2. speakers
  3. 1171785530

Acapella vs. Avantgarde

I currently run a Cary CD-306, Cary SLP-05 preamp, and Cary 805AE monoblocks with a pair of ProAc D38's (see system). The combination is sweet and involving, but the combo just does not boogie when asked to play a large orchestral piece, by Mahler/Wagner/Shostakovich. When the volume is turned up, dynamics are poor and the system starts to sound compressed. I suspect that the 50W Cary's simply does not have enough guts to drive the ProAc's, so I am considering replacing them with a more efficient speaker. Since most SET afficionadoes love horns, this led me to look into Avantgarde and Acapella.

I live in Melbourne, Australia. Avantgarde is available through a dealer here, but he does not have any in stock. The Acapella dealer is in Sydney (a plane flight away). I am looking to spend A$30,000 - which will buy a nice Avantgarde Duo, or a secondhand Acapella High Violon.

I have read plenty about the dynamics of the Avantgardes, but my concern is if they have horn coloration. Also, how do they image? Are they sensitive to room placement?

Would the Acapella High Violon's be a better buy, considering the pair I can potentially get my hands on have been heavily discounted? I have read that Acapella's suffer from disjointed sound because of the three different driver technologies (plasma tweeter, horn mids, conventional woofer). How much is this a problem? And are there any room placement issues? Given that the Acapella's have lower sensitivity (91 dB/W/m) would I be achieving a real upgrade by moving from the ProAc's?
amfibius
amfibius OP
282 posts
 
Greg, why is mono-amping the most ruinous solution? I would have thought that it would be cheaper to mono-amp than to bi-amp?

I found it rather difficult to understand why also. That is why I asked for the crossover schematic but the dealer was (understandably) unable to supply this. When I get the speaker, I will be measuring the impedance and dissecting the crossover so that I can get a better idea how best to drive them.

The dealer also recommended NOT biwiring them. I am one of those people who considers biwiring to be, well, unproven. But his comments were a little puzzling.

In any case, my current plan is to simply get the CAD-211AE's. IF I find that that is not enough, there is always scope to borrow a CAD-500MB to try bi-amping (as per my plan above).
kotjac
13 posts
 
The crossover in the Violons is physically separated into three parts. Each of them can be driven by a separate amp so theoretically even tri-amping is possible. When I spoke with Hermann Winters of Acapella he said that bi-amping works great on these speakers and that two sets of the Einstein OTLs sound much better that a single set.
gregm
3,405 posts
 
Greg, why is mono-amping the most ruinous solution
I misunderstood this to mean, use MONO blocs all around... sorry!

I would agree however that passively biamping is expensive and only sometimes beneficial -- biwiring likewise.

As you imply, it's best to get a grip on the speakers first and see what can be done later.

Methinks I got carried away... pardon! It's clear that with the lowest crossing set at 800Hz, it's going to be very difficult to devise an active solution: the ear is still sensitive there.
Now, if you had another cross at say 100-80Hz...

Cheers
amfibius OP
282 posts
 
Kotjac, I have heard that the Einstein OTL's are the best solution as Acapella themselves use it. However, they suffer from a very serious drawback - you can't get them in Australia!

In any case, since I last wrote I have already ordered my Cary CAD-211AE's. Hopefully that should be enough. If not enough, then I will (gulp) have to bi-amp them.

Gregm, I already have biwirable speaker cable so it won't cost me extra to bi-wire if I wanted to. In fact it would cost me extra to mono-wire them as I would have to buy a new pair of cables. The credit card is about to jump out of my pocket and run away screaming from all the punishment I have meted out to it!
kotjac
13 posts
 
Yes, the Einstein OTLs are great with the Acapellas but the combination of the Jadis 300B SETs and the solid state Belles sounds as good or even better than the Einsteins so I'm sure that there are other amps out there that would provide a great match. The 211AE's definitely seem like a good choice.

Good luck and please keep us posted!
More to discover