My Trip to the Hi Fi Shop

[Mr Peabody]

I must have Avalon mixed up with another brand. I'll Google them later. I was thinking of the high dollar speakers with high sensitivity that are usually used with SET's. Any ideas what they are? research.... research...

[bobsticks]

I must have Avalon mixed up with another brand. I'll Google them later. I was thinking of the high dollar speakers with high sensitivity that are usually used with SET's. Any ideas what they are? research.... research...

Hey Gents,

Mr.P, the best known Avalons would be the Eidelon model seen here:



Here's a link to one of their other models: http://www.stereophile.com/floorloud...703/index.html

[O'Shag]

Mr. Peabody, excellent report. Those special edition Dynaudios look to die for. There are going to be some lucky folks out there.

I think your impression of the B&W is probably due to a poor demo. I've heard the 800Ds at an A/V dealer and they were not sounding that impressive. Turns out they had set them up with left channel going to right and vica versa. Given this they may have also had polarity reversed. I recognized this after some listening because one of the pieces of music they played I know very well and the positions were clearly backwards. Unfortunately they had the system in an entertainment cabinet so couldn't do the change while I was there.

I've heard them again at a better hi-fi specialist, and they sounded absolutely incredible, totally unlike the first experience. They need lots of power. But what I heard that day left me in no doubt that these are one of the very best speakers any sort of money can by. Also keep in mind that some of the top studios in the world, including AIR, almost exclusively use B&W as their reference.

[bobsticks]

Don't put a receiver on the front end of a system like yours! At least consider the NAD
T175, I believe it has all the features you listed. MSRP is $1,999.00 but www.spearitsound.com would be under $1,800.00. I was strongly looking at this myself as I was thinking about modernizing my HT and don't want to spend crazy money since I have good audio through my 2 channel set up. Man, I can't believe you had a receiver on the front end of a 7205. I wish I had at least a high quality stereo preamp to lend you to see what your system can do. Have you looked at Anthem to see if they have the features you are looking for? They should have new product out this year. I'd think most of these manufacturers would have to start offering HDMI capability.

Well, Mr.P., here's my problem: I want my cake and to eat it too.

Frankly, I've never been that impressed with the two-channel product that NAD has put out and can't imagine that in terms of functionality the T175 will be the jump to modernity that I'm looking for. I have several questions so rather than send this fine thread of yours all over God's creation I'm just gonna post up on a new one.

Peace

[E-Stat]

I must have Avalon mixed up with another brand. I'll Google them later. I was thinking of the high dollar speakers with high sensitivity that are usually used with SET's. Any ideas what they are? research.... research...

Perhaps you are thinking of the Avantgarde horns. Uno, Duo, Trio, etc.

rw

[Mr Peabody]

Avan/Garde! that's it. Thanks.

BTW they are a very interesting speaker, ever hear them? I bet a set of those on my MV60's would rock, like 15dB more efficient.

[Mr Peabody]

Did you see how heavy the Avalons in Stereophile were? They must be priced by the pound