Avalon Eidolon or Parsifal Encore

I guess my comments were driven by the fact that I love the P/E type of sound and as Marty said the two brands do sound quite different from each other and it is true that folks will gravitate to one or the other - not better or worse, but a different approach. Now if at a dealer you are smitten by the Avalon sound, and you have the finances to make these kind of changes, then why not? You may be one of those for whom Avalon is the right approach, and really hard for anyone to know or tell you otherwise. But still think it is a lateral move, but just maybe the right one for you. Let us know what you decide:)

Hello Edorr,

I would like to share my first hand experience with you. First it may be helpful to give you some insight of what speakers I was coming from. For years I was in the electrostatic camp, I owned Acoustats, 2 pairs of Quads, and then finally a pair of Martin Logan CLS 2-Z. When I was making the move to a dynamic speaker I wanted to retain as much as possible the qualities I so enjoyed with the stats, and add to them the frequency extension, weight and fullness, along with the dynamic authority that good dynamic cone speakers have.

The two speaker systems that caught my ear were the Verity Parsifal (encore version wasn't out yet)) and the Avalon Radian HC. I found a dealer the carried both lines and agreed to let me compare them in my house at the same time. I was trading in my CLS 2-Z so when the dealer brought the Parsifal's and the Radian's to my house he naturally wanted to take a listen to the CLS and make sure they were working properly.

We first set up the Parsifal. Compared to the CLS there was a noticeable drop in transparency and coherence and a hollowness where the upper bass and lower mid(s) meet. We then spent 2 hours trying to position the Parsifal to get their sound to gel. Moving them from side to side, back and forth, an 1" here 2" there, woofers firing to the back wall then firing forward, moving room acoustic treatment. We finally got in the ball park and could hear their promise. Most noticeable virtue was a beautiful transparent upper mid-range. Biggest downside was a lack of coherence and continuity of the drivers and to a lesser extent the hollowness noted above.

We then set out to set up the Radian's. First try we plop them down and they have it all over the Parsifal. Coherence from top to bottom, detail retrieval, and a jaw dropping rock solid transparent sound-stage. Dynamic linearity. I was sold!!! I really wanted the Parsifal to work out because there was around a 2.5k price difference and I was really spending more then I should have at that time in my life.

I've since moved on to the Eidolon and then eventually the Eidolon Diamond. So from my past experience, I would say yeah go ahead and give the Eidolon a try. I have a feeling you are going to be surprised on just how good they are. YMMV

Best of luck to you,

Tom

Go for it.

Nothing ventured, nothing gained.

Good advice from Rtn 1 , if the avalons dont fit the taste , than sell them again , always make sure you dont pay too much from the start.
If you ever see some diamonds for sale try them out also, those diamond cones are special , you get a " end of the line" feeling .

Ive gone the path of buy loose sell and buy again also .

Thanks everyone, this has been extremely helpful.

Tom, I was just about to report I'll pass on the Eidolon's but now you got me thinking again - especially since like you the Avalon that really impressed me were Radian HC's 15 years ago.

If I pick up the listed Avalon's cheap my financial exposure is limited (I can easily resell my P/E for what I have into them), but I quite dread the logistics. I'll chew on it and make up my mind Sunday. I may just give them a try (unless I get outbid of course).

I do need to update my system page. I am now using the Modwright 36.5 LS/PS 2 chassis preamp, and upgraded my powerplant premier to 2x Powerplant P5, and I put the new Stillpoint ultras under my P/E and center channel.