Avante Garde horn speakers.....

Hi, What they mean when they say the bass is slow is... The bass is out of character and not coherent with the rest of the frequences. When you listen does the bass sound like it's sticking out like a sore thumb? Does it disappear into the sound-stage or does it sound like the bass is coming out of a box? Does the bass linger into the sounds afterward and sound disconnected from the rest of the music? All of the above characteristics discribe slow bass. I hope this helps. Good luck and ENJOY, Tom

It sounds to me like Avantgarde may not have the equalization right between the subwoofers and the horns. With the 10dB gain produced by the horn structure I would expect extra gain would need to be added to the bass frequencies to keep the balance right. As far as quickness I would think that this would not be a proplem for the subwoofers due to the integrated design and active feedback. Hopefully, an impartial third party review with frequency response measurements will be forthcoming.

Frequency amplitude response isn't the only way to measure a speaker. The "speed" aspects refer to the transient response performance, or how well the woofer's cone can follow the signal it gets fed, and how fast its decay time is. Automatically assuming that, since the sub is servo feedback controlled, there will be zero intermodulation distortion, is a mistake...both with regards to the cones themselves, and also with regards to how the system behaves in its enclosure, and then in the room. Not all servo subs sound alike with regards to "rhythm and pace", after all. Just ask any equipment reviewer or manufacturer. Don't depend on a sales guy to answer these questions...

Carl I was thinking about the Velodyne subwoofers which have low distortion numbers. Have you heard the Avantgardes? I would like to check them out; but, have not had time to do so since I moved to Dallas in early June. I used to live 20 miles from their home office; but, found this out too late. As far as the amplitude match I was thinking that the horns are so efficient that relatively high sound levels for the mids and highs may be achieved before the subs start to kick in. This is pure speculation on my part. As stated previously a frequency response curve would be nice.

The problem just doesn't seem to be amplitude related, going by what the guys who've owned these have said. Since you can adjust the sub's output level, and since guys usually don't buy these to pump a lot of power into the horns, it seems like it's more time domain related, than amplitude related.