Avalon Eidolon Diamond Are they really great?

I have heard them several times in the past few months. I cannot say how they would work with your equipment. But in an all Spectral setup they are a very fine dynamic speaker. They are holographic with tremendous soundstaging and imaging. The bass is not bloated nor one note. You have to get used to them not being bright nor forward, like the majority of dynamic speakers. If you like jazz or chamber music, they are worth the money. As an aside, a friend and I heard the baby brother of the Eidolons,`the Ascendents. We went back and forth between the Spectral and ARC: there was no comparison the Spectral won out hands down. I have the Avalon Radians with an all Spectral setup.

They can sound great, but:

- need a big room
- very finicky regarding placement; must be far from all walls
- ruthlessly revealing of lesser upstream components
- really needs high $ MIT wire

I also recommend Spectral with them.

I have owned Diamonds for almost 2 years and previously owned Eidolons for 3 years before that. Yes, they are that great but Schubertmaniac's comments about them not being bright or forward are very instructive. They are really unlike any other speaker out there (save the Eidolon) and it really confounds some to describe their sound in comparative terms.

They can work well in small rooms (mine is 16 x 21 w/ low ceilings above a garge) but like any other speaker with good bass extention, they will benefit from larger spaces. Because their bass is better contolled than the Eidolon, they require less treatment in my room. I know that many hold the opinion that Avalon needs to be partnered with Spectral, but that is absolutely not true. I use Accuphase (the 50wpc A-50V) but they work great with Rowland and Boulder among others. I am using Nordost Valhalla cable and wouldn't go near MIT and its network boxes.

As far as placement goes, you actually have less problems than many other designs due to the grill and what it does to eliminate undesirable baffle effects. Also the speaker is vented underneath (at the base) as opposed to conventional rear porting. If you want to know what this can mean for room placement, ask any ProAc dealer about the 1.5 and D15. Again though, just like any other high-end design, they will benefit from being away walls. Finally, the baby brother of the Avalon is not the Ascendant but the Opus.

I own Eidolons, but I can't comment on the Diamonds. What I will add, though, is an echo of Linkster's comments about associated electronics. I've heard Eidolons with Spectral, Rowland and Atma-Sphere amplifiers. I bought them based on hearing them with Rowland amplifiers. I love them in my listening room partnered with Atma-Sphere MA-2 tube amps.

For speaker cables with the Eidolons, I've used Goertz AG-3 cables and I currently use Omega Mikro Planar IV cables. The speakers definitely do not *require* MIT cabling, and the MIT would not be my personal first choice for this speaker.

The point here is that the Eidolons can be matched to a range of electronics and cabling - not just Spectral/MIT. As pointed out by Sbank, these speakers are extremely revealing -- you will hear everything in your system ahead of the speakers, for good or bad. But, they are not of the ruthlessly analytical ilk with unnaturally emphasized hyper-detail. With the excellent source material and associated equipment, the Eidolons will reward you with some of the most musically natural, nuanced and detailed sound reproduction you may wish to hear. And, the speakers will continue to further reward you for every improvement you make in tweaking or upgrading your system.

As to room requirements, the Eidolons will greatly benefit from being placed well away from front and side walls. That being said, I lived with them reasonably well in an 13'x17' room (placed 6' from the front wall and 3 1/2' from the side walls), but they sound even better in my new 18'x27' room.

I heard them at CES in the Ayre room & can only comment on them in regards to being powered by the V-5x, as I too have this amp. I'm glad to know this (my) amp can sound so good.

Like anything audio, it depends on what you like. You're just going to have to audition with your gear to make a decision. From there you can decide if you want to keep what you have or go in search of different components, be it electronics or other spkrs.

I would think the best course of action would be take your gear to the spkrs. for a test drive & that way you should be able to get a pretty good idea what the synergy is like.

It goes w/o saying the same gear will sound different in your room but worth mentioning this should give you some approximation. Good luck!

Linkster: Cannot the Avalon Eidolons have more than one sibling? It is smaller and younger. Maybe the Ascendents are a younger sister instead. Quite demure but a pretty little thing.

I have owned both Eidolons and now own Eidolon Diamonds. Both are fantastic speakers and in my opinion, a benchmark in design and application. Diamonds surpass the Eidolons in bass extension and impact and detail and air in the top end. When I owned the Eidolons, I did not think this was possible, until I heard the Diamonds. For your listening tastes, you simply cannot go wrong.

I think Rushton is right on the money with his comment on natural transparency, without the unnatutral hyper detail as I think Kharma's (and many others) are prone. Not sure about bass extension on the Diamonds, I think both are outstanding but the Diamond is more controlled and accurate. I thought Martin Collom's review of the Eidolon made many points that can be ascribed to Avalon's in general.