Just spoke to an old client of mine..........Avantgarde owner


This gentleman is unhappy with his Avantgarde Trio XD, because his current room is smaller, and he is hearing the discontinuity, between all of the drivers, from his listening seat. I have been stating this " phenomenon ", for as long as I can remember. It is why many designs, imo, are a poor choice, for the average sized listening room. Not just this, but my ears are very critical with designs, that have a conventional woofer, along with a horn, or panel type, midrange / tweeter. These designs are known as Hybrids. I hear this discontinuity, every time. As a horn guy, as much as I can enjoy some horn hybrids ( a simple and well executed design, such as the Altec 19, and yes, I owned a few pair and made mods to  several ), I find I cannot, long term, hear a convincing presentation. Bass, up to the crossover point, is so different, than the horn. This of course, is a very personal thing. I am a Klipsch guy, and love the KPT series, along with the Jubilee, but I have been involved in arguments with folks, who think I am crazy ( here, and on the Klipsch site ), about using speakers of this design, in a regular and average sized listening room, where the distance to me, is just TOO DAMN CLOSE. This Altec and the Klipsch designs I speak of, are of two different phenomenons.This is me, and I never attacked anyone who enjoys this type of set up, but I have been questioned ( even attacked ), by individuals, who seem clueless, to what my ears hear. Just wanted to put this out there, and will be presenting some discussions and experiences , I have had, and want others feedback. No right or wrong in this, as we all hear differently, want things differently, and so on, which I also stated, many times. Enjoy, be well and stay safe. Always, MrD.
mrdecibel
 Thanks for posting this! This helps me put the brakes on my fantasy of getting different speakers. My current dream speaker would be the Sanders electrostatic. I’ve always fantasized about horns...like another poster said, spooky imaging unlike any other!

Currently sitting very near field,about 4 feet away, from my big Spendor SP100s. It works beautifully, with excellent integration of the three different drivers.

Again thanks for this post, you save me a lot of money, and possibly my marriage😃
My Heresy IIIs (and any other Heresy for that matter) have amazing coherency and imaging that I think is due to the fact that the tweeter, mid horn, and woofer are very close together. Very. Due to the horn being so thin it seems...check it out...this had occurred to me some time ago as an "ah ha" moment, and a reason I may go for thee newer version at some point over any other model of Klipsch Heritage speaker...the small compactness really works in my system.
I have a pair of 1982 Khorns which have been upgraded to the full Volti Audio package; The khorns are now at a totally different level, absolutely unbelievable. The sound integration is perfect. No improvement is needed.
Using a 6 wpc single ended tube amp gives all the volume I personally will ever need. Imaging, sound stage and perfect tonal clarity MAYBE can be improved, but how much, and more poignantly, at what costf?
I have no desire to upgrade at all. My curiosity  to try other amps is always there, but unless given to me free, I probably will stay with status quo. I appreciate what I have, but I was always pleased with what I had.
I have designed large full horn systems that one could sit as close as arms reach and not have issues. For a decade I built horn bass systems for AG owners I no longer offer due to size so a few AG owners may have felt the same as you I owned Duos and I really didn't enjoy them.  But I can relate horns match best with horns and hybrid systems are really not the same they miss one of the most important aspects of horn loading a horn-loaded mid-bass if horns fully horn-loaded to 75hz a conventional bass system can be used. The standard ported box under an 800hz mid is extremely suboptimal and I feel is why a good num after hearing a hybrid horn pronounce them as lacking. While I highly respect Duke I don't think the Dutch is a horn at all its a standard monitor with a slight waveguide.
Integration of different drivers is exactly hat held me back from getting a pair of Vaughn’s with the ribbon driver.  unable to hear them due to distance from seller.
when I owned Heresy first gens, I would have kept them forever if they had enough bass. But in a small room they were superb across the board. My son, a musician with critical ears liked them better than much higher priced speakers I have.