-The reference3a decapos can outdo them in low level detail but not soundstaging. Not much bass either.
-The audio physic avanti can outdo them in soundstaging and detail.
-I've heard a few speakers, like the eidolon & upper kharmas that are 'roughly' their equal. They give some they take some.
The virgo's are smaller voiced, so they can image/soundstage better at the expense of mid to low bass. A vocalist is more exactly defined, but you don't get the full range of a piano or full size bass. The trick with bigger speakers is that they can image these large instruments too. I have a feeling they lose a little imaging due to congestion from bass/room interactions.
-My alltime favorite combo with the virgo's was the arc vt100m2 (W/KT88 TUBES) and bat vk-50SE. I'm using a 15 watt cary SEI w/WE 300b'S with my avanti's right now to excellent result. Midrange and low level to die for, but low authority in the bass. If midrange is your thing, you might want to try a powerful 300B amp. Pass labs aleph 2/alephP (or x1) is good solid state for them. Nordost cabling works well.
I could never really get a subwoofer to integrate that well with any system. I would always have to trade driver coherence for low level power. I would go for a fast sub such as the rel or audio physic. I tried both of these with ap's. I prefer the rel. Try a big amp - I found that's a better solution for me with ap's.
-The audio physic avanti can outdo them in soundstaging and detail.
-I've heard a few speakers, like the eidolon & upper kharmas that are 'roughly' their equal. They give some they take some.
The virgo's are smaller voiced, so they can image/soundstage better at the expense of mid to low bass. A vocalist is more exactly defined, but you don't get the full range of a piano or full size bass. The trick with bigger speakers is that they can image these large instruments too. I have a feeling they lose a little imaging due to congestion from bass/room interactions.
-My alltime favorite combo with the virgo's was the arc vt100m2 (W/KT88 TUBES) and bat vk-50SE. I'm using a 15 watt cary SEI w/WE 300b'S with my avanti's right now to excellent result. Midrange and low level to die for, but low authority in the bass. If midrange is your thing, you might want to try a powerful 300B amp. Pass labs aleph 2/alephP (or x1) is good solid state for them. Nordost cabling works well.
I could never really get a subwoofer to integrate that well with any system. I would always have to trade driver coherence for low level power. I would go for a fast sub such as the rel or audio physic. I tried both of these with ap's. I prefer the rel. Try a big amp - I found that's a better solution for me with ap's.