Looking for comments on Living Voice Avatar spkrs

Hi All

Hoping to get some advise from fellow enthusiasts.

I was looking for a Living Voice (LV) interest group and am glad I found this thread. I recently bought a second hand Living Voice  Auditorium Avatar II in great condition. I simply liked the wood veneer but more so I got the speakers after reading rave reviews about it. 

Firstly, a newbie question,  I would like to know exactly what model I purchased. The speakers was sold as described in my first para -  LV Auditorium Avatar II. But am not sure if its the baseline Auditorium or the speakers up the line - Avatar II. I understand LV besides the horn expensive  speakers has three models - Auditorium, Avatar and Avatar II. Anyway to distinguish these from the speaker design? The inscription on my LVs have faded so am not sure what my LVs are within their model range. Your opinion would certainly help.

I replaced my Klipsch RP  6000f fronts  for the LVs.  I listen to both music and movies. 60% music and 40% movies.  For music, the LVs are paired with solid sate McIntosh C15 preamp and McIntosh 7100 (100 watt) power amp.  I use a Marantz 7007 CD player as well as a blusound node 2i for streaming.  My speaker cables are  Mogami and interconnects are Belden and Infinity OFC. Nothing too fancy. I don't use sub woofers for music.

For movies, I have the front LV speakers  connected to Onkyo AVR RZ 830 ( as a pre) and MC 7100 as power amp. My centre and  surrounds are Klipsch 600C and 402S dipoles  respectively;  driven by the Onkyo as an intergrated amp. I use two10 inch Klipsch subs for movies.

I have my speakers on the long wall,  about 1.5 feet from the back wall and 1.5 feet from the sides. One side ( left) has a balcony glass door while the other side (right) has an open space.  The speakers are 6.5 feet apart. I sit about 6.5 to 7 feet away from speakers when listening. I did not toe in the speakers cause I found the sound narrow when I tried toeing in. I have some acoustic absorption panels on the wall facing the speakers and a carpet on the tiled floor.

As for sound quality, so far I have only listened to music. I was very taken in by the LVs exceptional ability to involve the listener. I found it very musical, easy to listen to and toe tapping with any genre of music.  To me, this is LV's asset and beats the Klipsch hands down. Clarity wise, while LV has some edge, in contrast,  the Klipsch could hold its own too. In terms of dynamism, both are equally energetic as both are highly efficient. Bass wise, while Klipsch tends to dig slightly deeper, LV shines in bass accuracy and tightness. In terms of soundstage, I found the LVs having a wider  airy feel, but depth wise Klipsch perhaps slightly edged it.  Klipsch somehow had better centre imaging. LVs didn't do too bad either.

On the whole, based on initial impressions,  I found the LVs just much much better in terms of tone, timbre and sheer musicality.  I guess when you go higher up the range, its not so much about how analytical the speakers are but how much it can involve the listener. So am glad I made the switch. Hoping to get a good feel with movies too.

 I would like to check if my placement of the LV speakers are all right. My living hall is moderate, rectangular with a closed end on the left and open space on the right. Some say the later models such as the Avatars are not so picky in placement compared to the earlier models such as the Auditoriums. Hope it is so. 

I wish to seek your opinion if my McIntosh amps are good enough for the LVs or should I be looking for tube amps? I have a spare  Schiit Freya Plus tube preamp with good tubes at the moment.  I have read that most people pair the LVs with low powered tube amps. Not sure if I should go down this route. Also,  currently  I am using single wired connections, should I consider bi- wiring the LVs and would that make a discernable difference? 

I would also like to know how do I get access to the manual to these speakers. Is there something I can find online?

Appreciate your views. I wish to learn from your experiences and hopefully maximise the potential of the LV speakers with the exchange.

Thank you.

Ram

I have to agree with Joe Stereo, fine speakers for all musical genres. They are detailed but not in a fatiguing way, dynamic and make music a joy to listen too. They were built by a tube fanatic for tubes, but I do'nt see it. I've listened to the OBX at shows with 300b poweer amps and they are great but I'll stick to my Pass lab Aleph 3's from you're neck of the woods. But they are sensitive so they will cope with very low power. Am I the only who can appreciate 600 watt Krell's Levinson, Classe etc, but feel like I'm being beaten over the head by them.
To answer spefics:
They do need room to breathe, at least 2 feet from the back wall, preferably more. I've been moving them out slowly when the wife is'nt looking and each inch opens out the sounstage.
they do sound good at low volumes, again a problem I have with muscle amps that do'nt seem to.
They do have a big sweet spot, but sound good all round the room.
Yes they are "tippy", quite tall with a narrow footprint.
They are not monitors, the last word in detail and totally uncoloured. I do'nt care, sacrilige I know, but the failings are minor,mainly in the upper base and they just sound good and make music enjoyable.
David

Any experience w/ the Auditoriums? Thanks,

TH

I own the Avatars. They are excellent speakers, particuarly suited for most domestic environments (not to big, not too small) They are easy to live with in a number of ways. They are (very) easy to drive, place, and listen to (never harsh). The overall characteristic to me that distinquishes these speakers from others is their easy going, natural sound. Do you find that everytime you put on a CD you have the urge to get up and change it to something else 3 minutes into the recording? You don't do that with the Avatars, you find that you are listening to the whole CD, start to finish. So, they are not hyper-detailed, tip-ed up, or etched sounding - a bit forgiving up top. Most British speakers are like this. I'll try to answer you specific questions. Placement: mine are about 9 ft from my ears; 1 ft from the side walls, 32 in from the front wall in a 12 ft wide room. The couch is in the middle of the 26 ft long room. (it is a living/dining/kitchen room) So, the room is pretty large. They guy I bought them from new a lot about them and set them up this way. Rather wide placement, with the tweeter axis pointed at your knees, a rather unusual placement he said was recomended by the designer. But, this does help with problems with side wall reflections. After the guy left them with me, I moved them around a bit, but they ended up exactly as he set them up. I haven't had the desire to move them since. I'm sitting at my dining table writing this note on my laptop. They sound fantastic back here as well, the imaging is not as good as on the couch, but the overall tonal balance is the same, and I do a lot of listening from this position while working. There is a sweet spot equi-distant from the speakers, of course, but I do a lot of listening laying on the couch or not exactly in this center position. The verticle dispersion is also very good. They sound fine at low volumes. Another high point to me is that they sound good at high volumes. I like "big" orchestral music and these speakers are easily the best smaller speakers I've heard at conveying the scale of a full symphony orchestra in a small room. (this is also something that some of the reviewers have said, I agree) I like all kinds of music, chamber, classical, jazz. I don't listen to rock so much. They are lighter speakers, so a kid could easily tip them over. But, I wouldn't say they are top heavy. And you'd have to have 100# speakers to avoid that. And, finally, yes a cello sounds like a cello. I've spent a lot of time concert halls, and know what real instruments sound like. A non-audiophile pianist friend of mine was over recently and said that of all of my set-ups I've had since he had known me (and there have been many!!!) this was easily the one that 'got the piano right'. I'll send you a picture of my setup if you want....let me know....feel free to correspond directly if you have other questions.

You could drop Gerard a e-mail at UHF. I believe they may be reviewing a pair to use in one of their systems....uhfmag.com. Good-luck.