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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
eljaro
27 posts
 
Again we see how a badly setup of demo equipment can win or lose a customer.
The violon is surely a fantastic speaker and Amphibius will surely be extremely happy with them.
But if he could have auditioned properly set up AvantGarde Nanos, (Unos is an old model now and not available any more) Duos with the Omega drivers or better yet, the Mezzo with the Horn Bass Drivers he wouldn't be looking now for more amp power and would have fast, tight bass to shake up the house.
And we do not use such a bass to do precisely that, but to hear and feel it even at very moderate listening levels.
dan_ed
2,451 posts
 
Oops! Just saw Kotjac's prior post. That answers my question.

Eljaro, it doesn't sound to me like the Acapellas were demoed under the optimum conditions either.
flg2001's avatar
flg2001
543 posts
 
Amfibius - Glad to hear you made up your mind ans selcted the Violins, I am sure you will get a terrific speaker.

Based on my experince with the UNOs, I should say that amp maching is rather critical, I tried a lot of amps (including SET) and arrived to the Jadis DA50Signature, Jacek is trying the Jadis SET300B and would be interesting to hear his findings as well.

Take care

Fernando
cmo
471 posts
 
I demoed my AVG's with a BAT VK75se at my dealer. I thought the sound was pretty bad; my dealer had the speakers set-up well (he is very knowledgable about AVG's and has a lot of experience with the brand), but the sound was rolled off and disjointed. Through it all I could hear something that I liked.....

In the end he offered to let me audition them at home and I was able to borrow a pair of Nagra VPA 845's from him. The sound clicked into place with these amps and I bought 'em. The Nagra's were not the best match either (they were too noisy) but they did let me hear what the speakers are capable of. I have tried about five different amps with my speakers since and can tell you they are VERY revealing of what's driving them.

FWIW, I finally settled on an Art Audio PX-25 and am very happy.

Chris
whart's avatar
whart
2,971 posts
 
Well, the trick, as you know, is working the pieces together to make for a coherent whole that is, if not greater than the sum of its parts, than at least not limited by any one of them.
Thanks for reporting back, and let us know what your experience is with the amps. I went from Audiopax 88s (@ 30 watts per) to the Lamm ML2 (@ 18 watts per) and found a significant improvement; granted, there is also a big price difference, but not so much when the equipment is bought 2d hand.
Enjoy your speakers. I'll bet they wind up improving as they break in and you learn more about how they should be set up in in your room.
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