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Avalon Eidolon for nearfield listening?

My room is only 10Wx17Dx15Dx8H (The depth of the room is unbalanced because of a pillar on one corner of the room). I am home auditioning Eidolon right now and so far really impressed. The geometry of the room and its size forces me to listen to them about 6-7ft. from them. Although I like them very much, I am wondering whether I am wasting money for such a small room and listening environment. If I went for a lower notch speaker that is better suited for nearfield/small room environment, will I get better sound than what I am hearing from Eidolons? FYI, I have listen to Avalon Eclipse also in the dealer and obviously, they are a couple of notches lower in most aspect vs. Eidolon. But I am wondering whether smaller speakers like Eclipse or Audio Physic Virgo would outperform Eidolons in my room.

Please make me your recommendations for my small room, assuming I am willing to spend up to Eidolon price for the best sound.

I am going to change my other gears to fit the speakers, so the rest of my system should not be a constraint. I am considering Goldmund amps and sources. Any one used them with Avolons?

Thanks
CPark
cjpark
mgottlieb
334 posts
 
The Eidolons are about as good as it gets, provided you can get far enough away from them, and get them far enough away from the rear and side walls--5 to 6 feet, from everything I've heard. I have some of the same problems, and wound up with the Egglestonwork Andras--a great speaker, small footprint, huge soundfront, designed to go within a foot of the rear wall, and even the side walls, with no boom or slapback. (I needed tube traps behind my B & Ws, which were 3 feet from the wall; with the Andras, the tube traps actually hurt perfomance.) No, they don't quite match the Eidolons, but they're about $8000 less. And you can put that towards new amps--they need about 300 watts per channel.
jtinn
1,124 posts
 
As an alternative to the Eidolon's, you must hear the Piega P10's. They are the best speaker that not a lot of money can buy. They compare very favorably to $30,000 speakers for only $10,000.
bmpnyc
713 posts
 
I have extensively heard both the Avalon Eidelon and their Opus in near field environments. I would choose the Opus for a room of your size. They have all the quality of the Eidelons, but sound more focused in "smaller" rooms. Their soundstage is still enormous, but they just seem to work better at close range. Also, they don't need quite as much juice to give a complete sound, so you save money at both ends.
cjpark OP
5 posts
 
Mgottlieb,

my other considerations include Andras and Kharma Ceramique 2.0 and of course, Avalon Opus. Your choice of Andra makes me to go for at least a home auditioning, which is possible for me. i am just wondering, whether Eidolons will be too much for the room and actually underperform the other smaller speakers or it still is better but just cannot meet its full potential because of the small room. Any one listen to all the above in similar environment???

Cpark
mgottlieb
334 posts
 
I heard the Kharmas, but in a very large room, and immediately after hearing the top of the line Kharmas (the $80,000ish ones that just recently got a rave in TAS). In that room, and after hearing the bigger Kharmas, which are stunning, I thought the Ceramiques were a bit too polite, like Dutch Philips LPs of the '70s and '80s, but still very pleasant overall. In a smaller room, they might be just the thing. From my conversation with the dealer, however, I got the impression that they probably could not go as close to the rear wall as the Andras can, but you won't know that until you try.
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