Acapella vs. Avantgarde


I currently run a Cary CD-306, Cary SLP-05 preamp, and Cary 805AE monoblocks with a pair of ProAc D38's (see system). The combination is sweet and involving, but the combo just does not boogie when asked to play a large orchestral piece, by Mahler/Wagner/Shostakovich. When the volume is turned up, dynamics are poor and the system starts to sound compressed. I suspect that the 50W Cary's simply does not have enough guts to drive the ProAc's, so I am considering replacing them with a more efficient speaker. Since most SET afficionadoes love horns, this led me to look into Avantgarde and Acapella.

I live in Melbourne, Australia. Avantgarde is available through a dealer here, but he does not have any in stock. The Acapella dealer is in Sydney (a plane flight away). I am looking to spend A$30,000 - which will buy a nice Avantgarde Duo, or a secondhand Acapella High Violon.

I have read plenty about the dynamics of the Avantgardes, but my concern is if they have horn coloration. Also, how do they image? Are they sensitive to room placement?

Would the Acapella High Violon's be a better buy, considering the pair I can potentially get my hands on have been heavily discounted? I have read that Acapella's suffer from disjointed sound because of the three different driver technologies (plasma tweeter, horn mids, conventional woofer). How much is this a problem? And are there any room placement issues? Given that the Acapella's have lower sensitivity (91 dB/W/m) would I be achieving a real upgrade by moving from the ProAc's?
amfibius
My friend went from an earlier set of the Highs to the Suboctaves and they are quite an improvement over the earlier highs.
One other question, which is a cost/benefit one (how dare I?).
THe Duos, used are 7k dollars or so. A decent amp to drive them less than that. What is the ballpark cost-used- of the recommended Acapella set-up with appropriate amplification?
Whart, you cannot meet that price with any of the Acapellas discussed, which is not to suggest that they are overpriced. When I bought my Duos, they cost less than $20k and that was several versions and many years ago. Acapellas are relatively recent to the US.
I know it is unfair to bring price into the equation when we are striving for the uncompromised sound. Just wanted to interject a little 'levitation' into the proceedings, to paraphrase one of my favorite actors.
I'm another happy long time Duo owner. Set up is crucial. My dealer in the UK came to my home to set mine up - will your Melbourne dealer do the same? Set up correctly they are fantastic, with a few caveats about the bass as mentioned. My only concern would be about your Cary's. The Duos are so efficient that they will show up noisy circuits in amplifiers. With the AGs, you don't need many watts, and you need even less noise.

Good luck

Charlie