Opinions: Avantgarde Trios/Basshorns

I think the basshorns are a supremely elegant match with the Trios. I've auditioned them twice, and with the basshorns the superb speed and liveliness of the upper range horns is preserved all the way down. I heard no integration problems. Both times I heard 'em the basshorns were in the middle of the room for aesthetic reasons; ideally they would be located in the corners, which would work even better.

The Trios with Basshorns are without a doubt among the most stunningly dynamic loudspeakers ever made for use in a home, and are probably king of the hill in that respect. My wife likes a bit more laid-back presentation, but I like their immediacy and excitement. Instead of picking between "musical" and "analytical" (either one having a somewhat negative connotation to some people), I'd rather say they are "exhilarating". And nope, I don't sell 'em.

As far as how they compare to the competition in the forty to seventy grand ballpark, to a certain extent it depends on what kind of presentation you most want. I think the monster Avantgardes are the front-runners for their type of presentation. In a more or less "conventional" format I'd probably pick the Intuitive Design Denali's, designed by Dale Pitcher (of Essence Audio). Among megabuck planars, pardon the plug but I think the Sound Lab U-1's with matching UB-1 subs are the front runner. I could probably live happily ever after with any of these.

Duke

I have heard them on multiple occasions. They are not bad, per se, but not worth the $. Big in-your-face type of sound. Despite the name, the basshorns are not really horns... more like subs with a horn-shaped front end to them. (at bass frequencies, the AG basshorns have way too small mouth, throat and horn length to horn load anything below maybe 150-200hz if that. so, bit of a misnomer, IMHO).

Personally, for top-shelf bigbucks horns, I'd get an edgarhorn Titan system with his sub, and pocket the $30-60k in change. ;-)

Or, go for some REAL horns, using Goto or ALE drivers, where you can get real bass horn loading down to 20hz or more. (need a big wallet and even bigger room). The big-ass Soundlabs are nice too, if you have a lot of coin to drop and like the panel sound.

The best horn stuff (compression drivers, et al) is not something you can buy - it needs to be built/assembled in a DIY fashion and requries more than the normal amount of tuning/tweaking and adjustments to the setup. Generally this requires sourcing somewhat exotic or esoteric drivers, and horns. There are people (companies) who do this, but are more of a one-man-band type of outfit, it's easier to achieve similar results @ a lot lower cost going the DIY route.

-Ed