What went wrong? - Awful Avalon coverage

[flez007]

http://www.soundstageglobal.com/ind...on&catid=58:worst-of-las-vegas-2011&Itemid=87

These lines from the respectable Soundstage! mag called to my attention, I have heard the Transcendent and, since not my fave Avalon model, it follows the company signature sound (coherent, integrated and musical).

 

[Bruce B]

Given show conditions, I don't expect much out of any speaker!

 

[mep]

Frankly, I don’t know if this is a hatchet job or if it’s deserved. I will let Avalon owners chime in.

 

[ack]

CES 2011??? Anyhow, I've heard other unacceptable Avalons in the same price range, in the past; the Opus comes to mind. I wish I had tomatoes and eggs with me.

 

[rbbert]

Given show conditions, I don't expect much out of any speaker!

You did an awfully good job with those Ushers at RAMF!

 

[Bruce B]

You did an awfully good job with those Ushers at RAMF!

Thank-you.... it's better to be lucky than good! It's all in the source baby!!

 

[garylkoh]

Fernando, give them a break. From the pictures, it looks like they demo'ed in one of the conference rooms on the show floor. Those rooms are notorious for bad sound. They are perfectly square!! There's only so much they can do to set up the speakers. If I turned up to a show and had a perfectly square room, I might have turned around and headed to the nearest bar...... and I don't drink.

 

[JackD201]

Somebody pour Neil a stiff one. In another post I mentioned a terribly bad experience with German Physik, Continuum and Vitus, yes, in one of the conference rooms as well. Fourth floor? I can't quite remember. Terribly thin and disjointed sound like the ceilings which seemed higher than the rooms were wide or long were sucking up all the midbass and bass. Manufacturers would do well to steer clear of these rooms.

 

[MylesBAstor]

Given show conditions, I don't expect much out of any speaker!

Then you should have heard the Magico Q7s today. Some speaker...at 165K

 

[Robert]

I can appreciate when a reviewer provides an honest assessment of a product. Reading how Stereophile deems every system as "best" becomes tiring. If people don't find a loudspeaker to be to their taste, then so be it. I have no personal need for other people to like Avalons.

However, this review has a number of statements which undermines it's integrity and suggests some type of agenda. This reviewer comments about poor build quality, how the speaker looks too similar to other Avalon models, and that he feels the tweeter is not placed in the proper position. He even admits that other Avalons he has heard only sound "decent enough". To say that Avalon has poor build quality is laughable, but I'm sure the company is not laughing.

FWIW, someone's ears I trust said the Transcendent was one of the best speakers at RMAF 2010, and the room sounded better than the Kaiser room. Other reviews speak nothing about the "dismal" performance, if anything is to be trusted from any review. Interestingly, Alan Sircom, in his review, mentioned that the CES 2011 room was so packed with acoustic treatment, that the sound seemed to actually suffer.

I believe the reviewer is entitled to their opinion, but as we all know, it should be tempered with the caveat of show conditions and he should hold-back the personal attacks. In the end, this review contributes nothing of value and underscores the potential influence these people can exert on a company trying to create new products to fill varying niches. I also see this reviewer totally roasted the Venture speaker based upon show conditions as well.

 

[flez007]

I can appreciate when a reviewer provides an honest assessment of a product. Reading how Stereophile deems every system as "best" becomes tiring. If people don't find a loudspeaker to be to their taste, then so be it. I have no personal need for other people to like Avalons.

However, this review has a number of statements which undermines it's integrity and suggests some type of agenda. This reviewer comments about poor build quality, how the speaker looks too similar to other Avalon models, and that he feels the tweeter is not placed in the proper position. He even admits that other Avalons he has heard only sound "decent enough". To say that Avalon has poor build quality is laughable, but I'm sure the company is not laughing.

FWIW, someone's ears I trust said the Transcendent was one of the best speakers at RMAF 2010, and the room sounded better than the Kaiser room. Other reviews speak nothing about the "dismal" performance, if anything is to be trusted from any review. Interestingly, Alan Sircom, in his review, mentioned that the CES 2011 room was so packed with acoustic treatment, that the sound seemed to actually suffer.

I believe the reviewer is entitled to their opinion, but as we all know, it should be tempered with the caveat of show conditions and he should hold-back the personal attacks. In the end, this review contributes nothing of value and underscores the potential influence these people can exert on a company trying to create new products to fill varying niches. I also see this reviewer totally roasted the Venture speaker based upon show conditions as well.

That looks like it Robert....

 

[andromedaaudio]

I do like avalon in general but ive never heard the transcendant which is indeed pretty steep priced i think , at least overhere .
I am also involved in the audio business as i built speakers myself .
I do like the stereophile reviews and there combination with measurements , if you read between the lines you get an idea.
I think the woodwork of avalon is or is up there with the best in the business .
Apart from some very professional high end companies ,, i think the audio industry and and a lot of consumers /reviewers are one of the most unprofessional and subjective of industries out there .
It doesnt come much further then : i think this and i like that so it must be good or not , very unscientific industry.

greetings from holland

 

[Jeff Fritz]

i think this and i like that so it must be good or not , very unscientific industry.

One thing I will point out, as this article is a SoundStage! Network article, is that contrary to what the poster said, we are the only publication in North America that actually measures speakers in an anechoic chamber (at NRC in Canada). We once had an Avalon speaker scheduled for review. The hang-up was that we were going to measure it at NRC. They decided not to send the speaker at that point and never pursued another review again. That was about six or seven years ago.

 

[Johnny Vinyl]

One thing I will point out, as this article is a SoundStage! Network article, is that contrary to what the poster said, we are the only publication in North America that actually measures speakers in an anechoic chamber (at NRC in Canada). We once had an Avalon speaker scheduled for review. The hang-up was that we were going to measure it at NRC. They decided not to send the speaker at that point and never pursued another review again. That was about six or seven years ago.

With respect... this sounds like retribution.

 

[Randall Smith]

No way you can make that comment and not be disrespectful. Silly and disrespectful.

With respect... this sounds like retribution.

 

[ack]

Isn't it true that Avalons are tuned by ear exclusively?

 

[MylesBAstor]

No way you can make that comment and not be disrespectful. Silly and disrespectful.

Excuse me Randall but what then was the purpose of Jeff's comment? You really think it's necessary to air this in public?

 

[Johnny Vinyl]

No way you can make that comment and not be disrespectful. Silly and disrespectful.

I can make the comment and I did, but I said with respect because the review seems quite out of character and Jeff's response in his post here highlighted the fact (IMO) that there's some axe-grinding going on. If there isn't, then I would hope Jeff or Doug (preferably) would set me straight.

Excuse me Randall but what then was the purpose of Jeff's comment? You really think it's necessary to air this in public?

My thinking exactly.

 

[Randall Smith]

I believe Jeff's response was to the quoted sentence that says that Soundstage's reviews are simply based on the reviewers opinions. He stated that we are the only ones that perform anechoic measurements in an actual anechoic chamber. Not sure why he included the other statement, he can speak to that, but drawing the conclusion that Doug ripped the speaker because Avalon withdrew their speaker because of the NRC measurement is direspectful to Doug and to Soundstage.

 

[Johnny Vinyl]

I believe Jeff's response was to the quoted sentence that says that Soundstage's reviews are simply based on the reviewers opinions. He stated that we are the only ones that perform anechoic measurements in an actual anechoic chamber. Not sure why he included the other statement, he can speak to that, but drawing the conclusion that Doug ripped the speaker because Avalon withdrew their speaker because of the NRC measurement is direspectful to Doug and to Soundstage.

If Doug was a free-lance reviewer I'd have less of an issue, but he isn't. He's the publisher and founder of Soundstage, and as such this was a major faux-pas IMO.