Living Voice Avatar I vs. Avatar II

I have heard both, but not side by side and have used the 2's for 2 years. I would disagree with the power requirements. I thought an 8Watt SET would do nicely, but Kevin who designs them, insists you really need 18 to 20. If you listen to Jazz, solo singers, chamber music, 8 will do, but for larger scale stuff you need more. I went for a Viva Solista 18watt SET integrated, now that is synergy. As to the difference between the earlier and latest models, I think both are great and you can't go wrong with either. So many speakers seem to present difficult amp loads theses days, I suppose it reflects the increasing power of SS amps in particular. It is nice though to be able to go the low powered tube route if you want to and these speakers let you. In fact they were really designed for tubes

I prefer the second version. the main difference i believe is the crossover design and components. The changes allow for the use of ever lwer powered amplifiers (8w and above) where the first version worked much better with 15-20 or more watts. I think the second version is much better in terms of resolution and microdynamics.