Kenl,
I have a pair of Avantegarde Duos. I found that I needed the integrated subwoofer to really enjoy all types of music. I didn't like the single driver(full range) speakers--no frequency extremes tho they do midrange very well. As to the amps, I did compare the two. The 270 sounded great but in comparison to the 811 was more OTL-like e.g. faster and slightly harder sounding. The 811 had slightly more midrange bloom but most importantly for me was that I started listening to the music and forgetting about audiophile sonic attributes like soundstaging,speed,
detail,etc. With the 811 the speakers completely disappeared. Hope this helps.
I have a pair of Avantegarde Duos. I found that I needed the integrated subwoofer to really enjoy all types of music. I didn't like the single driver(full range) speakers--no frequency extremes tho they do midrange very well. As to the amps, I did compare the two. The 270 sounded great but in comparison to the 811 was more OTL-like e.g. faster and slightly harder sounding. The 811 had slightly more midrange bloom but most importantly for me was that I started listening to the music and forgetting about audiophile sonic attributes like soundstaging,speed,
detail,etc. With the 811 the speakers completely disappeared. Hope this helps.