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Avantgarde Duo set up.

Genltlemen(and gentle women), I have a question.

In the manual, Duos require a set-up whereby the midrange horn is one hole higher than the tweeter horn (in their respective hole sets). Making the gap between the horns in the vertical axis larger and keeping the mid/high horns the correct distance apart from an acoustic perspective.

The manual also explains a "bead and ????something" method where you tilt the speaker front to back to get the bottom of the midrange horn visually touching the rear of the tweeter horn to get the correct position on the vertical axis.

I simply cannot get this to happen. With the reccommended horn position I have no chance of making this happen from my seating position. I'm much to low. Even with both the horns in the same holes, ie both two holes from the bottom, I cant get this " bead and ?????" method to line up. This is probably a function of my seating position being too low and being a faily long way away.

So I suppose my question is which is the best compromise ? Having the Horns in the Manual reccommended position. Or getting close the the "bead and thing" principal and having the horns closer together in the vertical axis.

Looking at various Gallerys on the web it looks like many people have their duos set up with the horns closer toghether than reccomended in the vertical axis.

I'm told that setup is critical with Duos so I'd like to get it as right as possible.

In your vast, collective experience which would be the best way to go ??

If you read this far...... thanks very much.

Myron.



borg7x9
borg7x9 OP
91 posts
 
Triode,
I've just been revisiting this thread and I'm interested in your "Be sure to reverse tweeter polarity" comment. I plug my speaker cables into the lower teminals on the tweeter. Should I plug the positive into the negative and Visa versa from my amp and then reverse the jumpers into the Mid and Sub(unless of course I need to also have the sub out of Phase which means that It'll be either in phase with the reversed polarity of the tweeter or in phase with mid . Is the Duo designed to run with the tweeter out of phase or does it sound better in phase in some cases.

Thanks for your thoughts.
whart's avatar
whart
3,195 posts
 
Yep, I was a little confused about the reverse polarity comment as well, since it sounds like, to invert polarity on the woof, you'd need to change both the mid and the tweets relative to the woof.
One suggestion that Jim Smith makes, aside from hooking up at the midrange, and going from there (and there is a HUGE difference in sound between the stock jumpers and the Cardas Golden Reference- no exaggeration here) is on toe in-
seated at the listening position, look toward the outer rear bolt. Its head should line up visually with the inside of the front upright rail on the same side. Sonically, the speakers seem to snap into focus. I didn't find a need to change the recommended height of either horn.
borg7x9 OP
91 posts
 
Thanks Whart, I'll give it a go tonight and see what happens.
triode
263 posts
 
Borg, until the Omega version/upgrade, the Duos were wired with negative tweeter polarity, so the jumper s/b reversed. Also, do not go from your amp to the tweeter - go direct to the most important driver, the mid horn...where the music lives.

And Whart is spot-on about toe-in.
hemlock27
1 posts
 
To Myron and others who have struggled with setting up Avantgarde DUO's:

If you cannot get the horns to line up according to Avantgarde's instructions, you have an older version of the tripod support. Avantgarde changed the hole positions, did not tell anyone (TMK), and printed instructions for the new support system. In addition to the suggestions already provided, please try the following:

1. Mount the high frequency horn in the middle hole.
2. Mount the midrange horn exactly 21cm (slightly over 8") from the high frequency horn, as measured from the top of the rear housing of the high frequency horn to the bottom of the rear housing of the midrange horn. The middle hole for the midrange horn will space the units exactly as Avantgarde intended.
3. Now you can slightly tilt the entire speaker either forward or backward, as required by your listening position and as suggested by Avantgarde.
4. Should you desire to move the horns to a higher position, make sure you move them together, without changing the distance between them.
5. If you experience lack of proper bass integration, try spiking the sub cabinets. I use 2" Audio Points on the rear and 1.5" Audio Points on the front. This combination positions the speakers at the precise angle and seamlessly integrates the subs with the horns.
6. It is also perfectly safe to reverse polarity of the speaker wire bass connections, providing both speakers are wired the same (experiment).

Once properly set up, the DUO's will not disappoint. Best of luck.

Hemlock27

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