Okay...I'll bite. I'm sure there are many here that have heard them as well as more than a few that still own them.
I bought mine direct from Jim Smith shortly after he became the US distributor. I flew to Atlanta, he picked me up at the airport, took me to his house where I listened for most of the day and then he drove me back to the airport that evening. I got home, decided on the color and then placed the order. They were drop shipped at my door about three weeks later (and I've had 'em ever since). They are stock with the exception of exchanging the mid range Xover caps out from the stock Mundorf caps to Duelund VSF (don't bother). They are not the Omega driver version. They are the cornerstone of a system that has been stable for 17 years based on Atmasphere amps and preamp, Walker TT and Metrum Pavane II DAC (the only piece of recent vintage, including all cables/wires). My goals are/were full frequency reproduction, high sensitivity, macro and micro dynamic capability and extreme resolution coupled with purity. And, needless to say, it has to come off as "musical".
The Duos have delivered the goods in spades in these aforementioned categories to the degree that I have never seriously entertained any thoughts of changing them out nor have I cast a wayward ear in other directions in search of another solution. They play with any flea power amp extant and, when set up properly, stage and image like a SOaB. I have heard over the years on various fora people piss and moan about how the bass is too slow for the horns and is tough to integrate but I simply do not find this to be the case. Rather, IME, the one inescapable drawback (not a major one) is that the bass comes out of a sealed box and, as such, suffers the attendant "boxiness" or sense of being closed in relative to the unbridled and unrestrained exuberance and openness inherent in horns. If this same bass solution was paired off with traditional boxed midrange and tweeter drivers employed in most designs, nary a peep would be made about it. Unless you are well heeled enough to be able to accomodate a full on horn system from true bass horn up, you will have to make peace with this situation.
Certainly there are speakers out there that are even more convincing than the Duos but at what price? Heck, todays Duos cost triple what I paid for mine back in 2001 (and, of course, incorporate many advances). But if you want a speaker capable of laying bare all of the music that is in the grooves, that will convey the full palette of emotion and shadings and one that will command your attention and turn every record into a performance, you will be hard pressed to exceed what the Avantgardes bring to the (turn)table.
I bought mine direct from Jim Smith shortly after he became the US distributor. I flew to Atlanta, he picked me up at the airport, took me to his house where I listened for most of the day and then he drove me back to the airport that evening. I got home, decided on the color and then placed the order. They were drop shipped at my door about three weeks later (and I've had 'em ever since). They are stock with the exception of exchanging the mid range Xover caps out from the stock Mundorf caps to Duelund VSF (don't bother). They are not the Omega driver version. They are the cornerstone of a system that has been stable for 17 years based on Atmasphere amps and preamp, Walker TT and Metrum Pavane II DAC (the only piece of recent vintage, including all cables/wires). My goals are/were full frequency reproduction, high sensitivity, macro and micro dynamic capability and extreme resolution coupled with purity. And, needless to say, it has to come off as "musical".
The Duos have delivered the goods in spades in these aforementioned categories to the degree that I have never seriously entertained any thoughts of changing them out nor have I cast a wayward ear in other directions in search of another solution. They play with any flea power amp extant and, when set up properly, stage and image like a SOaB. I have heard over the years on various fora people piss and moan about how the bass is too slow for the horns and is tough to integrate but I simply do not find this to be the case. Rather, IME, the one inescapable drawback (not a major one) is that the bass comes out of a sealed box and, as such, suffers the attendant "boxiness" or sense of being closed in relative to the unbridled and unrestrained exuberance and openness inherent in horns. If this same bass solution was paired off with traditional boxed midrange and tweeter drivers employed in most designs, nary a peep would be made about it. Unless you are well heeled enough to be able to accomodate a full on horn system from true bass horn up, you will have to make peace with this situation.
Certainly there are speakers out there that are even more convincing than the Duos but at what price? Heck, todays Duos cost triple what I paid for mine back in 2001 (and, of course, incorporate many advances). But if you want a speaker capable of laying bare all of the music that is in the grooves, that will convey the full palette of emotion and shadings and one that will command your attention and turn every record into a performance, you will be hard pressed to exceed what the Avantgardes bring to the (turn)table.