Jetter: Can't add too much to that statement, but I do note that when the Avalon Ascent came out it was often paired with Rowland equipment (I heard them in Mike Hobson's then-boutique store driven by Rowland Model 7s). They has a tremendous three-dimensional soundstage, better than any speaker I had ever heard at the time. J. Gordon Holt wondered in print whether that might in part be due to a frequency dip in the Rowland/Avalon interface in the midrange.
While I do like a 3-D soundstage, there are other things (truth in timbre, reproduction of micro and macro-dynamics, rhythmic flow) that make for a realistic or satisfying listening experience. Some (apparently Bo) place more importance on one of those aspects than another. To each his/her own.