I think your inferences are OK and I refer you to Fred Kaplan's follow-up, to my review of the Revel F228Be and the accompanying story about my visit to Harman for more insight. Even if you cannot do an A/B, at least get to hear them.

I was convinced to make a change when I had the F228Be in my room with the B&W. Choosing the Studio2 over the F228Be was more difficult, so you might lend them an ear or two.

Hi Kal, could you please comment on dimensions of your listening room with Revel Studio2 and did you ever felt that you need more power then Benchmark AHB2 delivers? In one of AHB2 reviews I read about it small dynamic headroom but I assume that if you are using only 50% of your amp power for normal listening then it should have enough to cover dynamic picks? Currently I am using GoldenEar2 with Integra DTR-7.8 receiver and I could not get live music on low to moderate levels out of this setup and on higher levels it makes a lot of unnatural sound (please don't laugh - it was 8 years ago my 1st step into music listening). Money wise I was tempted to go with GoldenEar Reference and AHB2, but after reading reading continuous praises for Salon2's from Larry G., John A. and Jim A. in Stereophile and that you got REVEL Studio2's I am getting suspicious that even GoldenEar Triton Reference will not deliver the clarity, details and musicality that I am looking for. Since you had B&W 802 D3 (which are not the low end speakers) and definitively have heard GoldenEar Reference sets but didn't go with them I assume that they are not the match to Revel Ultima's. Not that I am trying to diminish GoldenEar Triton Reference quality - they are in the same Class A as Revel Studio2, twice more sensitive and 50% less expensive (and definitely way better then my old Triton2), but for whatever reasons you have chosen Revels. I don't have any dealers in Oregon that have Ultima Studio2 (not even talking about Salon2) on display to come to audition, so I have decided just to follow your steps. I love multi-channel music but can't really afford the high quality multi-channel, so I decided to start with 2 channels. If you could specifically elaborate on why for example you let B&W go and didn't go with GoldenEar Triton Reference for your listening room I will greatly appreciate it! Any feedback is highly appreciated.

1. A description of my room is appended to all of my reviews and, no, I do not have issues with the power handling of the AHB-2 monoblocs.
2. I had never considered the GE Triton Reference at the time and, I admit, I have no reasons for that. It is mostly aesthetic. More I will not say as I am preparing a review of the GE Triton One.R at the moment.
3. As stated earlier, once I had the F228Be in the room with the B&Ws, the decision to change (to something) was made.

Good for you. I hope you will enjoy them for a long time.

Kal