edjlif
I didnot say the duos did not sound very good, I was merely indicating that it has some of the typical traits of horn speakers. One of these there is an overall 'sketchy' feel to its presentation. A lightnesss and speed that is common more or less in many horn designs but probably less so in the Avantgardes. I have played around with the duo set up plenty hence the advice regarding supports to give the musicians more body and warmth.
Ultimately compared to the hyperions their faults become obvious, especially in the region of musicality, clarity, transparency and bass. Read comparisons steve rochlin makes with his reference avantgardes with other speakers, on enjoythemusic especially when he compares it to the Galante rhapsody at a fraction of the price. I have heard the duos and trios in various settings and the sound is characteristic, a lightnesss of touch which takes them away from a truely realistic reproduction.
They were one of the best speakers in the world a few years ago, but I now have evidence that they are being overtaken by several of the price breaking newcomers.Only when directly compared with these in ones own set up can the weaknesses truely become apparent.
There is a German DIY site which tries to address this one failing with the Avantgardes. They inform us that the metallic carriers for the horns can be filled with deflex material and the crossovers upgraded with warmer sounding Jensen Caps. I have not tried these yet, but even if this did improve the sound, the subwoofers still need an awful lot of work to get to sound anywhere near as good as a passive integrated one. Having to use solid state amplification in the actives is certainly degrading in my opinion, and judging by the very poor quality of the supplied cables I would be suspicious about the amount of thought that went into the design of the subwoofer.
In my exprience the difference between amplifiers can be considered minimal when compared with the differences between speakers. Hence the advice to the original author of this thread.
Luke