Acapella vs. Avantgarde

Thanks for your responses Kotjac and Fernando. Kotjac, your comment about the Avantgardes being superior from 800Hz and below is very interesting indeed. So is your comment about the selection of amplifier being critical.

I suppose this raises the obvious question - would the Violons benefit from being bi-amped? I know the Violons have bi-wirable speaker posts. I am assuming that this seperates the crossover from midrange/tweeter and subwoofer modules, with the crossover frequency being 800Hz. Do you think the Violons would benefit from say, my Cary's driving the mid/tweeter and a seperate amplifier (with volume control) driving the subwoofer module?

I ask this, because I know a guy who specializes in making custom plate amplifiers.

Yes, the Violons can be bi-amped, however the overall coherence of the sound will suffer if the amps used are quite different. Remember, the crossover point is high at 800Hz, which means that the amp driving the bottom section would work pretty far into the midrange. A plate amp would definitely be a very bad idea.

On the other hand the high crossover point means that the amplifier driving the top section would only see frequencies from 800Hz up. This opens up a lot of doors, including the option to use 300B SETs. Finding a solid state amp that would offer a seamless blend will not be easy, but it doesn't mean it's not possible. After all the Violons are already a mixture of three different driver technologies and I'm still amazed at how seamless and coherent they sound.

One thing I have to stress is that even though to my ears the Avantgardes sound better below 800Hz, the Violons are still superb in this area.

Okay, I have finally managed to audition every speaker I have mentioned in this thread. I started the journey in February when I made the first post. I just returned from my trip to Sydney, where I heard the Acapella Violons and the Avantgarde Uno's. I have already heard the Duo's (see above). Here are my impressions.

Uno's: sound just like the Duo's. The dealer initially had them hooked up to a pair of Audio Note Soro SE's and it sounded absolutely terrible. I thanked him for his time and was about to walk out, when he suggested to try a Graaf OTL power amp. So I sat down again and let him make the swap. Let's just say that the speakers now sounded acceptable. The nasal quality was gone, the dynamics had improved, and the sound was more natural. I was pretty impressed.

The next day, I visited another dealer and listened to the Violons. A Metronome CDP and a pair of Wavac 805 SET's were used - chosen because they are roughly similar to my Cary 805's.

When I walked into the room, the dealer had some music playing softly. Let's just say that my jaw dropped - the sound was so pure, so clean, so effortless - it was like nothing I have ever heard before. It made me realize that all other speakers sound coloured by comparison.

The midrange was married very effectively to the tweeter. I was looking for a seam where the midrange meets the tweeter but I could not hear it, despite knowing exactly where it is. At the top end, the midrange almost matches the tweeter for speed, and gets a little bit lazier at the bottom.

The bass was inadequate though. Not very loud and rather boomy. I suspect this was more the fault of the SET than the speakers themselves. 55W of SET isn't quite enough.

So, I ordered the Violons. They will arrive in a couple of weeks. In the meantime, I need to think about how I am going to drive them with my own meagre SET's ...

Amfibius, I must say I agree with all that you say based on my listening to both speaker lines.

I presently own the LaCampanellas and tried to use my excellent Reimyo SET with 8 watts. It did it best but is not up to the challenge of an 93 db efficient speaker. I don't know if Exemplar equipment is available in Australia or even if they make 240 volt equipment, but this was the amp for my speaker.

I've also found that the LaCampanellas work better with more power. I tried my 50w Lectron push/pull but they really opened up with my Rogue M-150s at 150w/ch. Not only did the bass response improve but I believe it also cleaned up what little "horn" sound there was. It seemed as though you could hear that 700Hz xover point more prominently with the lower powered amps. I suspect this desire for a little more juice is a common characteristic with the Acapellas. Really a great sounding speaker, though I suspect those who listen to mainly classical may not like how pianos sound. But with jazz and alternative rock the LaCampanellas sound wonderful!