Does Avalon speakers have a house sound?

What about the Ascendants? anyone?

Avalon speakers have definitely there own sound and they sound different to any other brand. The stage is wide and deep. But with amp's and cables you still can influence the stage and even sound. Like the sound, these parts are all a personal matter. I sold them for over 6 years. High's of the older can sound a little harsh. It also has to do with older technique and tweeters with a less high freq. respons. The newer Avalon sounds less harsh in the high freq. A friend of mine had a small concertroom with a Steinway wing. He gave classical concerts in intimate settings. I never liked the sound of a violin played on a Avalon compared to the sound in real. I Always found them to clinical. In real they have a lot more body and overwhole warm sound. The thing I dislike most on Avalon speakers is that individual focus of instruments and voices is in real a lot more touchable and direct to point out. This is only my point of view.

They absolutely have a house sound, I've listened to easily 75 setups over the last 20 years. The sound is detailed (above average to very detailed depending on model), open, very focused, spacious. The negative for many, including me, is that they are typically lean (this is not room-related, or system-related, it is positively a trait) and can strike many folks as fatiguing. They fatigue me in a way that live chamber, symphonic, jazz, blues do not. This is why I don't use them.

Beautifully built.

The outside is often stunning, inside you cannot see a thing. I met a person who owned the Diamonds. He opened the inside to look at there crossovers. He said; I was surprised about the simple parts they use. It was difficult for him to put it back in place. What I said earlier; a violin sounds a lot different in real compared to the way it sounds with Avalon speakers.

Hi Bo, I think used Avalon owners all over the world would be interested in the serial number of that pair might be :)
Scary cos there is no way you can access the crossovers without major hacking (literally). Scary.
I do agree with you that violins are the Avalons' trouble spot. More so with the models using the Acuton ceramic mid than the old Ascents and Eclipses.
But heck they sound good overall with a host of other material. The lean and fatiguing sound can be minimized with triodes triodes and triodes everywhere... Cables with chokes in the mystery network boxes help a bit too but at the expense of resolution.