When my Avantgarde Duos were new it took a while to dial them in to achieve their potential. More than any other speakers I've owned the Duos required extreme levels of synergy with other system components. Their 103 db sensitivity magnifies issues caused by non-synergistic components resulting in sound that's good but nothing special. When care is taken a Duo based system is unique in my experience, capable of realism that causes people who could care less about stereos to sit in rapt attention and clap at the end of an LP side.
At first I used the lovely monoblock tube amps that drove my previous speakers, Verity Parsifal Encores. Fidelity was above average but they had too much gain. Next I tried a SET tube amp known to be an excellent match with Avantgardes. The amp was OK, but obvious that the Duos were capable of significantly more sonic magic. As the SET amp cost about 65% less than my monoblocks my conclusion was I fishing in the wrong price category.
A suggestion was made to try different cables which seemed a waste of time as I had good cables including the special power cords that came with the Duos. With the SET amp still in the system I inserted Basis power cords and interconnects. My expectation was at best there would be a sonic trade off, some area of fidelity would improve and another area would suffer and the SET amp would still lack the required mojo. Not the case as about every sonic characteristic improved. Dynamics, low level resolution, transients, frequency extension, midrange realism, soundstage, etc etc. The Basis cables with the lower priced SET amp allowed the Duos to strut their stuff.
Later I inserted Basis speaker cables which, as I recall, did not provide new insights other than an across the board increase of the positive characteristics that were already there. Overall I found the Basis cables a revelation and "pretty special" to borrow a quote from Moryoga. In my case the hardness in the interconnects/speaker cables mentioned by Larryi was non-existent. This just goes to show that like most things relative to a stereo system synergy is dependent upon many factors within a system and the room it's in. And that in some systems the Basis cables might be excellent cables to use.
