always wanted a pair of these, I recommend placing your order ASAP, as there are not that many coming
*** Given it is still such a world class loudspeaker, I wonder why Harman does not "refresh" and raise the price a bit to maintain profitability. Maybe that is the purpose of the 328Be, but from my research, it does not exceed or even equal the Salon2 performance.
Note I also asked about service/warranty support in the future (after it has been discontinued) and the response was that "drivers/parts will be available for at least 5 years. Maybe longer for the Salon2. We still have drivers for the Salon 1"
Given the above, I would purchase a pair of Salon2s TODAY if I had already had a chance to audition, but I will not spend that kind of money sight unseen (rather unheard). So I need to find a way to audition a pair (hopefully alongside the 328Be and JBL M2, 4367, and K2 9900
). I would only ask that y'all don't now go out and buy up all the remaining Salon2s until I have a chance to hear them, please save a mahogany pair for me
Anyway, there you have it, "the rest of the story". Now to find a place to audition!