A. Eidolon v. JM Lab Utopia

Great comments, Gregm. And thanks for the follow-up Bmpnyc. I think the Avalon speakers next down in their lineup that you are thinking of are called "Opus." These got a very positive review by Robert Harley in TAS some months back. Anectdote: the first time my wife and I heard the Eidolons, we absolutely could not tell where the sould was coming from in the dealer's listening room. Some very nice music was playing when we walked in, but we could not tell that the speakers sitting in the middle of the floor were the source they so completely disappear. Had to actually walk up to them and get close to the drivers to be sure they were the ones playing. Yes, I agree - Avalon is definitely doing something right.

I'm not sure I can agree that the Eidolons are "difficult to drive." Avalon has had that problem with prior speaker models, but I think one will find that the Eidolons are a lot easier to drive than many assume. Of course, they will take about as much power as you wish to deliver to them, but their impedance curve is fairly benign (never below 3.5 ohms, nominal 4 ohm) and they will operate quite reasonably well on moderate sized amplifiers at lower volumes. When I first got mine, I drove them for a couple of months with a pair of vintage Marantz 9's at 70 watts per channel - could play a live volumes and the bass was soft, but the mid-range and highs were quite good.

Thanks for the comments. I assumet he Ediolons would work well in a large room with a 15 foot cathedral ceiling? No, JM Lab defenders out there?

Of the dynamic speakers I have auditioned in the last two months, the Avalon's are the best I have heard. Even the Avatar sounds great. Their soundstaging is non pareil
and imaging is superb. The transparency is excellent for a
dynamic speaker. The comparison should be to the
other "Lab" company, Sound Lab, in particular the M1s.
See past discussions on the merits of electrostats/dipoles
versus dynamic speakers.

One note: all the Avalons take gobs of power; as anyone
tried the VTL MB1250s??? The Spectral DMA360s(and I love
my Spectral gear) were not enough, particularly on Bruckner and Mahler.

Second note: Setup is very crucial to hear the best out
of them because if not they could sound like very,very
expensive Cerwin Vegas. If you had to place them on the back
wall,forget it, buy Gradient Revolutions instead.

Gladstone, my dealer demonstrated the Eidolons in a 16' x 24' x 10' room and they sounded great there. Not a bit of problem filling that space with music.