I drive a pair of Salon 2s with an MC452. If you're looking for a high residual value, excellent performing and very powerful stereo amp it's hard to go wrong with the 452/462 series. I've had mine for four years with no plans to change, no issues and it sounds great to me and everybody else. My room is treated for first reflections and bass response (via absorption) and even though the Revels have very smooth off axis response, treatment has helped greatly in focusing the sound. Best place I spent money on this system apart from the main gear. My room is 23' x16'x9.5' and "sorta" a LEDE setup although the "live end" is still pretty dry. Should tell you how old I am that I even mention LEDE design!
Revel doesn't provide a power handling rating per se for the Salons and if I recall, the factory (Kevin Voecks) will tell you that the more power the better. Of course we know there's a limit but the 452 won't exceed that with typical music dynamics. I have driven my Revels very hard (for science!) to full amplifier output before clipping which is easily determined by the meters and associated"Power Guard" LEDs. These indicate the signal is being affected by the "Power Guard" circuit which clamps down on the output so distortion is kept under 1% regardless of added gain upstream (according to McIntosh). Stereophile (Atkinson) measured the various parameters (of the 462, but they are very very close)
HERE. This is about as safe an amp within its envelope as you'll find. The Salons can take it but the sound in my room begins to come apart which comes across as "brightening" and looseness (bass) which I identify as the beginnings of distress. I don't know if this is a combination of power compression (speaker) or rising distortion (amp) or a combination of both but I suspect it's a lot to do with power compression as much as amplifier croaking. That's just a hunch though the measurements do indicate that compression starts to set in above 90dB SPL.
Read Here. This is good dope on the Salons.
Levels in my room, which as I said is quite absorptive, never much exceed about 105dB even on peaks measured from my listening position using Audio Tools using my iPhone 11. Not a sophisticated rig but close enough for government work. That's driving the amplifier to full output of around 450 watts (on peaks) using the amp's meters as a guide. The Salon's are inefficient and my room is fairly dry. I don't know if that accounts for the difference in acoustic output beeppeep and I seem to measure but my acoustic output would seem to be lower for a given input level at my listening position. I can't achieve 105dB steady state at anything like 100 watts. It would require the full output or a more powerful amp(!!!) to achieve those levels steady state but by that point the speaker would be in serious power compression according to the work of the NCR s linked above. That's where Floyd Toole worked prior to his position with Harman so it is to be trusted. Regardless the absolute accuracy of my measurements, plenty of clean power is indicated if high levels are desired.
I like the level on my rig (with music that calls for wide dynamics) to average right around 45-50 watts leaving over 10dB of headroom. The system sounds balanced and sweet to me when driven easier and anyway, it gets plenty loud enough. Peaks will of course be higher at such a steady state demand. At 45 watts indicated on Mc's meters, the system is outputting 10 dB below rated continuous power and clearly still has a couple dB of headroom over that. This is an optimal level for loud listening to me and it sounds great by my standards as informed by my experience. I do have subs (2 JLA F113) and they help in bass impact for sure but most people probably won't feel like they need much LF reinforcement. I like subs so I have a pair
I plan to have this rig for the duration with little if any need to change anything that doesn't break. Digital source is an Oppo 105, and my 2018 iMac all wired by Blue Jeans, which is located about 5 blocks from my old office at the foot of Queen Anne! While in the business I bought most of this stuff as I was still associated with Harman as their NW rep. It was pondered endlessly by me and I too decided this was the best way I could spend BIG money on a jewelry amp and speakers given my situation.
End of the story: Mac equipment is beautiful to look at, has those fun meters calibrated in watts and standard VU, is solidly made, conservatively spec'd, has essentially lifetime support and retains value better than most. If you have the means, you won't be disappointed.