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Avantgarde Duos - right for me?

I just wanted some opinions on the Avantgarde Duos as an upgrade path for my system.

My system currently consists of Manley 300b monoblocks, Manley Shrimp preamp, Acoustic Zen speaker and interconnect cabling and Omega Superhemp single driver speakers.

Overall I have been pleased with this system and just love the strengths of an SET/single driver system. Very intimate, great speed and tone, fabulous midrange, etc.

What the system is unfortunately lacking still is big dynamics and deep bass. I have read good things about the Avantgarge Duos but I cant find a local place to audition these speakers first hand. At any rate, I would certainly be looking to buy these pricey speakers used on Agon.

Any opinions on how the Duos would sound with the Manley 300b monoblocks? How small is the "sweet spot" on the Duos? I ask this because I do a lot of entertaining and would ideally like a speaker that has a decent sized listening area. What sized room do the Duos need to sound right? My living room is 18x24. Are there any other high sensitivity speakers that would be better than the Duos?
latinsamba1
esotheric's avatar
esotheric
5 posts
 
i am buying a duo next week , for me nothing else would do,
its a big improvement over the uno
ok you will have to position the speaker well , but hey dont believe the hype , some people make it out to be like a piece of civil engineering by using words like "tuning " , but its a piece of cake if you have a friend around
i personally dont believe that the avantgarde need a valve amp , its more like some valve amps need a speaker like the avantgarde to perform well
i discussed the speakers from avantgarde at lenght with mathias the designer over several drinks !!!
if AG thought they could do better with a valve amp they would have made one , ever wondered why they only make solid states
altec a7, a5, 419 and 406 ..... give us a break , i had all of them , nowhere near
they are not perfect though , all you need is to upgrade the crossover .(i went mundorf gold on the uno) awesome
johnk's avatar
johnk
1,490 posts
 
I used 300b amps on my duo 2.2. All the SETs I tried worked well. AG is good but for the cash you can do better in front horns. You can set up a front horn in most any size room depends on design. They dont need as much room as most think but some designs need more room or they do not integrate so well.
rudolffzigray
31 posts
 
Latinsamba,

I currently own a pair of Duo 2.2 and a pair of Omegas. I also own a pair of abbeys. I have owned the Unos and the Oris horns. Email me and we can talk on the phone. Not much for typing.

Kindest regards
Rudolff
rudolffzigray
31 posts
 
Oh I forgot I owned a pair of omega super hemp speakers as well. The Omegas mentioned above are the Avantgarde Duo Omegas. I have both sets of Duos side by side.
microstrip
180 posts
 
I have very little experience with horns. Some years ago I tried to listen to some Avantgarde, but as the dealer setup was poor I was not impressed and gave up the idea. However at the 2008 Lisbon Hifishow I heard a pair of Nano's driven by a small low power transistor amplifier developed by Avantgarde and it was really the best horns I ever heard - dynamic, sweet and musical. The system was really coherent!
Unhappily I do not remember the details of this amplifier.
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