Avalon Eidolon or Parsifal Encore

Don't sell'em! I'm with Bjesien on the next move, if need be.

I agree with the others - keep your speakers. The Avalons are fine speakers too. What did you like better about them? It might be that the quality you liked was due to the associated gear as much as the Avalons. What kind of cabling was used with the Avalons?

I'm not too big of a fan of Transparent cable. I've not tried their cable in my system, but what I have found in common with underperforming systems at two local dealers was Transparent cable. I'd swap out the cabling before swapping out the gear as others suggest. Try some Nordost or MIT - and borrow enough so you don't have to mix and match if possible.

I see no mention of power cords in your system listing. What are you using? The right power cords can cause your speakers perform at a much higher level.

I never said I like the Avalon's better - I heard Avalon Radian HC's a long time ago and liked them a lot (with MIT / Spectral) so I'm intruiged by the idea of giving Avalon a try in my system. This is exactly how I ended up with the Parsifals, and before that Revel Studio's. Heard them in some showroom, liked them and tried them at home.

But I would never sell the Parsifals without first doing an in house shoot out and finding I prefer the Eidolons. The question is, should I even bother to try to buy the Eidolon's cheap on auction allowing me to do this expiriment. The consensus appears to be that it would be a lateral move at best so I should not waste my time and money. Considering this, I will probably refrain from bidding on the pair currently on auction.

As for ancillaries, I will not use tubes for poweramps because of reliability issues. Besides, my class A monos are stellar. Also quite happy with Transparent cabling. I use PS audio AC-12 for powercords with great succes.

Sorry that I hadn't read your post closely enough.  I misread your post and thought you weren't pleased with your Parsifals.  I figured that with the right cabling the idea of dumping the Parsifal would never enter one's mind.

The Eidolons and the Parsifals are the two speakers on my wish list.  I ended up buying my Spectral gear after hearing them drive Eidolons spectacularly.  The resolution of detail, transparency, and realism exceeded anything I'd ever heard.  What I heard and liked about the Parsifals was very different: the most amazingly gorgeous midrange.

In terms of power cords, glad to hear that the PS Audios are working for you.  I had their previous generation cords, which I thought were quite good, but they got trounced by the cheapest Nordost cord, the Magus.  I ended up dumping all my PS Audio cords and replacing them with Nordost Vishnu.  This was a major upgrade.  But even bigger than that was just swapping one Nordost Brahma for the Vishnu used at my power outlet.  I've had my speakers for 15 or so years, and they are now doing things they've never done.

Both are great speakers but very different sounding. Your amps are fine partners to both speakers. I run >200W class A amps too. Parsifals are not hugely sensitive design like the Lohengrin or Sarastro. Even at 93db, the added power is noticeable.

IMHO, it is a worthwhile effort to experience a different design with different priorities. I have owned the Sarastro 2s and various Avalons from Opus ceramique, Eidolon Diamond to the Isis. In optimizing them, I gained some understanding in speaker-room interactions, and about my own listening preferences.

The Eidolon midrange has great transient attack but more unforgiving. It does not shine unless proper diffusion is in place. The Verity midrange is fuller sounding and manage to sound good in broader room conditions. The Verity's first order crossover and the broad bandwidth midrange have great transparency. With relatively large overlaps betw the drivers and having woofers on a different plane are quite demanding on setup. The small ceramic midrange in the Eidolon covers a much smaller bandwidth and the dispersion pattern are more even. Veritys are designed to harness room gain for dynamics and Avalons excite the room less. Avalon's cabinets are more inert vs Verity uses lossy cabinets to channel away vibrations. Veritys are relative small size speakers that play big vs Avalons are large speakers with leaner bass alignments by contrast.

It is tough to guess which you would ultimately like better.