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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
 
Oh sorry TBG. I just realized that you have to be a member of that forum before you can see the pictures. I was talking about the Acapella Violons.

UNFORTUNATELY, yesterday one of the tweeters suddenly became much more quiet than the other one. Even with the volume control maxed, it only barely manages to put out enough volume. The size of the plasma flame is also a lot smaller. I made a panicked call to the dealer, and he suggested that I change the valves. As I lack the correct Allen key, I am up early this morning so I can visit the hardware store the moment it opens.

*sighs*
tbg
5,263 posts
 
Amfibius, I have been there myself. Good luck. Is the flame affected by the amplification in the power supply?
amfibius OP
282 posts
 
Tbg, I have no idea how that flame is generated. Maybe i'll fire off (no pun intended) an email to Acapella to ask.

It is very early in the morning here in Australia (5am when I posted that message above). I just turned on the speakers and EUREKA both flames are alive again. I'm not sure what's causing this annoying inconsistency but I will get it sorted out for sure.
tbg
5,263 posts
 
Amfibius, I don't either, but my old Ionovacs burned a rod and the Hill Plasmatronic burned hydrogen or some compressed gas. I do know that at some point you need to replace something within the unit that gets consumed.Perhaps the tubes set a charge to allow burning the element.
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