Avalon Eidolon or Parsifal Encore

Thanks for your summary, Edorr. Your thought that Eidolons would sound good with tubes is right on target. Great tube amps bring out the best in these speakers in my experience. The challenge is that they do like a fair amount of power. The good news is their impedance curve is fairly easy for many tube amps to handle (minimum at 3.6ohms).

And, you are absolutely correct in your surmise that ancillary equipment is critical. The Eidolons will not gloss over any deficiencies in your source material or other gear upstream.
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Few more quick observations.

Eidolon has very clear and fast bass. Shines on Jazz ensemble music - very musical basslines.

Lots of depth and great layering of instuments on large orchestral music.

Still some harshness in the treble in particular on old recordings - I suspect this is simply what is on the track.

Nonetheless, the treble is the only area I slighlty prefer the Verities over the Eidolons (may be this is why they build the Diamond). I think my class A's will sound more "liquid" in the highs than the class D's I am using now though. Reluctant to address the issue with high powered tubse because of reliability issues (I blew up a Graaf GM200 OTL amp once and have become a bit gunshy since).

Vocals used to come more pinpoint from the center with the Verities, and seem to be floating in space a but more with the Eidolons (help me out here - is this called "imaging"). I have not done any expirimentation with speaker postioning which I suspect may be the issue here.

First impresssions on playing them with the JL113 two subs (Eidolons at full range subs crossed over at 30Hz) is the subs will probably stay in the stereo system. No discrernable negative impact (i.e. no muddling of the bass) and a tad more foundation (I use Stevie Ray Vaughan's "Tin Pay Alley" from "could not stand the wheather" to test this).

A change in amplifier will help, Edorr. As we've been saying, the Eidolons are *very* revealing of everything in the audio chain.

The Eidolons will "float" an image in width, height and depth. But expect the image to be rock solid, with no wandering, wavering or shimmy. If the image is not absolutely solid and tangible, room placement is definitely the next area of experimentation. The Eidolons will enjoy a lot of clear open space behind them. So be sure to experiment with pulling them well out into the room.

Judicious room treatment for fine tuning can also help, but this is not something to do early on in the process.

Good luck with your subwoofer matching experiments. Good move to set the crossover at 30hz. I don't know how the JL113s interface to a system, but as you work forward be mindful that the Eidolons will make the sonic signature of any crossover network audible.

Best of luck to you in optimizing things. Enjoy!

I am not planning to use a cross-over network in the main signal path - I run the Eidolons at full range. I just use a low pass filter for the subs.

I also have a Rives Parc analog bass EQ unit that is designed go into the mains signal path and apply EQ in the 30-350 range. I have not been using this yet since I think it will indeed leave a signature on the Eidolons. I may play around with it first, but in the absence of major room modes that need to be EQ'ed I will probably end up selling it.

I am also wondering if anyone has used any vibration controlling devices under the Eidolons. I currently use Stillpoints on inverted risers under my subs, and have been using stillpoint ultras under my verities (and center channel). To use the stillpoint ultras under the eidolons I would need to put a threaded insert in - which involves drilling holes. Not sure it is worth it. Any experience?

I use Walker Audio Valid Points under my Eidolons. They made a significant improvement over the stock stainless steel points Avalon Acoustic provides. At first I did not thread them into the base but just used them "free style." I have since tapped and threaded them to the base for a slight further improvement.
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