Avalon Opus Ceramique

Ptss,

I don't mean to hijack so I posted the response on my system page. Thank you for your interest.

Gordon

Ceramique very limited in bass extension. Suitable for small rooms with construction material that traps bass energy (concrete). Bass is insufficient for medium size room. May work if listening position has large bass modes (e.g. chair close to wall behind listener).

I use Cerabase from finite element which yielded better results than the fairly nice stock cones.

I have not tried stillpoint for speakers. I have stillpoint racks under my amps and they are nice improvement.

I used to own the Opus Ceramique, then the Eidolon Diamond and finally the Isis.

Opus Cera is fairly easy to drive and so is the Isis. Your amps have no problems.

If the bass modes are properly addressed, there is no timing problems with all the Avalon models. If room modes are not addressed, the bass excitation can spoil the midrange + timing. I suspect the opus cera is designed for closer to wall placement, smaller rooms in asia or europe.

The ceramic bass drivers is limited in output. The bass alignment of the Indra is slightly suppressed as measured by stereophile. This would yield a even bass response with some boundary reinforcement. You are looking at a speaker with less bass output than the indra.

I would sway the opus cera is the most coherent because drivers are of similar material. It provides a taste of the Avalon imaging and resolution. Ulimately, It sounded too restrained in macro dynamics.

The vinyl on the shelfs absorb too much high frequencies and shelfs extended reverb in the lower midrange and upper bass. This lead to significant sonic degradation subjectively. The changes are also reflected in reverb time (RT60) measurements and in the waterfall plot. There is minimal difference in the frequency loudness curve.