Experience with Audio Physic Speakers?

EVOLVIST

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Apr 20, 2017
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Hey, does anyone here have any experience with Audio Physic speakers? If so, lay it on us.

Pretty much every review I've read on any of their speakers doesn't have a real negative review on them, regardless of model or price. Sure, there are some trade-off here and there, I imagine; nevertheless, for those who own them I've heard special things.

Currently I'm looking at picking up a pair of Avanti 30th Anniversary editions. Again, the reviews are stellar. What HiFi had one small negative remark, but then I looked at the track they were playing and it was a dynamically compromised Radiohead song.

I'm really surprised that more people aren't talking about these speaks. Anyone?
 

EVOLVIST

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Apr 20, 2017
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I'm even more surprised that nobody has said a peep.

Well, I auditioned the Audio Physic Avanti 30th Anniversary speaks, and I've never heard such 3D imaging and such a wide soundstage in a medium to small room! My mind was blown, as the salesman walked over to the iMac between the speakers to change a song and Stevie Ray Vaughn's guitar was coming from the middle of his back!

Add that to the fact that you can get away with placing these speakers only 2ft from the front wall.

What really amazed me is that the reviews matched up to the sound... Or perhaps the sound was even better. The word that kept running through my head was "accurate," even with image swimming in front of me, almost natural... Or perhaps "unnatural" sounding, in a good way, as I speakers are not supposed to do that. I had the listening impression that these speakers didn't have crossovers, yet they do. If there was any phase or timing errors, I certainly couldn't hear it, even though I was listening for it.

Now, the room wasn't optimal, though. There were no bass traps to control the bass, but I got the impression that it would be a fairly easy task in a typic room with plaster walls and ceilings. Still, I had the guy put on something that I was very familiar with - something that I knew the aural cues like the back of my hand, though it's not considered an "audiophile" recording. The Beatles "A Day In the Life" begins to play.

Before Paul's bass comes in (to muddy the waters without proper room treatment) there is peculiar way that the hard-panned vocals in the right channel juxtaposes with the piano on the right. Basically you can hear the purity in Lennon's vocals, isolated from the rest. If it's the right system, of course.

Well, I heard John. I hear him like I had never heard him before save for on a pair of Focal Utopias, the "Love" remix.

This I'd what I was looking for in speakers. Speak to me like nothing else has.

Okay, so I'm getting a pair of these Avantis to go with my Linn Klimax DS/3.

It's been a long wait to find speakers that I'm totally in love with.

Bring it.
 

flez007

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Aug 31, 2010
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I had a pair for audition here, can't recall the model but was two or three below their TOTL. I liked some attributes like high frequency extension, small footprint and dynamics - but overall I decided to keep my good&old Avalon,
 

Lissnr

Well-Known Member
May 31, 2012
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Native New Yorker
I'm a former owner of AP Tempo 3's and everything you've said about Audio Physic I agree with: they're imaging and detail champions and will deliver whatever your amp commands. This was close to 20 years ago but I will never forget how much I loved living with them and how they would always rise to the recording's occasion. I too am amazed they don't have a deeper cult following (my guess is they probably do but the owners tend to keep low profiles?!).
I've been a panel/planar guy most of my life but when I had to switch to a dynamic-driver speaker due to a listening room move...I hunted high and low for one that would satisfy [as closely to my then Maggies or Martin Logans] would deliver. I found it with the Tempo 3's which, for their modest price point I was absolutely thrilled with. If $$$$ had permitted I would have jumped to Virgos or Scorpios or Avantis... I think the entire product line features winners at every price/performance segment.
If I were you I would jump right in as you're doing and don't second guess at all. BTW I'm also a tube guy and as much as good SS is good with them I found my AP's really brought out the best in my [then] VTL MB125 mono's featuring EL-34's...the mid's were pure bliss and the top and bottom were admirably extended and well done. Congrats on your decision and "Happy Lissn'n" !
 
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EVOLVIST

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Apr 20, 2017
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I'm a former owner of AP Tempo 3's and everything you've said about Audio Physic I agree with: they're imaging and detail champions and will deliver whatever your amp commands. This was close to 20 years ago but I will never forget how much I loved living with them and how they would always rise to the recording's occasion. I too am amazed they don't have a deeper cult following (my guess is they probably do but the owners tend to keep low profiles?!).
I've been a panel/planar guy most of my life but when I had to switch to a dynamic-driver speaker due to a listening room move...I hunted high and low for one that would satisfy [as closely to my then Maggies or Martin Logans] would deliver. I found it with the Tempo 3's which, for their modest price point I was absolutely thrilled with. If $$$$ had permitted I would have jumped to Virgos or Scorpios or Avantis... I think the entire product line features winners at every price/performance segment.
If I were you I would jump right in as you're doing and don't second guess at all. BTW I'm also a tube guy and as much as good SS is good with them I found my AP's really brought out the best in my [then] VTL MB125 mono's featuring EL-34's...the mid's were pure bliss and the top and bottom were admirably extended and well done. Congrats on your decision and "Happy Lissn'n" !

Hey Thanks! Oddly enough I'm picking up my new Audio Physic Avantis this coming Friday, the 2nd. I can't wait to get them home.

Yeah, I've auditioned much higher priced speakers, some I could afford, and some I didn't want to afford, and others I just couldn't afford, and I went with the Avantis because of the 3D sound, the imaging, but most important, a lot of speakers, at even double the price sound like assembly line, put-together loudspeakers, with very little organic life. "Organic," being the operative word here, because a lot of speakers have life to them; they play the music just fine, and even check all of the boxes, yet not many vibe with me on a personal level, having been a headphone junkie for most of my life. So, in essence these Avantis give a headphone experience, yet with all of the sound waves that you feel in your upper body, head, neck and shoulder areas.

Now, mind you, for the most part I've only auditioned speakers that will play nice in a small to mid-sized room. I wasn't after to fit a square peg into a round hole, by having monster speakers sitting half-way into the middle of the room; therefore, for my criteria, if I hadn't moved into a smaller room (by choice) I might have auditioned some other big name giants...but I just sold my large speakers, so there you go... The Avantis for a smaller room without compromising a bit of sound, tone, timbre, speed, dynamics, and life.

Thanks for the post. I think I might heed your words about some good tube mono blocks to pair with these.
 

jfrech

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You should be very happy with these speakers. Years ago I owned a pair of Audio Physic Virgo 2's. Just a incredible speaker...especially for the $'s.
 

alfa100

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Aug 29, 2014
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i enjoyed the Scorpio II . It was coherent right across the frequency range. the best in its price bracket compared to Vandersteen,Focal.B&W,Merlin,small Vivid Audio,Dynaudio,Sonus Faber for my listening; especially rock and blues. in particular it had great bass extension for its size. Also not too fussy about position and easily disappeared. tone and timbre was accurate. i do recall that it was also quick .
 

EVOLVIST

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Apr 20, 2017
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i enjoyed the Scorpio II . It was coherent right across the frequency range. the best in its price bracket compared to Vandersteen,Focal.B&W,Merlin,small Vivid Audio,Dynaudio,Sonus Faber for my listening; especially rock and blues. in particular it had great bass extension for its size. Also not too fussy about position and easily disappeared. tone and timbre was accurate. i do recall that it was also quick .

It's funny that you mention a litany of speakers, because right after I had finished auditioning the Audio Physics, we hooked up some Wilsons. I don't recall the model Wilsons, only that they were about $4k more than the APs. I almost crapped myself at how thin the Wilson's sounded with the same recordings, in the same position, in the same room. I had never heard Wilsons sound so poorly. I'm not sure if it was this particular pair of Wilsons, or if they were juxtaposed unfairly against the Avantis. Go figure.
 

microstrip

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It's funny that you mention a litany of speakers, because right after I had finished auditioning the Audio Physics, we hooked up some Wilsons. I don't recall the model Wilsons, only that they were about $4k more than the APs. I almost crapped myself at how thin the Wilson's sounded with the same recordings, in the same position, in the same room. I had never heard Wilsons sound so poorly. I'm not sure if it was this particular pair of Wilsons, or if they were juxtaposed unfairly against the Avantis. Go figure.

A common mistake IMHO. If you want to compare speakers meaningfully, you must optimize placement for each speaker. Very rarely the best position is the same for two speakers. I have had several speakers in my room, and the optimum positions differed a lot. The Audio Physic Kronos ( a great speaker of the past, BTW) needed to be pushed well in the room, otherwise they would sound bass heavy. Wilson's were pulled back compared to the Kronos.
 
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EVOLVIST

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Apr 20, 2017
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A common mistake IMHO. If you want to compare speakers meaningfully, you must optimize placement for each speaker. Very rarely the best position is the same for two speakers. I have had several speakers in my room, and the optimum positions differed a lot. The Audio Physic Kronos ( a great speaker of the past, BTW) needed to be pushed well in the room, otherwise they would sound bass heavy. Wilson's were pulled back compared to the Kronos.

Well, they weren't exactly in the same position. We moved the Wilsons front and back, a different spacing, side-to-side, until they snapped into focus. For the sake of brevity, I simply wrote what I wrote; nevertheless, we didn't take a whole lot of time setting up the Wilsons, maybe 15 minutes. The Wilsons ended up being a bit more into the room, from the front wall, but about the same distance from the side walls as the APs were.
 

alfa100

Well-Known Member
Aug 29, 2014
262
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258
South Africa
It's funny that you mention a litany of speakers, because right after I had finished auditioning the Audio Physics, we hooked up some Wilsons. I don't recall the model Wilsons, only that they were about $4k more than the APs. I almost crapped myself at how thin the Wilson's sounded with the same recordings, in the same position, in the same room. I had never heard Wilsons sound so poorly. I'm not sure if it was this particular pair of Wilsons, or if they were juxtaposed unfairly against the Avantis. Go figure.

I upgraded from Scorpio II to Wilson Sasha and haven't looked back. The Wilson Sasha did not and does not sound thin and i was using exactly the same electronics and cable on the Scorpio II. i guess the Wilson's you heard were not optimised in the room or had poor matching electronics. btw I am not trying to make this a Wilson thread. The Audio Physics range is great in its own right.
 

Lissnr

Well-Known Member
May 31, 2012
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313
Native New Yorker
Hello Evolvist, Just wanted to catch up: Are you enjoying your Audio Physic Avantis?
Are they everything you had hoped for? Any highlights or disappointments to share? Thanks!
 

shel50

Well-Known Member
Aug 3, 2020
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Long Island, NY
Hey, does anyone here have any experience with Audio Physic speakers? If so, lay it on us.

Pretty much every review I've read on any of their speakers doesn't have a real negative review on them, regardless of model or price. Sure, there are some trade-off here and there, I imagine; nevertheless, for those who own them I've heard special things.

Currently I'm looking at picking up a pair of Avanti 30th Anniversary editions. Again, the reviews are stellar. What HiFi had one small negative remark, but then I looked at the track they were playing and it was a dynamically compromised Radiohead song.

I'm really surprised that more people aren't talking about these speaks. Anyone?
What the heck so its 6 yrs later-but I have a pair of Audio Physic tempo plus—and they are outstanding.
They completely disappear from the room—-imaging and sound stage incredible. Bass is excellent
For about $6500 I’ll take them over many speakers twice the price. Easy to drive as well
 

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