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Are Avalon Ascents the Classics they seem to be?

I have a mint pair of Avalon Ascent seriesII in a dedicated room of 22x13x8.They are driven by Rowland 8t With a second amp housing containing a new switch mode power supply done up by Rowland.The restof the system is also of high quality'such as Levinson390s and SOTA COSMOS w/Graham 2.2 and Transfiguration temper-V.An ultramodified (by Great Northern Sound) Audio Research SP-15 preamp rounds out the system.Cables are Cardas and Transparent Audio with quality but not insanely rediculous powercords into 3 dedicated lines.Also a REL stentor (in right corner of room)rounds out the set up coming in at 24hz (with corner loading you hear the presence of the sub,but gain is set low for a nice blend that works.I have made an attempt to hear a good deal of current speakers and haven't felt that there is much out there that warrants spending the kind of money to make such a change.I have to be blown away,and although I've heard the Kharma stuff as well as the Eidolons and veritys I still can"t get too exited.I really like the Nova utopias Be and think that the TAD-1 would be killer but I really don't think my room is big enough.It is a closed in space with no venting into other rooms.The Wilson stuff don"t(to me)have the true upper mid detail that I have come to love.I know that it may seem as though I'm answering my own question,however,I know that there are some of you out there that may have the experience and rationale to help me to be sure I'm not rationalizing or deluding myself.Thanks!I also can't help but feel that the sealed box design and easy load that Avalon once marketed as well as external crossovers and the significant mass of the speaker syst. has to be a significant contribution.
sirspeedy
cenline
238 posts
 
Sirspeedy, the beaks don't change the way the tweeter operates.The beaks eliminate the waves going across the top of the speaker and thus increase focus of the images.The Paragon speaker also is a heavy weight at a paltry 165lbs,I found that the extra height has no effect on the imaging of the speaker.My friend Dick found that the Eclispe actually improved in every aspect of the sound with the stands.Robert at Star sound will let you try the stands with a money back gurantee,also you could put the crossover on a sp004 stand which would help everything immensely.I am so sold with the stands that you don't know unless you try them (ditto with the totem beaks).These tweaks are not subtle in the final results and I hope you try them -Dennis
sirspeedy70680e509
1,064 posts
 
Dennis,I have tried different materials on top of my speakers,and have found the dispersion always sounded best with nothing on top.It's not the actual tweeter,itself,but the shape of the wavelaunch,due to the cabinet angles.I would love to try the beaks,but won't make a move until that happened.As to the stand,that's another story.I am on a concrete floor,but unless I had the stands for trial,I'd have to stay put.There is also the "pain in the tush" factor involved in moving such massive speakers.

Thanks for the wonderful feedback!
hodelrecords
13 posts
 
Before we go to details I want to tell all of you again how wonderful truthful the ascents sound with powerful otl`s. I haven`t been thinking of tweaks since I got the speakers. Even good digital (red book)can sound terrific. Once you have heard a Bruckner crescendo with almost lifelike impact one can hardly imagine a possible improvement.
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