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| Letters -- December 2006 Avalon Eidolon Diamond and deep bass December 27, 2006 Editor, I am writing to you because my perception over many, many years of reading audio journals has concluded that you may be the best resource for experience with what many deem to be the more exotic side of high-end audio. As well, I have always found your articles to be comprehensive as well as entertaining. I would like to ask you of any experience that you may have with the Avalon Eidolon loudspeaker. My one criticism of most "full-range" loudspeakers is that of hall ambience in the deep bass -- or should I say lack thereof. Whenever I have listened to Wilson Audio loudspeakers (WATT/Puppy, MAXX, X-1 Grand SLAMM), the reverberation of deep bass, which seems to stem from the recordings’ ability to have captured the hall ambience, and or the decay of certain deep bass instruments such as tympani drums, has undoubtedly been present to a degree that I find almost unique to Wilson. My present loudspeaker is the Revel Salon. While it has certain characteristics that I find appealing, it does not do the deep-bass-reverberation / hall-ambience thing quite as well as the Wilsons do. Excuse me if my ability to explain myself in this regard is somewhat less than ideal -- I hope you understand what it is that I am referring to. However, my overall listening preferences sway toward overall transparency. I have heard the Avalon Eidolon Vision during several closed-door listening sessions. It has always made a very favorable impression. However, I have not experienced the type of bass definition that traditionally I have found with Wilson Audio loudspeakers. What I have not heard is the Eidolon Diamond. Living in Canada has meant that we have all of one dealer in Montreal, Quebec. Although they have sold Diamonds, they have never had them in-house for me to demo. My understanding of the Eidolon Diamond is that it is a faster loudspeaker, due to its drivers, than the Eidolon Vision. I was hoping that you may have had some experience with the Eidolon Diamond and could comment on its deep-bass characteristics. Of course, the dealer is suggesting that the Eidolon Diamond is the better speaker (as it should be), but, is its quicker nature able to capture the low-bass characteristics that I referred to above? Short of flying to California to hear a pair of Eidolon Diamonds (which I may end up doing), I would much appreciate any insight that you can share. I am presently considering the Eidolon as my next loudspeaker and I am having difficulty in deciding if the Eidolon Diamond is worth the additional investment (from a lower-frequency-performance perspective). Sid Chakrabarti I have heard the Avalon Eidolon Diamond on several occasions, and I also find it highly resolving and quite transparent. I think it’s a fine speaker overall. However, I’m not sure it surpasses your Salons in the one area that you are looking to improve upon: deep bass. The Salons play loud and low, and surpass most loudspeakers down in the lower registers. As much as it pains me to tell you this, I think you’d have to step up to a larger Avalon, the Isis, or perhaps a large Wilson like the MAXX, to get the type of bass you are searching for. The newest Rockport, the Altair, also excels in the areas you are looking for -- it’s a killer speaker. Another suggestion is to go with the Eidolon Diamonds and add a JL Audio subwoofer for the very bottom end. The Diamond/JL would, frankly, be the most cost-effective choice and would give you the foundation you seek along with fantastic transparency. Unfortunately, deep bass done well is expensive, and somewhat rare in even the finest loudspeakers….Jeff Fritz Esoteric AZ-1 question December 18, 2006 Editor, After reading your Esoteric AZ-1 review I have ordered one to partner with my X-01 Limited Edition CD/SACD player. Quick question: Should I optically connect the X-01 to the AZ-1 to use its DAC or should I go analog through RCAs as you mentioned based on your experience. I presume you did the optical test. My thought is that the X-01 sounds markedly better through its balanced outputs, but the AZ-1 only has RCAs. As the X-01 is the source for an all-digital system, maybe the digital data stream should be maintained through to the AZ-1's outputs. Ian This is a good question. I suspect that with the superior DACs in the X-01 Limited Edition, you may find that using the analog RCAs into the AZ-1 is the best bet (using the X-01’s DACs), even though the X-01 likes to be run balanced. The DAC section in the X-01 Limited Edition is a key to its sound, so I would not bypass that to stay in the digital domain a bit longer. I preferred this option even with the DV-60 -- not the equal of your X-01 by any means -- so I’m quite confident you will too. I bet the DACs in the AZ-1 would be an upgrade to many less-expensive CD and DVD sources, but the X-01 is another story! I do think you will find the word-clock feature of the AZ-1 to be beneficial to your setup, however, which I’m sure is one reason you bought the AZ-1. Of course it is easy enough to compare both setups and see which you prefer….Jeff Fritz Room treatments December 6, 2006 Editor, Dan here, a certified audio nutter from Whidbey Island in Puget Sound, in Western Washington. I have an A/V system that's set up for two-channel and multichannel both, and like many bad kids, I have spent virtually nothing on room treatments. I love music as it's currently being reproduced by my medium-priced system (Fosgate FAP T1 pre/pro, Marantz DV-8300 universal player, Musical Fidelity A3/24 DAC, Genesis Digital Lens, Aragon 3002 amp, and Dynaudio Contour S5.4 loudspeakers, Adcom GFA-7400 amp, rounded out by KEF Q-series center and surrounds). All but the Fosgate and Adcom have been superbly upgraded by David Schulte of The Upgrade Company. My system is very musical and rewarding now, but I have been looking for a reasonably inexpensive means to improve room acoustics. I have just today stumbled upon your site, and I like what I've seen so far. Since you have dealt with your own room already, I was wondering if you might have some good suggestions that might help me out. I know without knowing the actual layout and size of my room, speaker location, and about a hundred other factors that this is impossible, but some general information would be appreciated. You may be able to point me in the right direction, anyway. Dan B. Thomason For as little as $395 you could get a room analysis from Terry Montlick Labs. It would be the best money you’ve ever spent on your system. He’ll give you general recommendations that you can implement based on your time and budget constraints. Have a look here for details: www.tmlaboratories.com. One thing I like about Terry’s approach is that he can tell you how to build many of the room treatments yourself, which will save you money in the long term. If you choose to buy commercially available products, you can always just buy a few along until the plan is complete. I kind of like this latter approach because you can then hear what each change to your room’s acoustics does to the sound you hear. Good luck with your room and system….Jeff Fritz
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