This has started to get a little daft.
Weseixas,
if your comment was aimed at me regarding Bel canto I would be glad to explain.
Before the AG Trio I had all sorts of planars. Magnepan 3.6r Apogee Duetta Sigs & Divas, ML CLS, Quad ESL to name a few. At the time I tried the AG Uno too. I realized the Uno had qualities in spades which I had struggled with to get any of my planars to do.
To get some life out of these wonderful planar speakers I tried every amp you can throw a stick at. Tubes,SS from 100w to 1,000w.
When the BC amps came out with an amp the size of a shoe able to stick 1000w into a 4 ohm speaker that ran cold, I thought I had died & gone to heaven.
They did a great job on the Duettas, they were cable of controlling and squeezing that last bit out of a bass ribbons and had the cleanest leading edge I had heard until then. Leaving all my other amps sounding slow,fat and tired.
When the Trios arrived I had not decided on an amp for them. I still had a cupboard full of giant powerful amps which I had amassed after years of planars. So I stuck the BCs on the Trio. They were so clean, amazingly quick and detailed. Without some harmonic texture granted, but in theory this was a daft combination, but it sounded very good. Now I have ended up with flea power SETs. A world I could never have entertained before.
This is why I bothered writing to help with this question. Our friend is finding it hard to replace his Uno. I know why. The alternatives are difficult. His issue was about bass integration with his Uno. So get a bigger AG where the Bass is cut off lower and is able to be moved anywhere in the room and can use a simple amplifier. Thats all.
This thread has got complicated with all sorts of random alternatives. From ATCs, Apogees, Genelec, and Soundlabs. It is simple.
The AG is the closest to a live person playing I had heard. Not a distant copy. It is still the same after a longtime owning a pair. I never think about speakers these days. To be honest I have access to most of the other speakers systems mentioned here. I never bring them home and when I have to use them I am reminded how superior the Trio is to them in just about every aspect. I am not saying this because I have one. I have one because I tried the rest.
