Parts for Salon 2s?

[RobL]

What speaker companies in 2023 are “good” at providing long-term support?

How about KEF, Genelec, Klipsch, B&W, Elac, etc?

Can’t speak for the others but Genelec guarantees parts availability for a minimum of 5 years after product production ends.

 

[Kal Rubinson]

@Kal Rubinson did you switch from something in the old lineup to new (Be line?), any thoughts?

I switched from something in the old lineup (Studio 2s) to something other than Revel because I found the Be line aesthetically unacceptable.

 

[rogu3]

How about KEF, Genelec, Klipsch, B&W, Elac, etc?

FWIW, my experience with KEF support has been a good one, albeit not around long-term support. One of my kids damaged one of the woofers on my R7s and KEF sent me a a replacement woofer free of charge.

 

[Looneybomber]

Probably a bit late. But woofers are not available any more… Tweeters are still available…Revel does not have any crossovers available either. So overall the support for parts is pretty bad.

So parts are NLA on speakers with a 5 year warranty that may not even be sold yet, according to a post from a Revel dealer on AVSforum. Perhaps Revel will get another shipment of spare parts with this last production run?

“This is to announce the “LAST DANCE” sale for the much awarded and coveted Revel Salon2 loudspeaker.
We are producing ONE last build of this amazing loudspeaker and after that no more will ever be built.

There will be 39 pairs in mahogany finish and 31 pairs in piano black and then no more Salon2s.

These Salon2 are being produced now and will arrive in our warehouse during a 3-month period beginning in June and ending in August.
We are “pre-selling” these starting on April 1st. Due to the very limited quantities, we are expecting to sell out 100% before these even hit the warehouse.

This is a legendary speaker that has been awarded “Best of the Best at any Price” more years than not since it was introduced in 2007.

Salon2 normal MSRP is $24,198/pair. We are offering these last 70 pairs for $15,000/pair!”

 

[oldandintheway]

I have found B&W to be as bad as anyone. Frequent model changes and poor parts availability for even their top of line models. My local dealer seemed shocked that I thought they should support something for more than 5 years. I'm a cranky old man, and I don't have much use for expensive throw away consumer products. A $200 DAC fine, a four or five figure pair of speakers not so much. Part of the long term support issue might be ownership changes and migration of production to the other side of the world, but at the end of the day I don't care what their story is if they don't perform.

All of which leaves us with a problem: the little audio companies regularly fail, so no support. And in the modern world, larger companies don't want to warehouse parts long term which may never sell and certainly don't want that expense to harm this quarter's earnings. All of which should temper your desire for "end game" speakers.

 

[restorer-john]

They do know what they are talking about. They even had someone physically check a Harman warehouse in Asia to confirm a driver was there in storage which was not the case. No woofers anywhere.

That's absolutely reprehensible and most likely bordering on unconscionable behaviour. It's hard to believe.

The speakers are still being advertised on their own website:

Why don't you try contacting the US sales managers for Revel directly? Pick one and CC all the rest in the email, you'd surely get a repsonse and likely help. Surely, there's a wrecked cabinet Salon 2 in a warehouse someplace they could pull a driver from. They are TOTL speakers- they must keep spare parts.

From the revel website:

That's what I'd be doing. I'd probably also relate my experience in this thread.

 

[Doodski]

In the 90s I provided warranty service for KEF and Energy. We had stock/inventory in both the regular series of KEF and Energy and the KEF Reference Series. Parts availability was very good and stretched out to like 10 years and sometimes more.

 

[GXAlan]

That's absolutely reprehensible and most likely bordering on unconscionable behaviour. It's hard to believe.

I wonder if there is a different strategy based upon expected survivability.

What if the accountants have figured out that’s it’s better to just refund the customer in full if something breaks while under the 5 year warranty? It’s a far cry from the JBL of yester-decade for sure, but potentially a less harsh perspective.

Arcam’s warranty is for the original owner only. Even if you have a product which has only been in production during the warranty life span, they won’t honor the warranty. Heck, even Nikon refuses to warrant cameras bought outside standard distributors.

Years ago, I visited a hospital parking garage with my less than 2 week old brand new car. A piece of the parking garage roof fell on it and scratched everything up. Turns out this happens a few times a year (from ice freezing and thawing), but the security guard said that it usually happens to old cars so the damage isn’t that bad and it happens all the time.

They did have to pay for all of my repairs but the truth is that they never retrofitted the ceilings or repaired them since they must have figured that the risk that it would hurt a person was minimal and the likelihood of property damage was cheaper than the cost to pay out damages.

 

[Mr. Widget]

That's absolutely reprehensible and most likely bordering on unconscionable behaviour. It's hard to believe.

As a Harman dealer here in the US I have experienced this situation several times and stopped putting their products in my projects because of it. They have left me in the awkward position of having to explain to customers whey we can't fix their products several times.

Harman has some of the very best engineering in the world, but over the past decade they have become a company whose products I simply can not recommend to my customers simply because they are very spotty in their support.

 

[Todd k]

thats so sad to hear from a Harmon dealer. My ordeal with the salon1 was one of the worst customer support issues I have ever dealt with. If anything happens to my salon 2 I will be heartbroken if I can’t fix. I guess no more turning Ted Nugent Stranglehold to 11.

 

[BlackTalon]

Years ago, I visited a hospital parking garage with my less than 2 week old brand new car. A piece of the parking garage roof fell on it and scratched everything up. Turns out this happens a few times a year (from ice freezing and thawing), but the security guard said that it usually happens to old cars so the damage isn’t that bad and it happens all the time.

They did have to pay for all of my repairs but the truth is that they never retrofitted the ceilings or repaired them since they must have figured that the risk that it would hurt a person was minimal and the likelihood of property damage was cheaper than the cost to pay out damages.

That was probably spalling concrete, and warrants proper repair of the slab, including making sure the slab surface on the floor above has protection like a coating or sealer. It's not the sort of thing that can be shrugged off for years without the risk of significant and very costly repairs. What can cost a small amount to treat early on can result in major expenses and shut-downs down the road. Not to mention potential for collapse if a lot of rebar has significant section loss. And it's even worse if it's a post-tensioned structure. What part of the US?

 

[Trouble Maker]

I switched from something in the old lineup (Studio 2s) to something other than Revel because I found the Be line aesthetically unacceptable.

Why did you switch up to something newer? I'm wondering if, at a high level, you had similar concerns with it becoming an 'older' speaker.

 

[Kal Rubinson]

Why did you switch up to something newer?

I liked it better.

I'm wondering if, at a high level, you had similar concerns with it becoming an 'older' speaker.

Not really. I did have those concerns when I bought them in, I think, 2018 when I reviewed the f228Be and the handwriting was already on the wall about the imminent discontinuation of the Ultimas.

 

[Tachyon88]

This is disappointing to hear. The current Revel line up is on top of my list at the moment. I was even willing to overlook the aesthetics. What is the deal with the white drivers Revel !? I know the BE series is the current production model, but long term I don't want a potential unfixable problem in the future. What can go wrong will go wrong I say.

 

[MKR]

They do know what they are talking about. They even had someone physically check a Harman warehouse in Asia to confirm a driver was there in storage which was not the case. No woofers anywhere.

That’s terrible, sorry for your situation. Shame on Revel, seems they were being dishonest about having long term parts support just to move the last Salon 2s. Maybe we are seeing the end of a once great American speaker/technology company, at least as we know it today (was certainly a fear I had after the Samsung acquisition) … and once again, seems I made the right call to pass on the Salon 2s, at least related to this aspect.

 

[MKR]

By the way the revel salon 2’s are absolutely end game speakers. Amir has good taste.

Apparently not if you damage a driver! Nice looking paper weight is what you have in that case

 

[MKR]

How cheap are used Salon 2's? Are they actually better or better for your situation in the Be226-328 range? I've read somewhere that Be328 was supposed to be the replacement in the lineup for the Salon 2, but that's just 4th hand anecdotal. I can't imagine the Be328 lags much if any behind the Salon 2, especially for most people in most use cases.

@Kal Rubinson did you switch from something in the old lineup to new (Be line?), any thoughts?

I have spent extensive time with the Salon 2 and the 328 (in same listening room,
level matched) and I can assure you (for my ears), the 328 is NOT the equal of the Salon 2, no matter how much Revel wants you to believe this (of course this is what Revel will say to move 328s). Not to mention the Be series is just flat out ugly. I don’t blame Kal one bit for going a different direction. Not to mention tough to go wrong with the Blades

 

[Looneybomber]

Apparently not if you damage a driver! Nice looking paper weight is what you have in that case

End game, gamer over, same thing, right? ;-)

 

[BossBunos]

That's absolutely reprehensible and most likely bordering on unconscionable behaviour. It's hard to believe.

The speakers are still being advertised on their own website:

View attachment 306208

Why don't you try contacting the US sales managers for Revel directly? Pick one and CC all the rest in the email, you'd surely get a repsonse and likely help. Surely, there's a wrecked cabinet Salon 2 in a warehouse someplace they could pull a driver from. They are TOTL speakers- they must keep spare parts.

From the revel website:
View attachment 306209

That's what I'd be doing. I'd probably also relate my experience in this thread.

I did email them and will update this thread when I hear back from them. In the mean time the Dutch importer is being super helpful.
They investigated the tweeter/crossover issue I have (different thread). Now they just sent me a quote which I think is a 'bargain'. Tweeter replacement, woofer surround restoring. X-over broken parts replacement + cleaning for 'only' 1500 euro (the tweeter alone is 800).

In the mean time I came in contact with a guy that is willing to sell 2 brand new salon2 tweeters + a voice2 for 2k. The voice2 shares the same woofers and tweeter as the salon2 (matching part numbers). So I'm really tempted to take the deal to ensure a long lifespan of my salons

 

[BossBunos]

So parts are NLA on speakers with a 5 year warranty that may not even be sold yet, according to a post from a Revel dealer on AVSforum. Perhaps Revel will get another shipment of spare parts with this last production run?

“This is to announce the “LAST DANCE” sale for the much awarded and coveted Revel Salon2 loudspeaker.
We are producing ONE last build of this amazing loudspeaker and after that no more will ever be built.

There will be 39 pairs in mahogany finish and 31 pairs in piano black and then no more Salon2s.

These Salon2 are being produced now and will arrive in our warehouse during a 3-month period beginning in June and ending in August.
We are “pre-selling” these starting on April 1st. Due to the very limited quantities, we are expecting to sell out 100% before these even hit the warehouse.

This is a legendary speaker that has been awarded “Best of the Best at any Price” more years than not since it was introduced in 2007.

Salon2 normal MSRP is $24,198/pair. We are offering these last 70 pairs for $15,000/pair!”

Do you mind sharing the source of this quote. I spoke to the importer again today and he reacted quite surprised and told me they could not order anything from the ultima2 line for several years already.