@caesar, well said, @marslo gave me alot to think about in his post - truly appreciative of that first hand account. as far as risk tolerance, given my profession i think of it as non static and situation dependent haha. my risk tolerance for an investment is very high...my risk tolerance for trying to configure a sound system that may just be a bit too much for my room and all the tweaking and money involved in fixing that original sin, not so high.
given all the different combinations for the trio+basshorn, plus the fact that the duo (and hopefully some successor to the duo mezzo) is quite big on its own, i have a lot of listening cut out ahead of me before a decision - and the pesky process of actually purchashing this new place...it's moving along or so i'm told. i am starting to think visiting the factory might be a great way to listen to all these different configs and hopefully i can line it with a work trip to ease the time burden
with regards to music, i know garbage in garbage out. but the audio journey's reality to me is that a great system can play poorly recorded stuff really well. sure it won't have the highest fidelity but you're going to get something more out of the music vs laptop speakers or even a lesser system. well recorded music sounds good on anything. with the right mood, tin pan alley playing out of an ipad can be a delightful experience so when i hear that stuff with high end gear it's a treat but it's not telling me much. and DEAR GOD, if i have to listen to Liberty one more time, i will jump off my balcony (i loathe that track)
with regards to attack, of course there can be too much if it is too sharp but your comments have really piqued my interest. every cone+dome high end system i have heard or owned, including ones i enjoyed alot and would call "the best" of what i've heard, have a slight sense of restraint. it's not a bad thing just something you notice on a crescendo or a powerful bass drop - the "wallop" falls just shy of expectations. i never enjoyed it in live concerts because sure you got the wallop but it is generally accompanied by too high a volume and a loss in many other details, something which i value alot. i began to think that perhaps this is just because of the limited dynamic range in modern recordings. it wasn't until my 3rd or 4th system assembled that i started thinking about dynamic range, i thought resolution+detail and staging was all that was needed. and i've been thinking about this since my s5mk2 system: bigger amps, power treatment to bring down noise, etc. the 2 components that brought a lot of attack to my system were the soulution 721 pre and the taiko extreme. the soulution through it's sheer refined grunt and the taiko through bringing more of the music out of my digital.
enter avantgarde: it may not end up being the right speaker for me but everything i read points to uncompressed and wall to wall immersive soundstaging. i like feeling in the music as opposed to watching the music and everything i have read suggests thats exactly what these horns do. the trio or duo might also finally tell me if the restraint i'm experiencing is a function of speaker design or recorded material (or both!). i am excited to listen, i just don't know when i'll be able to swing it but it's quickly jumping up the priority queue on the to-do list
given all the different combinations for the trio+basshorn, plus the fact that the duo (and hopefully some successor to the duo mezzo) is quite big on its own, i have a lot of listening cut out ahead of me before a decision - and the pesky process of actually purchashing this new place...it's moving along or so i'm told. i am starting to think visiting the factory might be a great way to listen to all these different configs and hopefully i can line it with a work trip to ease the time burden
with regards to music, i know garbage in garbage out. but the audio journey's reality to me is that a great system can play poorly recorded stuff really well. sure it won't have the highest fidelity but you're going to get something more out of the music vs laptop speakers or even a lesser system. well recorded music sounds good on anything. with the right mood, tin pan alley playing out of an ipad can be a delightful experience so when i hear that stuff with high end gear it's a treat but it's not telling me much. and DEAR GOD, if i have to listen to Liberty one more time, i will jump off my balcony (i loathe that track)
with regards to attack, of course there can be too much if it is too sharp but your comments have really piqued my interest. every cone+dome high end system i have heard or owned, including ones i enjoyed alot and would call "the best" of what i've heard, have a slight sense of restraint. it's not a bad thing just something you notice on a crescendo or a powerful bass drop - the "wallop" falls just shy of expectations. i never enjoyed it in live concerts because sure you got the wallop but it is generally accompanied by too high a volume and a loss in many other details, something which i value alot. i began to think that perhaps this is just because of the limited dynamic range in modern recordings. it wasn't until my 3rd or 4th system assembled that i started thinking about dynamic range, i thought resolution+detail and staging was all that was needed. and i've been thinking about this since my s5mk2 system: bigger amps, power treatment to bring down noise, etc. the 2 components that brought a lot of attack to my system were the soulution 721 pre and the taiko extreme. the soulution through it's sheer refined grunt and the taiko through bringing more of the music out of my digital.
enter avantgarde: it may not end up being the right speaker for me but everything i read points to uncompressed and wall to wall immersive soundstaging. i like feeling in the music as opposed to watching the music and everything i have read suggests thats exactly what these horns do. the trio or duo might also finally tell me if the restraint i'm experiencing is a function of speaker design or recorded material (or both!). i am excited to listen, i just don't know when i'll be able to swing it but it's quickly jumping up the priority queue on the to-do list