Upgrading to Avantgarde Colibri C2

[Puddingbuks]

This is also a measurement, yes the older people are, the more they seem to think that they hear everything perfect:

 

[MysticMonkey]

I have avantgarde zero actives. They’re sitting dormant unfortunately as something is wrong with the slave speaker. Very difficult time getting them repaired as they are no longer made. I’m trying to get something set up with the north American distributor but haven’t had much luck. Loved them when working so I think you’re in for a treat.

I am now very hesitant to go back to active speakers for this very situation.

We have 5 Avantgarde Solo for HT setup, somewhere along the line the amp on some of the Solos started to pickup interference noises. I contacted Avantgarde directly with the issues, received a response by a gentleman called Armin. He proposed replacing part of the amp, air freight from Germany to where i live, very reasonably priced. Mind you this is years after Solo has ceased production. Still work great to this date.

Try contacting them directly and troubleshoot your issue.

 

[Eric Larson]

I’m thinking of getting a pair of Avantgarde Colibri C2 for my living room.

View attachment 535218

I really like their design and build quality. Many hate the design, but I love it.

The Kef LS60 will have to move for them. They sound fantastic and with my SVS sub they leave little to desire. And yes they will most certainly have better spinorama results than the colibri (can’t find any measurements).

But the Kef’s are frail and vulnerable. Woofer and coax without grill. Beautiful but prone to scratches surface. Electronics inside that gave me problems from time to time (wifi).

What I expect from the colibri speakers is a more dynamic “live like” performance. I have read many positive comments from people hearing them at shows.

Any thoughts?

 

[Eric Larson]

I had a pair of Kef LS60 for a week or so. I had nothing but trouble with the internal electronics. Returned them.

I also have a powered subwoofer. Had to replace the amp twice..

Starting to think that approach is not for me.

 

[Sal1950]

I had a pair of Kef LS60 for a week or so. I had nothing but trouble with the internal electronics. Returned them.

I also have a powered subwoofer. Had to replace the amp twice..

Starting to think that approach is not for me.

I've never owned powered speakers, but have owned 6 or 7 powered subwoofers and never had one of their plate amps fail.
Maybe I'm just lucky?
But I don't think I'd have any interest in owning powered speakers either,

 

[Puddingbuks]

I have and had many powered speakers, studio monitors and subwoofers, never had a problem.

With the LS60 I had network issues, causing drop outs through wifi and ethernet. This was finally resolved by replacing my network router and wifi boosters, but when I contacted Kef while this problem still was at play, the only option was to send the speaker to a repair shop. Not Kef, but a speaker repair center. This with the friendly reminder from Kef that they would run some test, but if the network issues dit not occur, they would send the speaker back and I probably would have the same problems….

So it also a matter of logistics, an amp can more easily be repaired and transported.

Problem is this: will the unit be serviceable after 5 years or more? And after 15 years? A genelec probably, but a Kef?

A passive speaker will most likely have no problems within 25-30 years.

 

[Sal1950]

Problem is this: will the unit be serviceable after 5 years or more? And after 15 years? A genelec probably, but a Kef?

A passive speaker will most likely have no problems within 25-30 years.

That says it all for me. If the amp driving my passive speakers develops a issue, I can replace it with most any power amp made in the last 80 years.
Active speaker amps are mostly proprietary being not only power amps but also part of the crossover network.
You need exact replacement or your screwed.

 

[Paffi]

We want the colibris to arrive in the next weak the latest

 

[Dan]

We have 5 Avantgarde Solo for HT setup, somewhere along the line the amp on some of the Solos started to pickup interference noises. I contacted Avantgarde directly with the issues, received a response by a gentleman called Armin. He proposed replacing part of the amp, air freight from Germany to where i live, very reasonably priced. Mind you this is years after Solo has ceased production. Still work great to this date.

Try contacting them directly and troubleshoot your issue.

Thanks, I’ll do that

 

[Puddingbuks]

They have arrived!

Christmas came early this year.

The avantgarde speakers have an amazing build quality, wow, german engineering. With the light in the room their color changes, I love their looks. My kids asked if this was a new sort of toilet.

After using roomperfect on the lyngdorf 1120 and integrating my sub I have arrrived at hifi heaven. For me, a clear upgrade to the Kef LS60. More “live”, punchy sound and voices that are better defined in the soundstage. Voices sound more lifelike and “real”. The music comes in more layers, you can here the different parts better separated from each other.

Another good thing: Tidal playback on the Lyngdorf is faster and more responsive than on the Kefs.

Amazed again about how good roomperfect is. I use dirac and audessey also, but roomperfect just sounds right to me. Bass is tight and sounds just right. Love it.

I almost destroyed my SVS sub… Scrolling through the Lyngdorf options, I noted a “full scale” option. After selecting this, my SVS almost seemed to explode, it was suddenly outputting max power. This option will send a maximum signal to the output. Should be accompanied by a a warning I guess.

The SVS with the Lyngdorf on top:

 

[Paffi]

Congratulations!

 

[CapMan]

I really like their design and build quality. Many hate the design, but I love it.

Aww - to me it looks like a gramophone strapped to an old person's shopping walker. Beauty in the eye of the beholder I guess . Enjoy

 

[Puddingbuks]

Aww - to me it looks like a gramophone strapped to an old person's shopping walker. Beauty in the eye of the beholder I guess . Enjoy

I understand. When you see them up close and feel them, maybe you will change your mind. But beauty is indeed in the eye of the beholder.

 

[Flaesh]

The table on the left is almost acceptable. But the stand for the large pot needs to be replaced, IMHO.

 

[Keith_W]

Love the aesthetic. I didn't think much of those speakers when I saw the photos, but in your listening room they look gorgeous. Congratulations and enjoy!

 

[RexrothPigeon]

They have arrived!

View attachment 543066

Christmas came early this year.

The avantgarde speakers have an amazing build quality, wow, german engineering. With the light in the room their color changes, I love their looks. My kids asked if this was a new sort of toilet.

After using roomperfect on the lyngdorf 1120 and integrating my sub I have arrrived at hifi heaven. For me, a clear upgrade to the Kef LS60. More “live”, punchy sound and voices that are better defined in the soundstage. Voices sound more lifelike and “real”. The music comes in more layers, you can here the different parts better separated from each other.

Another good thing: Tidal playback on the Lyngdorf is faster and more responsive than on the Kefs.

Amazed again about how good roomperfect is. I use dirac and audessey also, but roomperfect just sounds right to me. Bass is tight and sounds just right. Love it.

View attachment 543070

View attachment 543068

View attachment 543067

View attachment 543071


I almost destroyed my SVS sub… Scrolling through the Lyngdorf options, I noted a “full scale” option. After selecting this, my SVS almost seemed to explode, it was suddenly outputting max power. This option will send a maximum signal to the output. Should be accompanied by a a warning I guess.

View attachment 543073

The SVS with the Lyngdorf on top:

View attachment 543075

Congrats! They look fantastic in your space, perfect fit for the feel of the room

 

[kemmler3D]

Congrats, they look pretty cool, and FWIW I don't think the measurements are THAT bad for a horn speaker, seems EQ-able if need be.

 

[Puddingbuks]

View attachment 543128
The table on the left is almost acceptable. But the stand for the large pot needs to be replaced, IMHO.

Good idea hahah. Yes, the plants…. used to be a LOT more, so my wife creating some space for my speakers is a sign of love.

 

[somebodyelse]

(dynamic and livelike as the kefs suck at this)

I don't think that's been established in any review (even subjective) or measurement anywhere.

The LS60s are a relatively small speaker, so if you listen loud or from a distance in a big room you may start to run into their limits, especially if your music isn't already highly compressed. Erin's dynamic range test shows this quite clearly - it starts by rolling off the top and bottom significantly in the 96dB test (almost an inverse loudness function), and by 102dB it's dropping off the bottom of the chart over almost the whole range. In a modern active this is almost certainly intentional limiting in the DSP to protect the drivers, so we probably won't see pictures of LS60 drivers damaged by overenthusiastic volume settings like we do with the LS50. It's something we see even more with desktop near field monitors like the Adam D3V where the 96dB/1m trace only appears above 1kHz. Conversely with the passive Reference 2 Meta there's little change even at the 102dB/1m level.

 

[Puddingbuks]

Compression will most likely not be a problem with the colibri's high sensitivity and use of a subwoofer @80hz.