I have lived with theDuos for three years now. Having reviewes many hundreds of speakers I cannot say that the integration of the bass is a problem. It is not easy to produce a frequency curve for these speakers as the drive units are effectively so far apart. However, with careful in-room siting, and 3m and 5m measurements you can get a +/-1.5dB flat response from 28Hz to 19kHz. The other thing to remember about bass is that it travels more slowly, but decays less quickly whereas higher frequencies travel faster and decay more quickly over distance. EVERY speaker exhibits this phenomenon. It is more likely that with their minimal cone excursions, that horns with an active sub are the best bet yet. Better that than slow tweeters! The horn material characteristics are also well outside the audible bandwidth. They are rigid enough to do the job of providing a channel for the sound, but their (low) frequency resonances and their mechanical integrities do not impose themselves on the sound passing through. Essentially thay are a 'rigid floppy' channel. The last thing to bear in mind is that the Avantgardes will reveal everything about what comes before them. If your amp or source is flawed, that's where the problem will lie, and not with the speakers. They are only as good (and in most cases (with 18 years or reviewing behind me) better) than most of the available electronics. If you really want to hear what they're capable of try a pre/power amp from Vocale in England. There's no resistor or cap in the signal path, and boy do they let the music through. You can contact Vocale on vocale@aol.com Just think about it. with 100dB+ efficiency, the noise floor with 100watt electronics will make more noise than the signal on a 100watt amp....... before you get deafened.
