Avantgarde Horn Speakers

[morricab]

@morricab
Well , I was not aware that Trios do not work with Crossfire
I am quite pleased with both amplifiers, Crossfire is more palpable and saturated, Circle Labs is quiter and more precise but a bit brigther.
But the upgrade of my Crossfire 3 was important with Mundorf Silver Gold Evo and Nichicon caps, and a new regulators in power supply section.
I also purchased red metal NOS valves for pre section , I expect another improvement.

While you are at it, replace the 6N30P drivers with NOS 6N6Ps...I found this to be an improvement along with NOS driver tubes and an Ayon 5U4G recti.

 

[Adagio]

Here is my set up, it’s now all SS, from the beginning I used 2A3-40 monoblocks and a ECC82/E88CC preamp from JJ they where beautiful but I got tired of the anxiety of always wondering how that brand of NOS would sound and how much is left of this pair and so on. Corona was the nail in the box because there was a very long delivery time on a new pair of 2A3-40 and both my pairs had some issues. I bought a spare amp, a Pass Return of zen, to my surprise it sounded really good. I decided to listen to Nelson’s First Watt SIT-3 and F7.
I fell in some strange love with the F7, the plan was to keep the JJ pre/mono blocks, the Return of zen and the F7. But the more I listened the more I preferred the F7 and came to the conclusion that the JJ trio was to beautiful to breakup and sold it as a combo to another happy owner. There I was with no preamp. I built a couple of versions of Nelson’s B1. But when it came down to chose a volume attenuator I had good experiences with Khozmos stepped units. To make a long story short I ended up buying the Hattor mini with a active buffer instead. More about that later.
I also needed a new RIAA and tried the reasonable priced Chord Huei, I’ve tried and had more than four times as expensive RIAAs in my rig but this one just did everything right, with no fuzz, no hum, no problem just good nice sound.
Later I tried its sibling the Chord Qutest and decided that they matched each other quite nice.
So a friend of mine also use the same speakers as me, Uno Fino Edition but he has a Airtight combo with 300b tubes. Our rigs sound really nice but different,
Mine is more clean sounding, with more blackness, his is more live and feels more intimate. His sound like a small jazz club mine is like a huge concert hall for classical music. So u can use a SS rig for your Avantgarde if you choose the right gear. Not too much power, not to bright or hot.

 

[Adagio]

Primary sources are the Kuzma stabiS/4-point9”/CAR-30

 

[Adagio]

The inside of the Hattor, NewClassD discrete op amp modules with 21novel bipolar transistors each. To the right the network attenuator with AMGR resistors. A more transparent preamp s hard to find, it allows a passive, buffered 3db,6db or 9db amplification all controlled via remote.

 

[Addicted to hifi]

View attachment 82464
Here is my set up, it’s now all SS, from the beginning I used 2A3-40 monoblocks and a ECC82/E88CC preamp from JJ they where beautiful but I got tired of the anxiety of always wondering how that brand of NOS would sound and how much is left of this pair and so on. Corona was the nail in the box because there was a very long delivery time on a new pair of 2A3-40 and both my pairs had some issues. I bought a spare amp, a Pass Return of zen, to my surprise it sounded really good. I decided to listen to Nelson’s First Watt SIT-3 and F7.
I fell in some strange love with the F7, the plan was to keep the JJ pre/mono blocks, the Return of zen and the F7. But the more I listened the more I preferred the F7 and came to the conclusion that the JJ trio was to beautiful to breakup and sold it as a combo to another happy owner. There I was with no preamp. I built a couple of versions of Nelson’s B1. But when it came down to chose a volume attenuator I had good experiences with Khozmos stepped units. To make a long story short I ended up buying the Hattor mini with a active buffer instead. More about that later.
I also needed a new RIAA and tried the reasonable priced Chord Huei, I’ve tried and had more than four times as expensive RIAAs in my rig but this one just did everything right, with no fuzz, no hum, no problem just good nice sound.
Later I tried its sibling the Chord Qutest and decided that they matched each other quite nice.
So a friend of mine also use the same speakers as me, Uno Fino Edition but he has a Airtight combo with 300b tubes. Our rigs sound really nice but different,
Mine is more clean sounding, with more blackness, his is more live and feels more intimate. His sound like a small jazz club mine is like a huge concert hall for classical music. So u can use a SS rig for your Avantgarde if you choose the right gear. Not too much power, not to bright or hot.

Congratulations on a stunning system.

 

[Adagio]

This is summed right left at listening position 1/48 smoothing. I use REW and U-MIK to measure the respons

 

[andromedaaudio]

+ - 8 db but since you use 1/48 smoothing factor your graph seems exaggerated .
If you convert this to 1/6 it looks better and may be you ll get +- 6 db curve (, stereophile for example uses 1/6 smooth factor.)

Under 400 hz usually is taken out of the equation due to room influences

 

[Chop]

Nicely done

 

[Adagio]

Horn shape the natural way since Big Bang

 

[Adagio]

I’ve had several systems before my Avantgarde. Regular box speakers B&W 804 matrix, Sonus faber Grand piano, Sonus faber Guarneri memento, Magnepan 1,6qr, magnepan 3.7 + a pair of REL T7i. All have their virtues but this Uno Fino Edition is by far the most versatile and best overall. The effortless dynamics the size, it sound like the real thing to me.

 

[Adagio]

This is before the parametric EQ

 

[Adagio]

I’ve only addressed the 62hz in this measurement. I think to much jerking around with the curve screws up something in the music, don’t know, phase perhaps?

 

[andromedaaudio]

I’ve had several systems before my Avantgarde. Regular box speakers B&W 804 matrix, Sonus faber Grand piano, Sonus faber Guarneri memento, Magnepan 1,6qr, magnepan 3.7 + a pair of REL T7i. All have their virtues but this Uno Fino Edition is by far the most versatile and best overall. The effortless dynamics the size, it sound like the real thing to m

You cant argue regarding taste .
But a horn system that is measuring flat to lets say +- 3 db will sound tonally more accurate then some of those DIY systems that are put together just by ear without measuring instruments

View attachment 82470
Horn shape the natural way since Big Bang

This is an illustration , space is/ was expanding in all directions .
(intergalactic space expansion is actually speeding up , the big bang is still going on )

 

[ArnoFenn]

View attachment 82473
I’ve only addressed the 62hz in this measurement. I think to much jerking around with the curve screws up something in the music, don’t know, phase perhaps?

Shouldn't try to change that spectrum with an EQ I think. This is room/resononance timing data and controlling it usually is done by acoustic treatments of the room or in some cases of the loudspeaker housing if that causes a resonance somewhere. Measure this one with curtains open vs closed, with/without carpet etc and you might start to see differences

 

[ArnoFenn]

View attachment 82468
This is summed right left at listening position 1/48 smoothing. I use REW and U-MIK to measure the respons

Try the 1/6 smoothing to get a better idea of the actual curve. At the listening position you can also do a measurement with 1/3 (and/or try 1/1) smoothing to see if you got a slope from low to high F going down 6-8dB.

 

[spiritofmusic]

View attachment 82470
Horn shape the natural way since Big Bang

I wonder what the driver was. And no need to worry about room acoustics, the universe IS the room.

 

[Adagio]

Try the 1/6 smoothing to get a better idea of the actual curve. At the listening position you can also do a measurement with 1/3 (and/or try 1/1) smoothing to see if you got a slope from low to high F going down 6-8dB.

This is from today, have changed positions slightly from the last measurement.
But same EQ with just one activated node.

 

[Adagio]

I let REW suggest a EQ curve 30hz-300hz with 24db/octave

 

[Adagio]

 

[Adagio]

Ok that’s done then......