My time with Avalon speakers

[flez007]

I am a big fan of Avalon speakers, I have owned five different pairs over the past years, listened to almost all their line either at friends audio setups, audio industry shows or dealers demo rooms - I can express a valid opinion about their virtues and sins.

I have also had the chance to chat with Neil in different ocassions, my wife and I had dinner with him once at the local dealer meeting and had the opportunity to meet the man behind the company - I will try to share my experience here hoping this might be usefull for anyone interested on learning more about this great speaker line.

In order to place things in perspective, I will refer to three different stages that I think the company has lived and share my findings for models belonging to each of them in future posts.

I will also try to relate my comments to other information sources, where I will name the author and URLs to play it safe ... Disclaimer: I am not related in any way to Avalon Acoustics, personnaly nor professionaly.

 

[DaveyF]

Fernando, I too have heard many of the Avalon's. However, not the mighty Isis, which many people think is on a par or better than the Wilson Alex 2's. Any thoughts on this?

 

[flez007]

I have not heard the Wilson Alexandrias as much as I would like DaveyF, but the Isis are fantastic speakers for a LARGE room IMO. Something worth mentioning is that I have found many people who like Avalon speakers also like Wilson, but I need to admit that my exposure to the later is very limited compared to my time in front of Avalon speakers.

Another interesting finding is that the Avalon line maintains a very similar "company sound" from the entry-level models to the larger designs, not sure if this is the case with Wilson.

 

[RBFC]

Isn't Chad Kassem from Acoustic Sounds using the Isis in his reference room system?

Lee

 

[DaveyF]

Isn't Chad Kassem from Acoustic Sounds using the Isis in his reference room system?

Lee

Lee, that is correct, Chad uses the Isis in his reference room.

 

[MiTT]

Isn't Chad Kassem from Acoustic Sounds using the Isis in his reference room system?

Lee

He is indeed, or I should say that he was when I had the pleasure of listening to the Isis in Chad's room a few years ago on a visit to both the Acoustic Sound's facility as well as his Blue Heaven studio. Paired with Pass Electronics and an SME/Lyra/Southerland analog front end the sound was arguably the best I've ever had the pleasure of listening to. I have some pictures somewhere that I'll post here. The thing that struck me most was the absolute reality of the soundstage that grew and shrunk with whatever artist or group we put on the table. The absolute ease with which the system pressurized the room was pretty amazing too. It was a fantastic experience.

 

[flez007]

Avalon works great with SS or tubed amps, Pass is no exception (I had an X250 driving a pair of Eclipses some years back) - explosive, dynamic, nuanced sound.

 

[Bruce B]

Unfortunately my XA-100.5 amps ran out of steam with the ISIS. Otherwise, they would have been my No. 1 choice.

 

[flez007]

Unfortunately my XA-100.5 amps ran out of steam with the ISIS. Otherwise, they would have been my No. 1 choice.

Hi Bruce, that has been my case as well, but not with the Isis unfortunatly. Avalon speakers need power, the average sesnsitivity is around 87dB to 88dB, and impendence is almost flat at 6 Ohms, so from paper one should say that low-powered amps could work, but it is a different story in real life.

I have just said goodbye to a Viva Solista, a great SET amp with plenty of current to drive almost all speakers but not my recently acquiered Ascents II, where bass control and definition were not there. I am now using a Symphonic Line amp (140 Watts/ch) and trying a ML 333 (300 Watts/ch) to really have them singing.

 

[FrantzM]

Unfortunately my XA-100.5 amps ran out of steam with the ISIS. Otherwise, they would have been my No. 1 choice.

Interesting.. Why not go for a higher power model from the same manufacturer or different amp? I would have though the speaker the main determinant but ... Care to elaborate?

 

[rbbert]

Unfortunately my XA-100.5 amps ran out of steam with the ISIS. Otherwise, they would have been my No. 1 choice.

I saw a pair of XA200.5's at RenoHiFi just a couple of days ago...

 

[Bruce B]

Interesting.. Why not go for a higher power model from the same manufacturer or different amp? I would have though the speaker the main determinant but ... Care to elaborate?

I think Pass Labs hits a sweetspot in the 100 and 160 models. I haven't cozied up to the 200 model. For the ISIS to really sing, you need at least 300 - 500 watts and Pass won't do that. The needles moved even with the Wilsons. I really love the Pass sound and didn't want to get on another amp rollercoaster!

 

[flez007]

I found this shot of the Avalon Isis, specs will follow:

(TBI)

 

[Bruce B]

In my top 3 room/speaker combos I've ever heard has to be Winston Ma's Avalon Sentinels.

 

[flez007]

I exchanged some mails with Mr. Luciene Pichette who wears many hats at Avalon Acoustics, leading many initiatives within the company. Luciene helped me quite recently to get a new manual for my Ascents and is a very transparent and helpful individual. During those e-mails he referred to the Acoustic Sounds installation, I quote:

"The comments about Acoustics Sounds and Isis are incorrect. He has the Sentinel, which I tuned recently and got some nice ink about it on Audio Beat webzine."

 

[Steve williams]

Please invite Mr. Pichette

 

[flez007]

please invite mr. Pichette

done!

 

[microstrip]

Fernando,
Do you remember the Avalon Osiris? I listened to one pair long ago, using four conrad johnson Premier 8's in a large space, and some people felt it was underpowered ...

 

[flez007]

I do remember, and heard them very briefly here in Mexico some years back - great speaker. I had a pair of CJ Premier 8 as well powering one of my previous Avalon Eclipses, pretty decent sound.... as for any speaker, listening room size plays a major role IMO.

 

[flez007]

My first Avalon speaker were the Avatars (I also had them twice), the first ones were bought in companion of a Rowland 1 amp and a Consonance preamp, I should have followed my wife's words and stayed there!