Acapella Versus Avantgarde

Thanks for the explanation Gregm - I have wondered what would move one on from Acapella's - no answer yet then! Hi to Fred too - good to see that you remain very happy with your Camapniles. Despite bothering everyone, over a few years, I still haven't made the jump. My room would be too small and up to now my electronics not up to the speakers, but I'm getting there slowly!

Murray

I heard the Avantgarde Trios with Basshorns just recently. I thought they were fantastic. I have Sound Labs and I didn't think the Avantgardes gave too much away in the areas of transparency and inner detail to the big electrostats. As far as integration and coherency goes, this all-horn system is seemless at all volume levels.
I can't see how a speaker like the Campanile could be as coherent across all frequencies at all volume levels when it is using 3 separate technologies. How four 10" dynamic drivers could keep up with a plasma tweeter when volume levels approach 100dB SPL is beyond me.

I've never heard the Avantgardes in any situation that allowed extended critical listening, but I've spent a few hours listing to the Acapella Triolon Excaliburs. As I said in another thread, these speakers redefined for me what recorded music was capable of, and it took less than a minute for me to realize how much better they were than anything I'd ever heard. I look forward to a good demo of Trios at some point, but for now the Triolons are the speaker that dreams are made of. I don't expect that to change anytime in the near future, but of course I'm always open to other speakers being as good or better.

For what it's worth, I heard the Acapellas at Audio Federation. I have no affiliation with them, other than being an extremely satisfied customer (not of Acapella speakers, unfortunately... maybe someday!).