Hi South, and welcome to the Forum!
I am not familiar with the Soulution line (only had a brief experience at last RMAF), and while I know they are really good amps, the 125W specification might be a bit low for the Time (how it handles your Eidolon right now?).... Some Avalon owners use subwoofers as an option to complement the last octave down, but IMHO a proper speaker placement helps a lot in rendering a full frequency response.
Since it will be hard to have them for audition in your room, I would suggest you to contact Luciene Pichette at Avalon Acoustics, he is a very experienced professional and can walk your throu.
Flez, many thanks for your quick reply.
I already spoke to Lucien Pichette, who was very welcoming an useful, as usual. Eidolon Time is an 89db loudspeaker, against the 87 or 88 of the Diamond, so on paper it should work. However, I would like to listen to the Soulution/Time before commiting myself.
On your question, the Soulution works extremely well with the Diamond. It goes lower than any other amp I have heard with the speaker in my room (Nagra valve, Ayre MXR, Spectral 250), and it is better than any of those. The only point where the Spectral betters the 710 is i speed. Although the Soulution is very fast, the Spectral is faster and I have never heard anything as fast as it.
Soulution keeps control over the loudspeaker even when playing loud, something the Spectral could not do (it congested at high levels). The Soulution is extremely neutral without being analytical. Somewhere in the net a reviewer described he Soulution as a "fed mic" amp, and this is a good analogy. The way the sound changes from disc to disc, the way it captures the dimensions of an orchestra and the diference between the instruments is unbelievable. But it is also ruthlessly revealing of any problems with the record. Certainly it is not an euphonic amp, but it does not have the glare that that is usually associated with neutrality. The Spectral could be fatiguing after some time; the Soulution just goes sounding on very musical.
A spec of 125 w does not seem much on paper, but it has very high current (60 A, I believe) and the 710 sounds extremely powerful. Perhaps this comes from the fact that you can play it very loud without stress or fatigue.
Lloydlee21, thanks for your input and comments. I have read Roy Gregory's review and this is one of the reasons why I am interested in the Eidolon Time since he is one of the very few reviewers that I usually agree with.
The Soulution is not as powerful as the Gryphon (which unfortunately I have never heard), but it doubles the output when the impedance halves form 8 to 4 ohms; in 2 ohms it is slightly less powerful.
I usually listen at about 3 metres form the speakers, and like close listening. My interest in the Eidolon Time is not the possibility of playing louder (I do not listen to very loud music) but in a bit more bass. With the Soulution I realized that the limitation of the Diamond in this area is stornger than I previously thought. Although I am not a bass freak (my tastes are classical music, accoustic jazz and a bit of world music, almost always acoustic) I feel that sometimes the lower notes are less present than they should.
There seems to be a tendency for using double woofers: Wilson (for many years), Magico, TAD, BW, and now Avalon are all doing it. I am interested in understanding wht this trend means, in particular coming from a designer that I admire and respect like Neil Patel.
By the way, what are your speakers?
Vassago, I am not familiar with the Pass.I believe the 160.5 is the XA series, class A, right?. I know that the Isis is slightly less demanding than the Time. Again, on paper, if the 100 watts of the Pass play well on the Isis, the 125 of the high current Soulution should be ok for the Time.
Since you worlk with the Avalon line of speakers, and have heard most of them, could you perhaps describe your experience on the "new "generation of Avalon speakers, in particular Isis and Eidolon Time?
Many thanks to you all for your interest and comments.
South