Avante Garde horn speakers.....


Any impressions?
jman

Showing 5 responses by carl_eber

Frequency amplitude response isn't the only way to measure a speaker. The "speed" aspects refer to the transient response performance, or how well the woofer's cone can follow the signal it gets fed, and how fast its decay time is. Automatically assuming that, since the sub is servo feedback controlled, there will be zero intermodulation distortion, is a mistake...both with regards to the cones themselves, and also with regards to how the system behaves in its enclosure, and then in the room. Not all servo subs sound alike with regards to "rhythm and pace", after all. Just ask any equipment reviewer or manufacturer. Don't depend on a sales guy to answer these questions...
The problem just doesn't seem to be amplitude related, going by what the guys who've owned these have said. Since you can adjust the sub's output level, and since guys usually don't buy these to pump a lot of power into the horns, it seems like it's more time domain related, than amplitude related.
Don't be too discouraged, "corn fed" people would have to spend a lot of time in the lavatory, and probably aren't as adept at listening to music, as the rest of us.
7p62mm, I don't believe there is an Avantgarde dealer within 200 miles of me in any direction, but I'll check. I would say that if you are seriously considering horn speakers, these are very likely some of the best (the Trios were a couple of the heavy weight reviewers "reference", at least until they heard the Pipedreams speakers). I don't care for horn speakers as much as some do on here, but I do like speakers that are dynamic. IMHO, dynamic range and dynamic contrast (with low distortion) are the main aspects that still separate the best loudspeakers from true "realistic reproduction". Try this test sometime: Take a spoon and a wine glass, and have someone stand between the speakers and clang the spoon against the glass HARD (just shy of breaking the glass). Record this with a DAT and quality microphone, and then play the recording back. Then you'll see what I mean. Even if you can't record it, do something similar with some other percussive instrument, and just try to imagine your system reproducing it. Seems like everyone feels that the recording medium would be the primary limiting factor, but I feel that it is secondary to the limiting factor of the speaker system (and the room set up philosophy, to a lesser degree). Speakers must transduce electrical to mechanical energy at a high energy level, so the losses are terribly difficult to overcome.
Sounds very good to me. I'm thinking of trading stocks online myself. Tech stocks are so low now that it seems like a good time to buy a few solvent ones...