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Experience with Castle speakers?

Barry_Sound

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Does anyone have experience with the current Castle lineup?
These remind me of the Wharfedale EVO 4.2 given the ribbon tweeters and 3-way design. I think they were released before the Wharfedales though.

There is hardly any info out there, except for one short German review for the Castle Avon 1 here (https://www.lite-magazin.de/2018/03/test-castle-avon-1-edle-regallautsprecher-fuer-hoechste-ansprueche/#:~:text=Die Avon 1 sind rundum,ebenso hochwertig ausgestattet wie verarbeitet.)

Home_Avon.png
 
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Barry_Sound

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I ordered a pair so you dont have to.

First impression: Furniture quality, real wood veneer that actually smells like real wood. Nicely crafted down to quality binding posts. They even include cotton gloves and a manual for setup. So far so nice.

The box says "engineered in England", speakers are built in China.

I gave them a short run listening to different kinds of music. I first noticed the brightness. The ribbon tweeter does a good job. Mid range was ok but on the bright side. Bass was absent. For a speaker this size it almost felt like a defect. Drums sound tiny, voices lack depth. Maybe a bass-reflex port could have helped but I assume the woofer itself is dramatically undersized or just terrible to begin with.

I cant believe a group of engineers sitting together, listening and approving such design. "Man, I hate bass and our customers hate bass too. Let´s do this."

I run a powerful, higher end amp at that puts out 200W. Should not have a problem driving these speakers.

What are you doing Castle?

Sadly, not recommended.
 

thorvat

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Speaker on the pic is Castle Avon 2. It's a transmission line design with one 130mm carbon fibre woofer. Spec says this:

Frequency Response60Hz ~ 20kHz
Bass Extension55Hz

Obviously, bass fiends should couple it with a sub or look at its floorstander brothers, Avon 4 or even better Avon 5.

Btw, as this is technically oriented forum I believe most of us would prefere room measurement, listening distance data and picture from which speaker position is visible, instead of subjective impression.
 

muslhead

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Speaker on the pic is Castle Avon 2. It's a transmission line design with one 130mm carbon fibre woofer. Spec says this:

Frequency Response60Hz ~ 20kHz
Bass Extension55Hz

Obviously, bass fiends should couple it with a sub or look at its floorstander brothers, Avon 4 or even better Avon 5.

Btw, as this is technically oriented forum I believe most of us would prefere room measurement, listening distance data and picture from which speaker position is visible, instead of subjective impression.
60hz-20k under what conditions +/-10b. Those specs are useless and tell us nothing
 
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Barry_Sound

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Speaker on the pic is Castle Avon 2. It's a transmission line design with one 130mm carbon fibre woofer. Spec says this:

Frequency Response60Hz ~ 20kHz
Bass Extension55Hz

Obviously, bass fiends should couple it with a sub or look at its floorstander brothers, Avon 4 or even better Avon 5.

Btw, as this is technically oriented forum I believe most of us would prefere room measurement, listening distance data and picture from which speaker position is visible, instead of subjective impression.

The frequency range you posted is telling even though it has limitations like muslhead said. The Elac Unifi are smaller and lighter but go down to 46Hz from specs (Source: https://www.elac.de/series/uni-fi-2-0-de/uni-fi-2-0-serie-regallautsprecher/).

Unfortunately, I dont have any measurements for the Castle Avon 2 and sending them to Amir from over here wouldnt be worth it.
 
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Barry_Sound

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If they are sealed boxes they might be designed to work against a wall, if so that will help the bass. Or they could just be awful.
Had them about 50cm from a rear wall on solid Wharfedale stands. I was listening semi-near field in a perfect stereo triangle.
 

TheBatsEar

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If they are sealed boxes they might be designed to work against a wall, if so that will help the bass. Or they could just be awful.
Or they could be awesome. Will we ever know without measurements?
 

TheBatsEar

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Unfortunately, I dont have any measurements for the Castle Avon 2 and sending them to Amir from over here wouldnt be worth it.
It's never to late to buy a UMIK and know the truth of your situation. Not sure if there are cheaper alternatives, but it's pretty cheap as it is, i think.
 

Soniclife

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It's never to late to buy a UMIK and know the truth of your situation. Not sure if there are cheaper alternatives, but it's pretty cheap as it is, i think.
Agreed, anyone with speakers should have the means to measure them, it saves so much time, and you learn real things.

I didn't realise how small the bass driver was, or that they were using a so called transmission line, they probably have very little grunt down low.
 
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Barry_Sound

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To round this up, here is something I found on the Avon 5 including some simplified measurement. Looks like the Avon 5 is basically almost the Avon 2 with one added 130mm woofer.

Bass driver on the Avon 2 is 150mm.
Bass drivers on Avon 5 are 2 x 130mm.


61-OB3-AFWRi-L-AC-SX679.jpg
 
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Barry_Sound

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I didn't realise how small the bass driver was, or that they were using a so called transmission line, they probably have very little grunt down low.
Do you think the transmission line causes weak bass or is it simply the woofer dimension?
 

Soniclife

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Do you think the transmission line causes weak bass or is it simply the woofer dimension?
Boxes that size cannot have a real transmission line, if manufacturers think they have cracked it in boxes that small they should put their mic where there mouth is. What this type of box often has is a cancellation from the opening at some bass frequencies, making them much worse than a simple port. An in room measurement will show this, and give your a slight chance you can work around it with placement.
 

TheBatsEar

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The woofer is 150mm, which is 6". Not large, but not small either.
 

TheBatsEar

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"CASTLE Avon-2"
  • 3-Way compact speaker
  • SDEL - Single Drive Extended Line
  • 150mm Woven Carbon Fibre Woofer
  • 115mm Woven Carbon Fibre Midwoofer
  • 12 x 45 mm True Ribbon
  • 88dB sensitivity
  • 25-100W recommended amplification
  • 96dB Peak SPL
  • 8 ohm compatible
  • 3.3 ohm minimum impedance
  • 50Hz ~ 20kHz frequency response
  • 45Hz bass extension
  • 475 x 210 x 310mm
  • 10.5kg
 

TheBatsEar

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Manufacturers prose:

With breakthrough Twin Drive Transmission Line technology, combined with real wood veneers, hand crafted and polished to perfection - Castle Avon is a delight to both eyes and ears.

Determined to both perfect and take advantage of the Transmission Line speaker principles, Castle engineers embarked on a three year investigation into the acoustics, mathematics and all performance aspects of such loudspeakers.

The result was a break through in TL Theory.

In its simplest explanation, driving the line at two distinct points overcomes both the damping problem and loss of energy, resulting in a smooth power response from the lowest fundamentals right through to the midrange frequencies.

Castle has called this breakthrough technology TDTL - Twin Drive Transmission Line and is, for the very first time, in the new Avon floorstanding loudspeakers.

Avon 4 features twin castle 130m woven fibre cone drives in a TL tuned to 38Hz, while Avon 5 features twin castle 150mm Woven Carbon Fibre cone drivers in a TL tuned to 32Hz.

In room the Avon 5 achieves a bass extension (-6dB) down to 30Hz making it a truly wideband speaker.

The Avon Series provides delicacy and sparkling detail in the way they reproduce musical instruments and voices.

Avon Series does not just focus solely on the TDTL Transmission Line technology.

In addition to the Avon 4 and 5 floorstanders are the Avon 1 and the Avon 2 bookshelf speakers and the Avon C centre-channel speaker meaning you can configure Avon speakers for conventional stereo systems and full-home cinema setups as you desire.

The other speakers in the series use a combination of Single Drive Extended Line and Twin Drive Extended Line technology for a dramatic sound.

To equally match the low end clarity of the TDTL technology all Avon speakers are paired with an advanced Ribbon HF.

Avon's ribbon tweeter design uses an ultra-thin alloy sandwich precisely positioned in a powerful transverse magnetic field, where the ribbon acts as both the voice coil and diaphragm.

In this way the whole radiating area is driven directly and responds accurately to the music signal without energy storage or breakup.

Together, the direct drive and low mass of the ribbon provide superb musical detailing and transient attack, resolving the harmonic content of the music in a thrilling and natural way.

Avon Series is available in a choice of different hand-finished, real wood veneers from around the world and whenever possible, from properly managed forest resources.
 

Soniclife

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"CASTLE Avon-2"
  • 3-Way compact speaker
  • SDEL - Single Drive Extended Line
  • 150mm Woven Carbon Fibre Woofer
  • 115mm Woven Carbon Fibre Midwoofer
  • 12 x 45 mm True Ribbon
  • 88dB sensitivity
  • 25-100W recommended amplification
  • 96dB Peak SPL
  • 8 ohm compatible
  • 3.3 ohm minimum impedance
  • 50Hz ~ 20kHz frequency response
  • 45Hz bass extension
  • 475 x 210 x 310mm
  • 10.5kg
On https://castle.uk.com/avon-2/ it says...
Bass Driver130mm Woven Carbon Fibre Woofer
 

thorvat

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60hz-20k under what conditions +/-10b. Those specs are useless and tell us nothing

Specs are, as with any other manufacturer, very unprecise, but they certainly don't overestimate speaker LF capability. This is a small volume speaker so expecting massive LF response is naive.
 
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