Horns....Avantgarde vs. Cessaro

Tango

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morricab

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Seems that you were using appropriate amps for the Cessaro, and possibly one of the worst choices for the YG. But then, it wouldn't be the first time people form an idea about the YGs based on hearing them with the wrong amps.


cheers,
Alex
A predictable response. Please tell why TOL Soulutiion a bad “solution”? I have only seen YG with such type SS gear. Would you tell us what they are compatible with? I hear them with Nagra and that was not too bad.
 

asiufy

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I know they're good speakers :)
I should've used the term "experienced" instead of "using" then, since they were not yours. Since I knew you had YG, I figured you heard them in your system.
As I said, most of the folks who hear our set up with YGs (and like them), always begin by saying "I never liked those with X, Y, Z amps, but these are amazing".
 

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asiufy

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A predictable response. Please tell why TOL Soulutiion a bad “solution”? I have only seen YG with such type SS gear. Would you tell us what they are compatible with? I hear them with Nagra and that was not too bad.

morricab,

I don't know the reason why, I just know it doesn't sound good. At least to my ears. That's, after all, what I do for a living. Match speakers to amps, in order to get a result that I like.
YGs sound with Nagra, D'Agostino, Audio Research, darTZeel, Hegel, Gryphon, Audia Flight, just to stick to a few of the brands I've heard myself. By all accounts, Luxman sounds good too. Soulution doesn't. Constellation wasn't very good either.
 

bonzo75

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If Wagner is a good horn (have never heard it), like Tang I too have would have preferred it to YG. I like YG.

Regarding Soulution, I love their preamp on cones and planars especially with valve power amps. I am not convinced about their power yet, but have a couple of compares soon. I think their damping factor of 10000 plus is what might be causing a lack of flow, or maybe together the two are just sterile.

That said, I like YG driven by full bodied amps more than by clean sounding amps. Not Nagra, it was quite evident it was under driving them and Ajay Shirke, owner of SME and audio lounge in UK who used to show it with Nagra at Munich moved to showing it with boulder. In fact I mentioned this to him at Munich and he agreed. I had previously compared Nagra and burmester at his shop on YG and though I don't like the burmester amp tone the speakers did come to life with the better drive
 

asiufy

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It's a matter of which YG, for which room, and how loud you expect them to go.
Nagra on YG Hailey, in a smaller room, sounds really good, even the entry level Classic Amp. If you want drive and impact, there are better options than the Burmester, at least for YGs.
We'll be investigating CH Precision soon, so let's see how that goes. That could, potentially, be a good option as well.
I was just thinking here, and the big Lamm monos should sound amazing on the YGs as well.
 

bonzo75

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The lamm hybrids should be good hopefully. All my YG references are to Hailey 2 and the Nagra under drives them even in small room. Drive is not about volume but about the ease to move the music up and down with flow, even on softer passages, with dynamic range and the ability to hit out when required rather than sound I will go for a walk and come back before the next note reaches me. The Soulution pre might help the Nagra get some drive
 

Ron Resnick

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. . . Drive is not about volume but about the ease to move the music up and down with flow, even on softer passages, with dynamic range and the ability to hit out when required rather than sound I will go for a walk and come back before the next note reaches me. . . .

This is very well stated. I personally have more data points as well confirming the view that seemingly “excess” power contributes to a difficult to describe sonic “ease” and “unstressed” presentation in addition to the more obvious benefits of dynamics, slam and “jump factor.” MikeL has long contended that amplifier “headroom” allows the sound to scale realistically and effortlessly.
 
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bonzo75

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This is very well stated. I personally have more data points as well confirming the view that seemingly “excess” power contributes to a difficult to describe sonic “ease” and “unstressed” presentation in addition to the more obvious benefits of dynamics, slam and “jump factor.” MikeL has long contended that amplifier “headroom” allows the sound to scale realistically and effortlessly.

As we both know, Mike only listens at extremely loud volumes in an extremely big room for 5 hours a day ;)
 

KeithR

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A predictable response. Please tell why TOL Soulutiion a bad “solution”? I have only seen YG with such type SS gear. Would you tell us what they are compatible with? I hear them with Nagra and that was not too bad.

YG sounds best with SS amplifiers with a warmish tilt, which isn't Soulution imo.

If I go the YG route, I would choose Luxman m900 for a rather inexpensive option that doubles down to 1 ohm. YG isn't the speaker for Class A amplification.
 

morricab

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YG sounds best with SS amplifiers with a warmish tilt, which isn't Soulution imo.

If I go the YG route, I would choose Luxman m900 for a rather inexpensive option that doubles down to 1 ohm. YG isn't the speaker for Class A amplification.
What you just posted is contradictory, IMO. First you say that the YG needs “warmish” SS and then state it isn’t the speaker for Class A amplification, which is often on the “warmish” side of the audio spectrum. Please clarify ...
 

KeithR

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What you just posted is contradictory, IMO. First you say that the YG needs “warmish” SS and then state it isn’t the speaker for Class A amplification, which is often on the “warmish” side of the audio spectrum. Please clarify ...

Well, go hear a Luxman, Gamut, BAT, Dagostino, Lamm etc. There are plenty of Class A/B amps that aren't cold sounding.

As another reference point, JA drove the Sonjas with Class A Lamms and it didn't work. He doesn't have a large room, either. But back on-topic with Cessaro!
 
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asiufy

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The lamm hybrids should be good hopefully. All my YG references are to Hailey 2 and the Nagra under drives them even in small room. Drive is not about volume but about the ease to move the music up and down with flow, even on softer passages, with dynamic range and the ability to hit out when required rather than sound I will go for a walk and come back before the next note reaches me. The Soulution pre might help the Nagra get some drive

I know what "drive" is, thank you very much. I didn't feel that was the case, when I heard the Nagras with YG. My problem was more of peak output power. But I do listen to more than a handful of precious classical records, and most of mine don't have +20 dB dynamic ranges...

There's shades of good here that's not being accounted for. There's truly lacking, there's good, and exceptional drive.

That perception of "drive" also changes, depending on room size and seating/speaker positioning, at least with the YGs.
 

asiufy

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YG sounds best with SS amplifiers with a warmish tilt, which isn't Soulution imo.

If I go the YG route, I would choose Luxman m900 for a rather inexpensive option that doubles down to 1 ohm. YG isn't the speaker for Class A amplification.

Gotta say YG sounds lovely with the MSB 204, 200W Class A :)
 

bonzo75

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Dags are much better
 

asiufy

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jeff1225

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Why does every thread get derailed? Keith you'll never have YG's. Why are we talking about YG's!?!?

I've only heard the small Cessaro with Tron at a few shows. Magnificent, easily my favorite sound of the show.

I think AG keeps getting better and the Duo XD was by far the best AG I've heard other than the full Trio with Bass Horns.

The question is, would you consider the Duo XD?
 

KeithR

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My Odeon La Bohemes are of a similar design and sound really alive. The only weakness is that the bottom octave (below 40Hz) is largely AWOL. Another great speaker I have heard is the Dynavox 3.2, which is also of the same kind of design and it blew me away with Tenor OTL monos. The main difference I see with Wagner is that it is not a floor opening horn, like my Odeons and the Dynavox speakers but a front opening "scoop" . I not sure where the "flex" part of horn flex comes in because in my speakers, with the floor opening, you can regulate the bass by the distance to the floor and this acts a bit like a reflex...thus kind of a "hornflex".

The other difference is that Wagner uses an 8 inch driver and the others of this design I heard used 10 inch or larger. The Wagner's is the very good Supravox driver, which has 99db sensitivity even without a horn. Of course they are using a TAD Be compression tweeter, which is their standard for all their speakers. If this speaker is done well then it should be capable of fantastic sound in relatively small rooms.

Jeff is right, back to Cessaro.

My big concern with the Wagner is in the bass. They say 30hz, but I want to know "real world" output. I am going to call the US distributor and get some better answers on the concept compared to the other Cessaros.
 

Ron Resnick

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I am skeptical about the 2 way Wagner. If you could swing the 3 way I would have more confidence that you’ll be getting more of what I’m hearing from the big horn systems. Plus it looks a lot more “horn-y.”

I think it would not be difficult to add supplemental bass.

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