2. speakers
  3. 1171785530

Acapella vs. Avantgarde

I currently run a Cary CD-306, Cary SLP-05 preamp, and Cary 805AE monoblocks with a pair of ProAc D38's (see system). The combination is sweet and involving, but the combo just does not boogie when asked to play a large orchestral piece, by Mahler/Wagner/Shostakovich. When the volume is turned up, dynamics are poor and the system starts to sound compressed. I suspect that the 50W Cary's simply does not have enough guts to drive the ProAc's, so I am considering replacing them with a more efficient speaker. Since most SET afficionadoes love horns, this led me to look into Avantgarde and Acapella.

I live in Melbourne, Australia. Avantgarde is available through a dealer here, but he does not have any in stock. The Acapella dealer is in Sydney (a plane flight away). I am looking to spend A$30,000 - which will buy a nice Avantgarde Duo, or a secondhand Acapella High Violon.

I have read plenty about the dynamics of the Avantgardes, but my concern is if they have horn coloration. Also, how do they image? Are they sensitive to room placement?

Would the Acapella High Violon's be a better buy, considering the pair I can potentially get my hands on have been heavily discounted? I have read that Acapella's suffer from disjointed sound because of the three different driver technologies (plasma tweeter, horn mids, conventional woofer). How much is this a problem? And are there any room placement issues? Given that the Acapella's have lower sensitivity (91 dB/W/m) would I be achieving a real upgrade by moving from the ProAc's?
amfibius

Showing 3 responses by fcrowder

fcrowder
191 posts
 
Suggest strongly that you listen to each of these speakers before buying either. They have very different strengths and weaknesses. My personal prejudice would be to get the Acapella Violin Highs. A friend just replaced an older pair with the latest and the new ones are audibly better, particularly in the bass and a bit more efficient. I think that you will eventually want to change the amps if you go the Acapella route, but again that will depend on your listening preferences, the size of your room and how loudly you play the system. The Acapella High Violins are a speaker that you could live with indefinitely. By the way, the Einstein hybrid amps do a very nice job of driving them and the 60 watt OTL's are even better. Again, listen to both if at all possible.
fcrowder
191 posts
 
My friend went from an earlier set of the Highs to the Suboctaves and they are quite an improvement over the earlier highs.
fcrowder
191 posts
 
In response to Fernando's comments, with respect to the Violons, the comparison is probably accurate but will be influenced by the amp driving the Acapella's. Midrange purity is better with tubes, low bass and speed improve with an appropriate solid state amp. The comparison becomes increasingly less accurate as one moves up the Acapella line first to the Campaniles where the midrange horn goes down to 500 hz and even more so with the Triolons which have a bass horn that goes down to 170 hz. In each instance as the bass cut off moves lower there is a concommitant increase in speed, bass impact and midrange purity. I think that the common thread with all the Acapella speakers is the plasma tweeter which is by far the best tweeter that I have ever heard including the diamond tweeter used in some of the Martens, the tonal purity and the seamlessness of the very different drivers. The AG speakers have a different set of strengths but are equally credible. In the end, as you move up the Acapella line, you begin to close in on the areas where the AG's are very strong keeping the areas where the Acapella's are strong.
More to discover