what most people don´t realise; the Trio´s rearchambers are ventilated with a foam insert behind the driver and there are narrow slits in the rear abs cover of the driver housings....One thing about horn loudspeakers in general, and Avantgardes in particular, which has always puzzled me is why they are so often seen close to the front wall. As a planar person, I want to pull speakers into the room at least five feet to start with, and after that as far as possible.
I remain baffled to this minute why the Trios Kedar and I auditioned at the Avantgarde factory in Frankfurt in 2015 were so close to the front wall in a gigantic (something like 40 foot long) room.
The first thing I noticed when I walked into Todd's room is how far from the front wall his speakers are positioned. And guess what (although this is no surprise to me)? His system has the best depth and the best sound-staging I have ever heard from a horn loudspeaker system.
I have heard over a dozen different Avantgarde systems in private homes and shows: sometimes bright; sometimes brighter; sometimes bright AF! When KeithR wanted to buy Duos I told him I would endorse that purchase only if he matched them with Viva Aurora mono amplifiers (gorgeous, lush-sounding SETs).
Todd is an Avantgarde whisperer, because his Duo GT system (with iTron) at the Southwest Audio Fest this weekend had no edginess and no brightness that wasn't on the recording. Similarly his home system had no edginess and no brightness that wasn't on the recording.
Todd's room is 28 feet long and 22 feet wide. I think the physical width of a listening room is directly proportional to the realism and the perceived width of the soundstage of recorded music.
The system gave me the sensation of it being very sensitive, very responsive and meticulously finely-tuned -- I want to use a race car as an analogy. I had the sense that the system has limitless dynamic capability and limitless headroom. It feels like there's a whole lot of horsepower under the "hood."
The rolling waves of drums in the last movement of Reference Recordings' Symphony Fantastique I think was the most detailed and textured and realistic I've ever heard that recording reproduced. I think my Gryphon bass towers themselves get the texture and the detail similarly correct, but I think the room isn't large enough to let the waves of sound dissipate and escape without bunching up on each other and blurring some of the detail. There was no blurring whatsoever of anything in Todd's room. There was this sensation of unlimited sonic ceiling.
Playing Adele's "Someone Like You" pressurized the room in a way that I did not recognize from other listening rooms.
Todd's reproduction of Black Sabbath "Paranoid" was the most exciting I've ever heard that track in my life. I think the iTron amplification equips the horn system with incredible speed and dynamics.
Todd's room plus system is easily one of the best systems I've ever heard in my life. The precision and meticulousness and perfectionism with which Todd has set up the system, and which he has chronicled for us over the last year, is very apparent when listening in the room.
In terms of my personal subjective preferences, do I wish there were tubes in one or more places in Todd's system? Yes, I do. But I now think there really is something to the iTron, which of course was designed specifically for Avantgarde horns.
This room plus system is another world-class achievement! Congratulations Todd and Sally!
Thank you very much for hosting me today!
at least it was in the old Trios and they responded positively as Ron describes to being moved away from rear wall by at least 3feet