Avalon Opus Ceramique and Eidolon Diamond
A few weeks ago I heard the Avalon Opus Ceramique and Eidolon Diamond at a dealer.
His room was quite big (6m x 10m??, maybe longer) and was acoustically treated according to the dealers ears.
I do believe in ones own ears but when it comes to acoustics I am defenitively for measurements.
The Opus Ceramiques were driven with the Pass Labs X.. equipments. The loudspeakers were nearly in the middle of the room (5 m from the front wall) and the system was treated with all accuracy and "love" the dealer could have.
I heard mostly (and unfortunately for you) classical music. The sound (timbre) was "natural" (I mean what I would expect from earing the instruments live) and never disturbed me in anyway.
Very interesting was the fact that the loudspeakers gave me the impression of building a very nice soundstage a few meters behind them. I was never conscious of having loudspeakers in front of me except when I opened my eyes.
Sometimes though I would have prefered to have a higher (vertical) soundstage and also I had quite some concerns about the "clarity" and positioning of the instrumental groups. I know I am very critical, fussy und spoilt on these points but after all these Avalons cost about £20K.
Solo instruments (several of them for example in Strawinsky's Rite of Spring) didn't appear neat and clear enough over the orchestra for me. I could somehow hear the different instrument groups were but also not clear enough as I am used to. Another and last concern I had was the intensity of the very low-frequencies: In this big room I had the feeling of lackness of extended bass.
In the same room but on the other end was the system with the Avalon Eidolon Diamond.
Above is how the system was set up. (click on the foto to enlarge)
As you see it is also based on the Pass Labs units (X0.2 and XA160) and Transparent cables.
The timbre of the Avalon Eidolon Diamond was for me like the Opus ceramique. They didn't give me the soudstage behind them but may be because they were placed "only" about 2 meters from the front wall. The sound was more stronger but concerning the "clearness" and positioning of the instrumental groups in the orchestra I didn't hear better results than with the Opus.
The point is, if what I found was lacking in the sound was coming from the speakers or from the rest of the system. I don't know anything about the sound quality of Pass Labs neither about the cables and CD-player used (if you don't believe in cables then forget it
). Also the room acoustics could have influence in this.
One thing you though have to consider when buying these loudspeakers: have a big room and treat it acoustically. Don't forget that best results will be archieved only when all the other components of the system are at a very high level. This implies some not indifferent "investment".
Any way when listening to loudspeakers at the dealer don't forget to take notice of the other components of the system otherwise you may have very unpleasant reactions when you hear the loudspeakers at your place.
After the visit I came back at home with a confused mind. I couldn't understand why after such an accurate and detailed treatment in every aspects from this dealer, the sound was for me still lacking in some points.
regards
titian
