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A Great Deal on Audiogon

There are currently a pair of Avantgarde Trios for sale on Audiogon for(a mere)$13,000. While this is a lot of money for a speaker it nonetheless represents a terrific deal for the dedicated,(reasonably insane) audiophile. I thought I would bring this to the attention of any folks contemplating an upgrade to their stereo or those who might just have a passing interest in them. Let me say at the outset I know nothing of the owners and have no connection with the sale of them. I am just surprised they have not sold. Because I own a pair of these and am intimately familiar with them I thought I would pass on some of their benefits to interested parties. If you have heard the Duos or any of the other AG speakers and are thinking they sound similiar, they don't despite their similar pedigree, not even close. They also do not sound like horns in a "shouty" sense, if anything they are a bit mellow. They have the micro and macro dynamics one associates with highly efficient drivers but they also have a number of other advantages that a lot of speakers lack. I will just be brief and list some of them and leave it at that. They are not very room sensitive, and sound quite good in a smallish room despite their size. They are not placement sensitive within reason. You can just shove them up against a wall, tow them in a bit and you have it. While they beam a little, less than most speakers, their wave launch is large enough that you can move fore and aft without collapsing the image. They are not particularly amplifier or cable sensitive. No need to spend megabucks on an amplifier although to my ears they sound best with tubes. The bottom line is just how good they sound with a minimum of investment in upstream accouterments. I have rarely lived with a set of speakers more than two years and not started "looking". The longer I have had these the more I like them. I'll say no more.
lubachl
sandiway
1 posts
 
I wish I'd paid more attention when I visited RMAF.

Wouldn't one need the subwoofers as well to make a system? As far as I can tell, that's listed separately for $7K. So $20K.

Though it's interesting browsing around that someone drives it with a Altmann BYOB and is happy... so I guess one can save on amplification.
metman
214 posts
 
it appears these are rated at 19 ohms and wouldn't require a beast of an amp to drive them properly, sounds like a Set lovers dream. FWIW there is a sale pending
mapman's avatar
mapman
15,679 posts
 
High sensitivity speakers are like listening under a microscope. Trios are one of the highest efficiency designs out there I believe! Amp power becomes more irrelevant but every nuance of the source is exposed more so than most. That would typically mean a lot of trial and error and tweaking, more so than in most cases, to get things just right. Not for the detail oriented yet faint of heart.....

But once you get everything dialed in, I would expect the results to be hard to beat.
lubachl OP
27 posts
 
The speakers I had prior to this were more conventional speakers but were very sensitive to amplifier requirements because they required a lot of power to drive them. This in term required carefully chosen cabling. And, for whatever reason even a millimeter change in the tweeter and midrange position would change the soundfield. I was forever tinkering with all these parameters. The Trios by comparison seem forgiving. I am not saying they are not sensitive to all this stuff but rather that they sound great with a minimum of tinkering. The highlight of their sound is an absence of upper midrange distortion. That is what sets them apart from any other hi-end speaker I have ever owned. My sound room is fairly heavily damped, concrete floor, foam ceiling panels and carpeting. Perhaps that is why they tend to be more forgiving. I will concede that. Yes you will have to pick up some subs unfortunately adding to the cost. My summarizing point in this discussion is having had a lot of gear over the years I am surprised this particular speaker has not garnered more accolades. That it has remained unchanged over many years is a compliment to an intrinsically good design.
mapman's avatar
mapman
15,679 posts
 
Its a valid point that the ability to work well with most any amp is an advantage in terms of getting good sound with minimal tweaking.

Avantgardes do get a lot of accolades but I think their cost size and unconventional looks (which I like) make them perhaps more of a niche speaker perhaps than their overall performance alone would merit.

Personally, they are one of the few designs I have heard out there these days that I would be thrilled to live with long term, but unfortunately they are just not practical in my case. Maybe someday....

The thing I would question is how many really need speakers that big and that efficient in their home? They could become lethal weapons (to the ears) turned up too loudly or in the event of some audible electrical mishap. Probably only a select though perhaps lucky few.
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