Speaker Asylum: REVIEW: Avantgarde Trio Speakers by Steve

Avantgarde Acoustics Trio Loudspeakers - Installation & Set-up

After auditioning a wide range of loudspeakers that included Avantgarde's Duo and Trio horns, (see audition report) I ordered a pair of Trios plus 4 of the new SUB225 CTRL active subwoofers. Since receiving them at the beginning of July I have optimized the installation and set-up to the point where I now believe I'm getting most of what these incredible loudspeakers can deliver. I'd like to share some of my experiences with installing and setting up these world class loudspeakers.

Let me first say a few words about my hi-fi related goals. Above all other considerations, I look for complete and absolute involvement in the music. I want nothing to stand between me and the emotions that music can generate. I want to feel the music, its flow, its crescendos, its atmosphere. I don't want to academically analyze or consciously concentrate. I want my head to expand, to be filled with music, to lose awareness of everything but the music. When the music has rhythm, my body should respond, my feet should tap, my chair should bounce, the music should be in control. When the music is sad that's how I want to feel, joyous and I want to be uplifted. I want to laugh at the pure pleasure that music can generate, I want to fly on its wings.

For over 25 years I've searched for this holy grail, owning more than a dozen systems in the process. But no matter how huge the soundstage and neutral the sound, the level of real involvement was always shallow. I would enjoy the first half an hour of music but soon catch my mind wandering and then have to consciously concentrate or simply loose the thread. Its taken a fully tube based system and the AvantgardeTrios to reach the level of effortless involvement I'm looking for.

My system.

After 30 plus years of buying vinyl, I have a fairly large collection that includes many LPs not reissued on CD, let alone future formats. Needing a future proof set-up, I use a Well Tempered Reference with Dynavector Te Kaitora cartridge, feeding a BAT VK-P10 Balanced Phono Stage.
I also own a couple of thousand CDs, played on a BAT VK-D5 CD player. Both TT and CDP feed a BAT VK-50SE, which in turn drives a VK-60 power amp.
All electronics are mounted on Townshend Seismic Sink Stands.
Music tastes include just about everything except Rap, 90s Pop, Zydeco, Dixieland and Crooners.

Back to the Trios.

I had looked forward to the Trios arrival for some weeks when finally the great day came. As they were offloaded and manhandled into the house, we discovered the first problem. These speakers are big, almost exactly the same size as my internal doors, which had to removed to gain access to the listening room. After much heaving and sweating the Trios were unpacked from their protective foam and placed close to the back wall of my listening room. Subwoofers were unpacked and installed. I was planning on stacking a pair each side of the horns but at a hefty 45 kg apiece, (90kg per 'tower'), some consideration had to be given to preventing their spikes from breaking through the brittle surface of the room's Italian ceramic floor. The best I could come up with was to place small purpose made metal discs under each spike, with the second sub stacked atop the first, sans spikes. This gave the appearance of a woofer tower and looked pretty cool. Subwoofer settings were dialed in according to the manual and the system hooked up with existing Magnan Reference and Vi interconnects. Magnan Reference speaker cables in bi-wire format were hooked up to the VK-60, using the 8 ohm output taps.

With no more thought for set-up, I powered up the system and inserted the first CD. Initial impressions were extremely positive. A little too much bass was easily rectified by turning down the individual subwoofer volume controls a notch or two. My immediate impression was of a large electrostatic with bass. Finesse and transparency married to enormous bass power and slam. Hard to imagine it getting better and initially at least, it didn't!

After enjoying the first evening's music immensely, I slotted in the XLO burn-in disc and left the system running for the next 48 hours. On returning I expected some sort of improvement but was dismayed to find that the system sounded rather forward and unbalanced. After a further 72 hours of run in, the system returned to its former self, with the exception of the bass, which sounded a little 'wet'. Moving the speaker cables on the VK-60 from the 8 to the 6 ohm taps brought the bass back in line, tightened up the overall performance and added an extra degree of sweetness to the middle/upper registers.

Once driver break-in was complete and the sound relatively stable, I started to work on speaker positioning. It soon became apparent that the relationship ' speaker / listener' was far more critical than 'speaker / room'. With the benefit of its shaped response, all three Trio horns have the same, relatively narrow polar response. This offers significant advantages. i. The individual horn outputs integrate relatively close to the loudspeaker, allowing the listener to sit close in ( <10') for a very immediate and direct sound. ii. Room reflections are minimized, resulting in far less room related coloration and phase anomalies iii. The absolute amount of energy in the room is relatively low for a given listening position SPL.

While the Trios may be insensitive to room position, the subwoofers work like any other dynamic loudspeaker, so I set about finding the correct subwoofer/front wall/listening position for the most accurate and articulate bass. This proved to be about 3' forward of the front wall for the subs with a further 10' to the listening position. This placed the listening chair about 9' forward of the back wall. Ideal, since with the Trios, back wall is the most significant source of reflection.

The horns were placed a few inches off the side walls, toe'd in to place the axis about 10" behind the listener's head. This is a fairly radical amount of toe-in but is important to get the soundstage correct. Too little toe in and the soundstage becomes wide but shallow, too much and the soundstage is deep but remains locked between the speakers. The correct position gives very well focused images, natural instrument size and a soundstage that extends well beyond the room boundaries, such that the speakers completely disappear as a source. (My wife walked over and stuck her head inside the midrange horn because "it seems as though they have nothing to do with the music all around them").

Next up was cables. I'd had the Magnan cable left over from my previous system and while it had proven unbeatable in that installation, the 5" wide ribbon speaker cable in particular was difficult to work with and I was interested in how other cables would sound. Thanks to a dealer friend, I was able to lay my hands on various lengths of well broken in, top of the line JPS, Aural Symphonics, Nordost and Harmonic Technology cables. While each cable was in and of itself excellent, I found that the HT was the fastest, most neutral and best suited to this system. Without turning this into a cable comparison, I found that HT allowed the music to flow without imposing any identifiable character of its own. In the context of this system, the HT was neither additive nor subtractive compared to the other cables.

The system was interconnected with various lengths of Pro-Silway II and the speakers bi-wired with Pro-9 Plus. Power cables to the electronics were replaced with HT Pro-AC 11. All cables were run in for a couple of hundred hours before any further tuning was undertaken.

At this point, I was extremely happy with the sound. I could listen for hours with the lights off and remain completely involved with the music without any conscious effort. Vinyl significantly outperformed CD, but that's always been the case in any system I've owned.

Feeling comfortable that my basic set up was OK, I set about doing some fine tuning. First off, I substituted the standard subwoofer power cables for HT Pro-AC 11. This significantly opened up and extended the bass, adding an extra layer of timbre and information to the very lowest bass notes. In addition, I tried hooking up the subs to different amplifier taps. The best results by far were obtained with the subs on the 4 ohm taps and the horns connected via the 6 ohm outputs. The combination of power cables and low impedance output gave extremely tight and fast bass and allowed both the x-over point and volume to be increased substantially. This brought even better integration coupled with massive slam, extension and articulation. The new sub settings added not only to the deep bass and perceived speed (normally deep bass slows things down, but not in this case) but improved air and space and extended the soundstage. Contrast within the music also improved, akin to removing all the light sources and increasing the darkness in a cinema.

With a new understanding of how important the deep bass is to the rest of the music. I took another critical look at the subs. My spike arrangement was clearly not as the designer had intended and should most definitely be improved. Still wishing to preserve my floor surface, I ordered 4 pieces of black granite and some thin felt pads. A piece of granite was placed on the floor, using several very small Blutak 'peas' to ensure stability. Felt pads were attached to ensure that the spikes couldn't slide on the highly polished granite surface and the first sub installed. A second piece of granite was placed on the first sub and the second sub installed, this time with spikes. When rapped, everything felt very solid and of a single piece. I expected some improvement but was not ready for the level of increase in bass energy and extension, which completely unbalanced the system and required a new listening position some 3' back, which again required adjusting the toe-in of the horns.

Having made and checked all the adjustments, I popped in a favorite CD that I hadn't heard for some time, turned out the lights and hit play. Janis Ian's Breaking Silence is a recording I've played rather often and know as an extremely well recorded, relatively mind mannered singer/songwriter type album with lots of ambiance. Instead, gut churning bass and massively dynamic drums hit me in the chest. In a wide, deep and airy soundstage, vocals and guitar with 'morning after rain' transparency contrast with the massive slam and attack of trouser flapping bass guitar and rolling drum. Tinkling crystal set to rolling thunder. The sense of tension is incredible. What an album!

Next up was Spyrogyra's Road Scholars. I once, quite incorrectly accused this album of having a digital sound. This time my initial impression is of standing close to the stage at an open air concert on a warm and balmy evening (Don't ask me why but I've played the album 4 or 5 times and the impression is always the same). You can feel the excitement build. 2 minutes into the first track and the music has me firmly in its grasp, carrying me away with its huge energy. From a musical standpoint, this is as good as being there. By the end of the album I'm perspiring lightly and wondering how long my listening chair can take this kind of abuse.

This level of performance is on a completely different plane to any of the hi-fi systems I've previously owned, including 1000 watt SS behemoths. On a pure performance level, the most significant aspects are the massive dynamics and energy coupled with absolute ease, transparency and neutrality. An enormously involving and breathtaking sound devoid of any barrier between me and the music. No compression or hardness, no lack of air on orchestral crescendos, or wandering images as the music waxes and wanes. With the right CDs and vinyl, there's absolutely nothing to remind me that this is indeed only a facsimile of the real thing.

And while individual and massed instruments are revealed with their full bloom and beauty, it's the emotional content of the music, portrayed so beautifully that is so utterly and completely overwhelming. On Spyrogyra I can hear the guys having a great time or feel the very real emotions that inspire Shirley Horn's wonderful interpretations. Thanks to the transparency of the Trio's drivers and almost magnifying glass capability of the horns, detail is presented in a most lifelike and non-artificial manner. Sounds like Shirley Horn's whispered message at the end of track 2 on You Won't Forget Me, the rustle of coat sleeve on guitar body or the different sounds as singers breathe through nose or mouth. Fingers on frets, nails on strings Saxes with keys, etc give the listener a sense of realism and music a tension and energy that ebbs and flows, taking me on a roller coaster ride of emotions.

And best of all, a lot of CD's limitations have disappeared, as though the slightly hard, steely sound exhibited by most CDs was in fact caused by a lack of resolution of the air and space revealed once the subwoofers were fully and harmoniously integrated into the system. Coupled with BAT's electronics and Townshend Audio's finicky Seismic Sink Stands, I've yet to hear a better system.

REVIEW: Avantgarde Trio Speakers Review by Steve at Audio Asylum