Avalon Eidolon Diamond vs Revel Salon 2

If there's a problem with Avalon speakers its the need to have someone who actually knows what they should sound like properly locate them. I heard a pair of Eidolons set up correctly only once years ago at dB Audio's second location on Shattuck Ave, In Berkeley California.

I remember they were driven by an Ayre V-3 with Cardas cable but little else. Subsequent installations at shows and other stores never came close to the dB Audio setup.

Bo1972s accounts with Avalon are completely understandable. While Avalon provides fairly detailed setup instructions not knowing what should sound like is a huge handicap. I guess this could be said of any speaker.

From memory I thought I had mine dialed in until someone in the industry with this familiarity moved them about eight inches back and less than two inches wider apart which created a substantial improvement.

Many dealers sell the brands they have. These days the prefer what delivers the most money. I am only interested in the best sound for a client. Ayre has not the same quality as Pass Labs. Stage is less wide, and less deep. The sound realism is not in the same league as Pass Labs. With Avalon you get a smaller stage in dept and in wide wenn you use Ayre. Wenn speakers use faster speaker units, you will get less acoustic problems. Speed is the key to sound realism and less acoustic problems.

The words "thin" and "thin out" are exactly what I was pointing out about the Avalons. The words and concept is said in above many times, because it is true.

For some folks this thinning exposes more detail (or APPARENT detail) and makes them feel like they are hearing more, so they are more convinced by the presentation. As for me, I have never heard muted trumpets, unmuted trumpets, violins, oboes, operatic sopranos and tenors sound as thin and borderline screechy in real life, especially when played at realistic volume levels (and I don't mean screaming levels, I don't listen to rock). This includes demos by Avalon themselves, Avalon dealers, Avalon importers, Avalon home user systems, and tests in my place.

It is a sound that many find compelling, so we will read more "my Avalons are SPOT ON tonally", "my Avalons using this B.S.XYZ cable don't sound this way" in posts after this one. Despite that previous above, and upcoming below baloney, this is the general house voicing and it is well known in the industry. If it appeals to you great. My comments about the Revels were to point out that their voicing is richer, which is positively a fact. The Revel voicing is more like the Rockport voicing.

The sound of the 2 speakers is quite different and in the same system you would clearly hear this.

I have no horse in the race, I currently own neither. As usual, beware of posters who own only one or the other piece of equipment, look up "internal dissonance theory". When someone owns it they automatically gravitate toward the attitude that their love object is perfect. Better to find the guy who is not satisfied with anything and can quickly name the faults of everything. A curmudgeon like that will tell you what to look for and hold back nothing.

The level what I have at home is so stunning, that it is very easy to let people hear what a 3 dimensional image is. Like it is easy to make Avalon owners aware about the difference in touchabel image. We are talking about superior difference. They understand directly what I mean with a small and direct touchable 3d image. They all use the same words. I never heard my music this touchable. I can think about 3-4 steps further in sound than other people in this business can. My photographic memory in sounds makes it a lot easier to come to this level. Of every single part in my system I know exactly what it does. Wenn you use Wilson Audio speakers with Pass labs and Shunyata cables you will get instruments which are too big in proportion. Wenn I would do a demo I ever would be a f..fool to make this combo. Because I know exactly what all the different properties are. I also miss the timbre in the mid freq of the Avalon. I see this as a personal thing. I use the word thin wenn an instrument or voice is not sharp like a knife in touchable 3d focus. Wenn I listend to classical music at my friends house I was pulled to the voice like a magnet. This is intimate sound like I want it to be. I never heard an Avalon doe this. Why? Because it does not have this property. It is that easy. My new Audioquest 2013 Redwood cable ( older have less silver) is the first loudspeakercable what I heard and tested which is capable of giving an extreme intimate sound like I experienced in real. The Oak has many of the same talents but is just made of copper. I sold this one with Avalon speakers. Now it is the Avalon speaker witht the best touchable sound I ever heard. But......what my Pl-200 does in this part is still superior. Now I blow every person away with ease. They all say: mmmmmmmmm...this is heaven and I would love to have this as well. What is the main problem in audio? Show's are done by people with not enough knowledge about all the stuff they use. They often make misstakes with the combination of gear. Cable use they really do not know what the properties are. In many shops I still hear this misstakes as well. I visit many people with audio sets from 12000 dollar till 180.000 dollar. Only a few had a good balanced audio set. Most of them had combination flaw's.

Omsed that makes me realize I am a horse hoarder. Three thoroughbred Avalons and a bastardized Focal. Heard the rockport Mira driven by lamm hybrids and audio research ref5 a few years ago. Ouch!!! Thin and sharp as a butchers cleaver.