How do reference speakers rank to today's standard

I purchased a pair of Avanti Century's 2 years ago. They replaced active Linn 5140's with 6 channels of Chakra amplification. There was no contest. At the time I was looking at new Linn 212's and auditioned Sonus Faber, B&W 804 and a few others. The Linn's were of omission only, lacking dynamics and not great imaging etc. I went to listen to the Avanti's and within 30 seconds I had to have them. Extremely fast, dynamic, pin point imaging, tall expansive sound stage and seamless speaker integration. I was afraid they had to be placed 1/3 into the room. Not so. I guess an $8000 speaker in 2000 should be good, $2500 was a bargain. Against todays $3500 speakers that I looked at there was no competition.

Hi Jarecneps, thanks, I think that your answer makes the choice easy. Also your remark about the positioning into the room was helpful, that was also a worry. In favour of the Avanti's is that it's an enclosed system while the Tempo has a port at the back, making it, I think, less easier to put the Tempo's close to a wall. On the other hand, the Avanti is a side fire, so I guess he won't like it close to a side wall.

I will not say that technological changes don't matter, but, when looking at a particular manufacturer's line, it is often changes in philosophy, deliberate change in the kind of sound to match perceived changes in market demand, etc. that matter more. You can hear this evolution in certain lines of speakers, often to their detriment (for my taste), as the overall market shifts. Some even drift one way and then back again when their core customers start to move away.

As far as abuse to an Avanti is concerned, I know of at least one example of spectacular abuse that the drivers survived. A friend of mine does installations and servicing of some gear. He fixed an Avanti that must have been subjected to sustained, extremely high level signals. The inductor on the crossover board was so overheated that the board and the plastic parts around the inductor had melted (not warped, melted and had started to flow away). Amazingly, the drivers, including the tweeter, were unharmed.

Agree with the opinions here. With the exception of overt abuse a speaker built to a high standard of construction and upper level quality parts, 11 years are nothing in terms of wear. Performance should be very good for many years to come. I`ll always go with the higher quality-older component than a newer but built to a lesser standard one.

Linkingpin if it is any help, mine are set up to also serve home theatre in a strictly 2 channel system. They sit 12 inches from the back wall and about 30 inches to the side wall. They stradle a 100 inch motorized Stewart Screen and are still feed Linn electronics. I'll never get rid of them, but would like to hear them run on tubes some day.