JBL Everest DD67000 vs. Avantgarde Duo Mezzo

Thanks for your opinions, please keep them coming.

ptss: JBL DD67000 were extremely dynamic, open, live sounding, effortless...than Revel Salon 2. Salon 2 had better holographic imaging and smother sound than JBL DD67000 but compared to JBL DD67000, Salon 2 sounded slow, boxy (before that I never understood what boxy of a box loudspeakers meant), compressed and closed in.

However, I'd have said the same negative things about any conventional box based dynamic loudspeaker after listening to JBL DD67000, thus, not sure if those shortcomings are fault of Salon 2 or the whole design category.

Thanks haroon. Interesting you mention the Salon's had 'smoother' sound; as live music is anything but smooth. .  The 6700 dynamics must be much faster-as they should be for the $$. I listened to a 3 way Avantgarde about 3 years ago driven by Wadia 5 something (top line). Like you I was impressed by the effortless,unrestrained dynamic sound and the uncanny presence. FWIW I would go with the JBL, I've had great experience with them. Cheers to your enjoyment however you choose. Pete

It’s lovely choice to make. I’m not sure the Everest can be driven by the usual SET amps- they are efficient but not crazy efficient. That would be the chief benefit of the Avantgarde, though bass integration has always been the trick: I have older Duos and have gotten them as good as i think they can be in that regard, save for having Jim Smith (the original importer and known set-up guru) spend time voicing the system. The Duo Mezzo with larger, horn loaded woofers may have considerably improved that integration issue, but, for me, on the older Duo, it was very tricky to get the bass to cohere with the mids- set for "good bass" in the room, there was discontinuity and set to match the horns, the speaker sounded bass-shy. (As I said, this may be less an issue given the woofers on the Mezzo).
I use relatively low powered SETs (Lamm ML2- not flea power) and the horn-SET combo can deliver magic on good recordings. The JBL is marvelous- not having heard the latest and greatest, but have heard the K2 driven by a ViVa amp (which as I recall was a lower powered SET) and it was wonderful-very in the room, no sense of a speaker, or system reproducing sound.
I think the JBL new is heavily discounted at least in the States, or seems to be judging by listings here. Perhaps it depends on where you are located; not so sure about new Avantgardes. Audiogon member Eberroth has a set of Mezzo Duos for sale here (I think he’s in Poland- don’t know him personally but know his name from audio stuff).
You should hear these things yourself- everyone is going to have their own preference; I suspect the JBL may be a little more coherent top to bottom but probably not quite as invisible in the midrange as the Avantgarde, given the two things: if the Duo Mezzo is anything like the older Duo I have, there is no crossover on the mid horn. None. So, hooking up an SET amp like the Lamm (which has a particular synergy with the Avantgardes), will give you a sound that has almost no barrier between the recording, the system and you on well recorded records.
You need to talk to the Great Karmeli (A-gon member DDK) who has some major antiquarian horns, JBLs and uses Lamms though I think he uses multiple amps for his JBLs, so your cost factor on amplification is doubled, if I am correct.
I was a Quad listener for decades, first the original Quad (which I supplemented, never satisfactorily, with ribbons and woofers) and later, the Crosby Quad. I switched to horns and SET amplification in 2006-7, and haven’t looked back. Very "in the room," alive, dynamic and don’t miss a thing in the midrange, which is always where I first get engaged or turned-off; if the midrange is boxy, grainy or sounds reproduced, that’s a big "tell" for me that the gear is getting in the way.
Take my observations for what they are worth- I think you have to hear them both with appropriate amplification and decide for yourself what suits over a range of recordings, not just a few cherry picked demo records.
One last observation- at least insofar as the Avantgarde experience is concerned- the speaker is very sensitive to associated gear and getting everything "just so" takes some time. (Perhaps that’s true of all good gear, but my system got progressively better as I upgraded gear upstream in the chain and spent time dialing everything in over a long term period).

whart, according to the spec they are 96db efficient. I would consider that "crazy efficient".

http://www.speakershop.com/media/document_assets/Everest_DD670001.pdf

gdhal- compared to conventional speakers, yes. My Duos are 104 db and the units with the so-called Omega driver are 106 db if memory serves. This may make the difference between using an SET amp or not. My ML2s, which are 18 watts each, are more than adequate for my Duos. I’m not sure they would drive the Everest effectively though. And the Lamm is not a flea powered SET. I know there are more powerful SET amps, includling Lamm’s own big dog SET, but you are getting into some real money with those. I did hear Magicos driven by the big Kondo SETs at a reviewer’s home -those are rated at 50 watts of output (I think), and they worked pretty well- but that amp is also expensive.