Avalon Eidolon Diamond vs Revel Salon 2

It is as it is, I Always say. Both Avalon and Revel make good speakers. There is no doubt about this. They have both there own sound and talents/properties. It's a free world to talk about speakers. At the end it is about a personal taste, this is the most important part in audio. You never can Judge about the personal taste of a person. It is the same as you cannot say; vanilla ice is better ice than chocolate ice. I do not like the sound of a Avalon speaker. Because in my world ( it is only my world) there are better ones. We are still only talking about a personal preference. I want a 3d sound were instruments are small and exeptional palpable when I listen to my music. Because this gives me the intimate sound I experienced with live classical music. Wenn I listen to Avalon speakers the level in 3d imaging and level in touchable sound is less good then wenn I listen to Monitor Audio Pl-200. Why? because the emotion ( for me) is bigger. Voices and instruments are sharper focussed and so it is more near to me. Avalon gives more distance to me and the music.

Bo1972,
I am curious about your room dimensions. Can you please specify? Is this in your home or your store?

Thanks,

It is at home. Audyssey Pro gives me much better controlled sound. I use a Monitor Audio PLW-15 subwoofer. I use it from 16hz till 140hz. It is exeptional fast so I can use it till 140 hz easily without any stress.

I thought I would weigh in here for those who may not of had a chance to hear the Eidolon and or Diamond version properly set up with the associated equipment being of commensurate quality.

For what it may be worth to the reader my opinions are also based from my experiences of being a professional musician for 40 plus years, audiophile for nearly as long, but most importantly, music lover. Yes, yet another musician!

As a few others already pointed out the Eidolon Diamond really does reflect back what is put into it. It will simply mirror the sonic character of everything that proceeds it in the chain. Hopefully if all components are up to the task the personality of the recording will come through untouched. It does not add any tonal bloat, muck, thickness or slur. I find it to be one of the most tonally correct distortion free speakers I've ever heard. Though the quality I enjoy most is the way it relates all tones, notes, timbres, etc. of the recording as a cohesive coherent whole. There is a fluid nature to the sound that I miss with other speakers. Massed strings is especially revealing of this quality. The music just seems to flow, all notes perfectly related in time, and thus the sound coming out now makes more musical sense.

When I listen to live acoustic music I never ever hear the pin-point, etched in stone, chiseled carved images that have been mentioned. Now, that's not to say with a studio recording we hear these types of recordings with images of such solidity often. But to me this is an artifact of hi-fi and has nothing to do with real live music being performed and recorded in a real acoustic space. The Eidolon/Diamond can image like crazy and totally disappear in a room when properly set up better than any speaker I've ever heard. Really!

Where this speaker does fall short for its considerable cost is in dynamic authority without any sense of strain, and a bass response that does not give the full weight of the bottom octaves. For many these attributes are very important and I could certainly understand why some would pass them by. Be forewarned though, if you live these speakers for any length of time I think their qualities that have been discussed would be impossible to do without. Well, for me at least.

all the best,
Tom

My experience in a small room for about 65 people was that a voice ( like an instrument) was a lot more direct and smaller in dimension than I would have thought. I used Always 2 fingers to make a proportion wenn I clossed my eyes. Also at a bigger live concert with a very good acoustic situation I had the same experience. We were amazed how easy it was to point out the instruments. Also the differences in depth were the instruments were standing was easy to hear. Wenn I hear Avalon with MIT at audio shows and the speakers are about 3 metres from eachother. The voice is often over 1 metre wide. This I really hate. I love cables like Audioquest and Purist Audio because they are capable of giving a small and direct 3 dimensional image of a recording. Purist Audio uses a panel of 41 people to Judge there new cables. Also musicians. AQ and Purist are both aware of the small and direct sound of instruments and voices. The both have exeptional good blacks. I used my set for a big audio show last month. Many ( distributers, customers and audio journalists)said that I had the absolute sound. Cause of the natural sound and 3 dimensional paupable image. I want a system to sond as natural and 3 dimensional like in real. Good is never good enough for me. Every part ( tool) in my system I Judge for a long time before I use it. Since I was 6 ( I made my own recordings from the radio with a stereo taperecorder with tubes) I am addicted to music and sound.