Audio Physic Avanti 3

I was at NY as well. The Audio Physics were not optimized for the room, but they sound superb. Not as big a sound as you get with Magnepan. The Joseph speakers are also excellent.

Just heard the Avanti III for the first time at the NY hifi show. They were driven by Hovland amp/preamp and in my opinion offered some of the best sound at the show.

Others I have heard that rivalled the Avantis were: Coincident Tech. Total Eclipse, Gershmann RX-20 and their big egg-shaped speaker(forget model), Von Schweikert VR-5 or 7, Silverline Sonata or Sonatina, Joseph Audio RM33, Soliloquy 6.5 or 6.3.

Sorry for so many recommendations, but I have heard all of these and they are all impressive in their own way and competitive with the Avantis--and most of them cost several thousand $ less than the Avantis, which may be a consideration as well. At this level, however, it comes down mainly to personal tastes, associated equipment, and your room. If it were me and it were possible I wouldn't make my choice until hearing as many of the above speakers as possible, otherwise you'll never know. But hey, that's half the fun of this right? Best of luck.

Tim

Basile, try Kronos KR6000 monos. Great driving power. There are others. For KR buy used; ruinously expensive new IMO. Also, don't require much maintenance: marketing blurb claims, tubes are supposed to last 50.000 hrs... well, let's settle for 25k hrs. Reasonable enough.
Cheers!

I have heard them with the herron monos and pre and the thor monos and pre they are excellent with both (150w ss and 30w tube). I think they will be revealed as a class leader and would not hesitate to recommend them if the rest of your system is well matched. I would recommend you contact Immedia with any questions. They are the US distributor and seem very willing to answer any questions. The speakers are also extremly handsome and well built.