Avalon Eidolon Diamond or Aerial 20T v2.

I'm selling for personal reasons.

Well it's not fair to compare the Diamonds to the 20T because of the price difference. The 20T retailed for $10,000 less then the Diamond. The Diamonds are better but again they should be. I have never heard a speakers sound like the Diamond and I've owned Wilson's, Jm labs, Kharma, Vandersteen, Dynaudio and some others in the price class.

The Diamonds are ultra transparent with a midrange that is spooky holographic. One of the only speakers I have heard that has no driver integration issues. They are super fast and the top end has no limit.

There is a reason why you saw so many Avalon's at CES and Rocky mountain audio shows. Avalon has figured it out. It's there crossover that makes them so good. I heard other speakers with the same drives sound horrible (Kharma).

Email me and I can give you more and some other speakers you should look at.

I'm selling my 20t's because I want to try some tubed amplifiers and the 20t's are not a match. Once they sell I'll also have the perfect matching amp available.

Mtdking (above) knows what he's talking about so take those comments to heart.

I disagree with him (partially) on two counts. The reviews I have heard about say that V-2 is quite different than what Mark has heard, and I know he not heard them in person. In addition to being named by Absolute Sound as best in show at CES 2009 w/ Boulder gear at a price point that is about 1/2-1/3 below the other winners (magico, Vandersteen, etc.), everyone I have spoken to who has heard them says they are just a totally different speaker and perhaps one of the very best in the world at any price.

I also think your amps are up to the task although I promise there are many that will do a better job. I use a 4 channel Rowland and I bi-amp them and they sound incredible. I used to use Ayre monoblocks which are no slouch at 350 wpc but the Rowlands do a remarkably better job.

It sounds like you can give the Avalons the rear space so that's good.

Again for home theater applications I think the 20t's will do a better job.

I have owned both the 20t and the v2's the V2's are so so so much better more dynamic the ribbon is seamless from top to bottom bass and imaging is much better just an incredible speaker.

MMike he is only using one Vk600se. It's a stereo amp with 300 watts per side. The Ayre is a more powerful amp. We both know what that Rowland's 4 channels did for the speaker :). He will not hear what the 20T can do with that BAT.

In fairness I'm going by what another owner of 20T that had the upgrade done to V2 and he said it wasn't worth the $6500 after shipping cost. I was already to ship my speakers off to Aerial. He did say the bass was a bit faster and the midrange was a tad more open. He said he got more from upgrading his cables.

What I do know about the 20T is they do sound much better Bi amp. The bass unit really likes it's own power and it really opens the speaker up.

I will agree with MMike that if your not using a sub for HT then the 20T will work better. If your using a sub then find the speaker that sounds the best for music. Like Richard Vandersteen says if it sounds good for music it has to sound great for movies.

Mtdking-

I agree with you that but the Ayre MXRs were not bad on the 20t's. I had an Ayre V-1xe (200 WPC) before that and it was good too. You know I think it's that 0 feedback thing Ayre does, the power rates high but it's not as robust as some. That's probably a good trade off in some set ups. I'm guessing the Bats may have more drive at a lower WPC so its probably adequate. However you're right in that he won't know what the speaker is truly capable of w/o more umph. But if he opts for the speakers first then he can play with amps later.