I heard the Isophon at a recent UK show and was very impressed. Detailed, uncoloured, neutral, fast, they were clearly the best, not the most expensive, either at the show. If a speaker can sound good in show conditions, they must be very good indeed. I think they are good value at the price, but Avalon are too. The problem for you colonials, is that any European speaker is gong to be very expensive, because of the value of the $. This has to make it better value to look to US kit