Avantgarde Speakers

Nothing anywhere close to the price of the Avantgardes will involve you with music like they do. The Uno is so flat there is no crossover. The subs have controls to adjust for your room. I replaced $38,000 speakers with Unos. Trios just came for the main system and the Unos are for TV which is MUCH more real sounding. You might want to call Jim Smith at Avantgarde, he's great to talk with. By all means have a listen even if you have to take a trip to the nearest dealer. Let me know if you have any questions. The speakers are also lots of fun because every visitor asks to hear them. Chuck

Thanks for the input Chuck. I will try to audition them. Unfortunately, their price is out of my range right now. If inflation and the price of gold picks up then this could change.

They are quite impressive - very efficient and dynamic. I auditioned the Duos - I have never heard anything like them, they give new meaning to the term Horn Speaker. Well worth a listen even if you can't afford them. I was pretty blown away, and I have done a lot of extensive listeneing at high-end stores (have friends that work at 2 of them, so I am always there). Actually, given their pricing, they seem pretty inline with value, compared to some stuff I have listened to (Wilson Watt/puppys for example). One place you can find the Avantgarde's in the north east is Fidelis - a new store in NH. www.fidelisav.com have fun, -Ed

one of the nicest sounds i've heard came from an oldeer pair of duo's, (w/their earlier *217* subs, not the latest-n-greatest 222's). still, a phenomenal sound, being driven by some home-brew 1.5wpc set tub amps. i've seen the older version duos adwertized for <$6k - stikk outta *my* league; i'm gonna try a pair of newform research nhb645's... doug

The Duos are better than anything I've heard except the Trios. They make virtually everything else sound like hi-fi. Buy a pair, get the amplification right (single ended triodes) and forget about upgrading speakers or amps (unless you're upgrading to the Trios) forever.

Well they finally got a dealer in my neck of the woods. I have got to hear what all the hoopla is about. Kind of afraid to really.

I would like to humbly suggest another horn, the Kochel K300 (6K), 3-way with all horn loading including the bass driver. Art reviewed K300 in Listener and gave them 4.75 stars and stated most neutral horn he has heard. Works great with flea-powered SET's, too. Smaller K200, 2-way better alternative for smaller room. jim@tmhaudio.com

Since i haven't heard any of the Avantgarde speakers, i can only pass on a few observations. I've seen more than a few pair of these for sale in the last few months. Some have been priced quite reasonably while others are not exactly "priced to move". This tells me that either people get bored quickly and need to move on to a new toy or that the sound quickly wears off and gets tiring. As a side note, the finest sounding horns that i've ever heard are some built by Ralph via Klassic Audio Reproductions. Sean >

Sean, your conclusions are faulty. Duo sales are from individuals selling the old Duos with the old woofers or those upgrading to Trios. Classic Audio Reproductions T1 and T3 get my vote for WORST sound at last year's CES. If you haven't heard any Avantgardes, why post your stupid theories? Do you think all the reviewers (HI FI News, Stereophile, Listener, What Hi Fi) and owners are wrong?

I heard one of their speakers at the CES, the setup at the Alexis Park and thought it sounded fine. Not anything outrageously good, but good for CES. I do know Jim Smith however from his days as a retailer in Birmingham, Al. He knows alot about sound and recording. More than anyone I have ever met. Unless he has just fallen off the deep end there is probably a lot to these speakers.

sean I was just wondering if you took your foot out of your mouth before eating. It is always there when your posting. If you don't know how a speaker sounds, why don't you just shut up? My Silverline Sonatas will wipe the court with those Klassic speakers. I've heard them both so I am qualified to comment. How do Avantgardes sound? I don't know so I won't say anything unlike you. You are so stupid you must need help getting dressed in the morning. Especially since that foot is lodged where it is. Go back to AA. Yes I am who you think I am.

Joe Coherent is back and better than ever. You better take me seriously Sean and stay the hell out of audiogon. We have a better site here and we plan to keep it that way.

Joe, Phill... reLAX... Avantegarde's *TWO PAGE* ad of testimonials in September's STEREoPHILE speaks "VOLUMES" to most of us on AUDIOGON. With that Mag's PLUG, who would even need to listen? OOPS! Then again some might, still. "HONK-HONK" said the 2nd order harmoniK.

khrys I don't normally like dissing chicks but I think your friend tubgroover must have hit you with a stupid stick before you made that last post. You may choose your speakers based on ads and what it says in the latest edition of Stereophile but I would rather go out and listen to the speaker for myself. HONK HONK is just how your system must sound because it was put together from magazine recomendations. I have to laugh. Maybe you should just go out and listen to something like the Silverline Sonata which I have found sounds really good. I could buy and sell you many times over but I found I didn't have to spend alot of money to buy great speakers. Good luck with your READING. BUAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!

YKW, I would love to listen to the Silverline Sonata but I need to know if you are referring to the now discontinued(wonder why?) Avalon rip-off version or the new retro-Wharfdale sand-filled model. I am told that new breakthroughs in "kitty-litter" technology have propelled the new Sonatas into the realm of the Avantgarde for a lot less scratch. In all fairness though its clear that sand-bagging the AGs would improve their sound as well. God knows all we dissed chicks are saving our Euros for just such an upgrade.

Hey Joe, Get real. How do you really know how good the Silverline Sonatas are with that NAD integrated your using or have you upgraded since that post in AA? The high end police are on patrol Joe, so settle down, maybe you'll learn something.

Phill, thanks for bringing yet another option of why i've seen some of the Avantgarde's for sale. You didn't have to get rude, as i simply passed on my thoughts pertaining to the question and never directly commented on the speakers performance. I specifically said that i was not familiar with them. This does bring up another point though. How many improvements to this design will they make and why can't last years models be upgraded to current production standards ? Will the current models be out of date in the year 2001 ??? Those speakers are a lot of cake to become nothing more than "last years model" so quickly. Sean >

khrys you really are hurting the feminist movement. Stupid women don't get anyones respect. Now if you knew something about audio fine. Usually what women have going for them in this hobby is a good set of ears. I think you've got sand in yours. Sand is fine for speaker cabinets but lousy for brain cavities. Take heart though, at least you have one cavity that gets filled. As for you sean, phill merely pointed out the facts. If you weren't so damn dumb they would have been obvious from the getgo. I applaud Avantgarde for constantly improving what is already supposed to be a very good product. Some people don't like progress and sean you appear to be one of those. An education helps. I suggest you get one.

I think the older duos can be updated to the newest spec, the only difference seemed to be in the subwoofers - the 217 being the older one and the 222 being the newer. the 222s were what I heard I believe, and sounded great. I need to go give them another listen. THey were powered off of 47 Laboratory electronics, btw.

Joe, let me guess, you don't have a woman in your life. Oh-maybe you don't need one.

I am surprised to see that people still found this discussion. Does anyone know if the speaker's frequency response has been tested in an anechoic chamber? Preferably by a third party.

7p62mm: y do u care if these double-ugly speaks have been tested in an anechoic chamber? do u live in a converted missle silo or something? i've listened to the duos & trios with a number of different electronics. truth is: horns is horns and these honk like all the rest. perhaps that is y they are painted with automotive (audi/porsche) enamals.

hi cornfedboy. i agree they're not the *nicest* looking things i'd wanna put in my house, but that's where our opinions differ. i heard an early version of the duos, before their sub/x-over updates, and no honking here. great palpable music, from an accuphase cd player, being driven by some home-brew 1.5wpc set amps.

Cornfedboy: the reason I am interested in their measurements is that most people who have heard them really seem to like them. If they sound sound as 'natural' as people claim then they should also test well. Other manufacturers such as Dunlavey and Waveform publish their response graphs. Why doesn't Avantgarde? Your response indicates that you don't care for their sound. I would like to hear them for myself but, there is no local dealer where I live.

They breathe life into music like nothing I have ever heard. I had a guy here recently that was listening to them and he went into my CD's and pulled out a copy of a circa 1980 Linda Rondstadt. I shuddered because while it's an OK recording....it isn't Diana Krall. I would not choose it to show off the speaker. I had not heard this disc for a while. But the Duos made it come alive like nothing else I had heard. A nice bi-product.

Upscaleaudio: Are you familiar with Ohm speakers? If you are I would appreciate a comparison to the Avantgardes. I know that the Avantgarde speakers will play much louder due their greater effieciency. I appreciate your opinion because of the caliber of your company.

I have listened to the Avantgarde Trios. In short, I think that their sound is colored. However, I can easily understand how one would be impressed by the sound they reproduced if it is their only experience with sphaerical horn (the same is true for the entire Avantgarde line). For anyone who is seriously considering a speaker like the Avantgarde Trios, I would advice them to take a look at another German Manaufacturer called Acapella Audio Arts. The Avantgardes are nothing but a badly done copy of an idea pioneered be Acapella. I don't think that there is a U.S distributor for the Acapellas yet; however, the In my opinion the Acapellas are some of the best speakers money can buy. In my opinion, anyone who raves about the Avantgardss has never listend to Acapella.
More info can be found at www.acapella.de. I would also be happy to answer any questions someone might have regarding this topic. Happy Listening!

@pielfl2 it interesting that you have bring up Acapella. I love horn speakers, I have 7 different horn speakers in my audio storage room, 2 are made in the late 70s and early 80s for my dad, 1 Klipsch Scala that I bought about 2-3 years ago, a pair of Poseydon, and 3 pairs of Avangrade and another being delivered to my house in they USA next week.

I am seriously lucky to be able to buy any piece of audio I like the sound of it. This is to say I do not have any alliance with the exception of darTZeel and Audio Note because to my ears there aren’t other amplifier that I have heard that sound better.

So when I hear you to say that Avantgrade are a bad copy, I wander what you had connected to the Trios that lead you to make such big comments, because I have the TriosXD with 231 and are nothing short of magical.
Yes the Poseydon are magical too, in their own way, but to say that the Avantgrade are a bad copy makes me wander if you didn’t have either a broken set of Trios, a horrible amplifier or any other component not working correctly, because I have a working Walkman from the 80s and I can connect it to the Trio or Poseydon and sound very nicely.

In my opinion there are 2-3 ways to go when you buy audio equipment;

1. you have a budget and try to get the best you can for that budget, which in this case the Avantgrade, again for my ears, are hard to beat.
2. money is no object, in which case the Acapella have an edge, but I would include Avantgrade in the things I would like to listen.
3. a combination of 1 and 2. Which in this case again I think the Avantgrade give me more of what my ears like.

As for coloring, I believe that all speakers in a way or another have some unique sound signature, at least a signature I can hear.

Where do you live? If live in Europe near Spain, If you want we could meet for a coffee first before I can offer you to come to my home and blindly listen the Poseidon and Trio, the Wilson or Sonus and you can grade each session and see what the results are.

I apologize for any bad grammar and spelling, English is a language I learned for work.

@Astolfor: Are you aware this thread is over 20 years old?

@garyalex thank you for the heads up! I read it all without checking the dates. It came on my most relevant..