Avalon Eidolon or Parsifal Encore


I currently own the Verity Audio Parsifal Encores and am perfectly happy with them. However, a long time ago I heared a phenomenally sounding pair of Avalon Radian HC's, so I am intruiged by the pair of Avalon Eidolon's that is currenlty listed on auction. If I can pick them up at the right price I would consider doing an in house shoot out against the Verities and keep what I like best. Obviously, besides the financial ramifications, this is a big hassle involving shipping heavy boxes coast to coast, so before I decide whether to bid an the Avalon's I am interested in any opinions on how these two speakers compare. I listen mostly to small acoustic ensemble music (right in the Verity's sweetspot), and I use 200 Wpc pure class A monoblocks. Any comments are welcome.
edorr

Showing 1 response by glai

Both are great speakers but very different sounding. Your amps are fine partners to both speakers. I run >200W class A amps too. Parsifals are not hugely sensitive design like the Lohengrin or Sarastro. Even at 93db, the added power is noticeable.

IMHO, it is a worthwhile effort to experience a different design with different priorities. I have owned the Sarastro 2s and various Avalons from Opus ceramique, Eidolon Diamond to the Isis. In optimizing them, I gained some understanding in speaker-room interactions, and about my own listening preferences.

The Eidolon midrange has great transient attack but more unforgiving. It does not shine unless proper diffusion is in place. The Verity midrange is fuller sounding and manage to sound good in broader room conditions. The Verity's first order crossover and the broad bandwidth midrange have great transparency. With relatively large overlaps betw the drivers and having woofers on a different plane are quite demanding on setup. The small ceramic midrange in the Eidolon covers a much smaller bandwidth and the dispersion pattern are more even. Veritys are designed to harness room gain for dynamics and Avalons excite the room less. Avalon's cabinets are more inert vs Verity uses lossy cabinets to channel away vibrations. Veritys are relative small size speakers that play big vs Avalons are large speakers with leaner bass alignments by contrast.

It is tough to guess which you would ultimately like better.