Living Voice Avatar II vs Reference 3A De Capo i

Avatar is easier listening, De Capo i can be shrill and unforgiving. I tried both. Avatar much the better and my music tastes are similar.

I also prefer the avatar. But my resoning is along different lines. I believe that being a crossoverless design makes the the de capo inherently bad at achiving frequency extremes. I have owned both speakers and would pick the avatar hands down everytime. I have since moved on to the living voice avatar obx-r2s which to me are the pinnacle of sound. cheers

Hi,

These aren't quite in the same price range, at least US prices. I owned the de Capo and also owned the LV Auditorium, which is closer in price to the de Capo in the US. I definitely preferred the de Capos and regret selling to buy the Auditoriums. I listen mainly to jazz & blues, some rock and some classical. The Auditoriums never provided the resolution I was used to with the de Capos or my prior Spendors, and I was using very good electronics, cables and sources. The de Capos could be a little shrill with some CDs, and definitely prefer tubes, but with a good tube amp, good vinyl and good recording the 3As could be sublime. Biggest mistake I ever made was to break up that combo. The advantages of the LVs were in dynamics and soundstaging, so I would say they were better speakers if you listen mainly to rock/pop/etc., though I found them disappointing on large scale classical (which is very hard to get right). I've heard the OBX but never the standard Avatar, so the answer may be different than with the Auditorium. Others may have a different view, but I just didn't find the Auditorims to be best value for the $$.

TLH