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In the Forum: Audio News
In the Thread: Michael Fremer Continuums…
Post Subject: Re: Speakers that share the same kind of drivers do not necessarily sound the samePosted by Mike on: 11/9/2006
Hi Angelo,

Thanks for the kind words about our website.

Hmmmm... it is really difficult to make the sound of the Avalon speakers have no depth or imaging (I presume you are referring to the Opus or Eidolon? Their small Symbol speakers do indeed sound a little dimensionless and lean, but I do not think they have ceramic drivers) - but it can be done if someone tries hard enough, as you heard in Italy. Avalon speakers on the big VTL amps sounded really nasty as well.

It takes a whole system to generate any sound - good or bad - not just speakers. What were the rest of the components in the system in Italy? How were the speakers set up?

Although we like the sound of the Avalon, Kharma and Marten Design speakers, in well designed systems, which all use ceramic drivers - they all sound different from each other. And there are many, many speakers with ceramic drivers, some we may like, some we do not. Ceramic drivers can sound 'crispy' with a bad crossover - or if they are not broken in. Otherwise, their typical sound is 'tight and fast' hugging the signal they are fed very tightly in comparison with other driver technologies.

Anyway, we are enthusiastic about speakers and components we like. You may decide that you personally do not like what we like, and that is fine. But as far as basic attributes like depth and imaging - all of the stuff we like, and most of what we don't, can do a reasonably good, if not outright excellent, job at accomplishing these technical requirements. It is the additional qualities of a really great piece of equipment / really great system that is much more interesting and rare and difficult to describe and seductive.

Yeah, the price of the Coltrane Supremes is kind of, uh, high?... but it is worth it to us, and hopefully to someone else who wants this kind of performance. And everybody else is welcome to come enjoy a few hours listening to them - or, if they are too far away, read about them and try to vicariously enjoy things remotely - just like I get to read about and enjoy Romy's setup, being too far away to visit in person.

Hopefully you will get the hear the Avalon speakers in a better setup sometime. Not likely to be worse, huh?

Take care,
Mike

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