Does Avalon speakers have a house sound?

I've been listening to a pair of older Eidolons for over six years now so I'm extremely biased. I replaced a pair of Paradigm Studio 100 v2 and the difference was so dramatic it's now very difficult listening to other speakers who's time and phase is not addressed.

I should also point out that my audiophile ear was so childish when I auditioned Eidolons in stores and at shows they always seemed sleepy by direct comparison. I simply didn't know what I was hearing.

I was constantly listening to my system and not the music with the Studio 100s v1s and v2s. After a few years of constant dissatisfaction with my system I began going through amps and preamps with changes but with no success in musicality.

The switch to the Avalon Eidolons was nothing short of magic. Even my family was stunned by the difference but far more importantly the rightness and musicality of their presentation and at any volume level. The Paradigm's had a rather loud volume sweet spot.

After living with the Avalon's it's easy to hear systems that are and are not doing the rightness thing.

If there is a house sound I would assume its the rightness and musicality. There may be a model that might be brittle or thin but I've never heard anybody comment on that before. I would easily assume those would be a consequence of issues upstream.

As to cabling I did some brief auditioning but have settled on a Cardas Golden Reference system loom because they provided the best top to bottom cohesiveness and may very well be the brand of internal wire used by Avalon.

I do recall noting what seemed to be very good coherence with the Avalons when I heard them.

What about the Ascendants? anyone?

Avalon speakers have definitely there own sound and they sound different to any other brand. The stage is wide and deep. But with amp's and cables you still can influence the stage and even sound. Like the sound, these parts are all a personal matter. I sold them for over 6 years. High's of the older can sound a little harsh. It also has to do with older technique and tweeters with a less high freq. respons. The newer Avalon sounds less harsh in the high freq. A friend of mine had a small concertroom with a Steinway wing. He gave classical concerts in intimate settings. I never liked the sound of a violin played on a Avalon compared to the sound in real. I Always found them to clinical. In real they have a lot more body and overwhole warm sound. The thing I dislike most on Avalon speakers is that individual focus of instruments and voices is in real a lot more touchable and direct to point out. This is only my point of view.

They absolutely have a house sound, I've listened to easily 75 setups over the last 20 years. The sound is detailed (above average to very detailed depending on model), open, very focused, spacious. The negative for many, including me, is that they are typically lean (this is not room-related, or system-related, it is positively a trait) and can strike many folks as fatiguing. They fatigue me in a way that live chamber, symphonic, jazz, blues do not. This is why I don't use them.

Beautifully built.