Avantgarde

[richard12511]

If you look at the bottom of this page, you may see some of my impressions at shows about them.

I was at AXPONA 2017. Must have missed that room. I tried to hit most rooms.

I don't see your impressions, though. All you wrote in that thread was "fingers too tired".

 

[Frank Dernie]

Measurements don't look that bad tbh. Never heard one.

There is no chance of getting good integration between the multiple ways in the near field which makes most measurement methods difficult or suspect.
I listen to my horn speakers from about 17 feet. There is no obvious shortcomings in integration between units at this distance and I would guess the reduced directivity of horns is an advantage at this distance.
Genelec recommends almost none of their speakers for my listening distance, which is admittedly unusual.
My friend's Avantgardes are in a vast room and never listened to near field.

 

[abhijitnath]

I heard these (the Trios) at a showroom in Singapore, nothing has sounded this dynamic to me, ever. I don't mind the oversized soundstage.
Considering directivity is actually good, actively doing a 4-way crossover (+ time alignment, which really seems to be the bigger issue between the drivers) should actually make them exceptional? I had a long call with their customer rep today (extremely pleasant, knowledgeable guy) and he confirmed that something like Trinnov will do this with easy, and they would be happy to share crossover values, etc for this.
I can't possibly afford them at MSRP, but there is a used pair of Trios for USD 20k in the UK. Sigh.

Someone talk me out of this idea?

 

[Roy_L]

I've auditioned a pair of Trios (without the bass horn element) a few years ago in a fittingly large room. As far as I remember, the experience was... interesting.
These were by no means neutral or flat, and I've heard the presence of a noticable "honkey" distortion (can't think of a better word).
The bass reminded me of an earthquake, and the whole presentation sounded huge, kinda like PA speakers (much cleaner though).
HOWEVER, I can't say that it wasn't lots of fun. It gave a sense of scale and livelihood I don't recall hearing from conventional speakers. I can understand why people may like them.

 

[abhijitnath]

I agree! The"flatness" can be fixed in dsp no doubt. I guess I'll go further down this path...

 

[multichannel_guy]

View attachment 66177
Heard this model as an expo, I spent very little time in that room though and have no recollection how it sounded.

For a more conservative design and price, they have this:
View attachment 66178

Looking at the Stereophile measurements of one (102dB sensitivity!), the crossover integration is really poor, but John Atkinson states he had to measure at 1/2 the recommended listening distance, so that may be why, but besides that the on-axis was not impressive, but the off-axis was surprisingly well behaved albeit very narrow and having the mentioned crossover issue.

What model# is this white speaker? It looks surprisingly ok. I hate the sight of other Avantgarde speakers with the stupid looking horns.

 

[Purité Audio]

They are the ‘Zero’ I believe tried them here, active and a semi-passive version I think.
Keith

 

[multichannel_guy]

They are the ‘Zero’ I believe tried them here, active and a semi-passive version I think.
Keith

Thanks