Tír Na HiFi

I popped into The Listening Suite yesterday and spent a very enjoyable hour in front of the new Avantgarde Zero 1s. I'd been really looking forward to hearing and seeing them, and they really are a very impressive-looking pair of speakers (better in the flesh than in photos). They're also a very interesting prospect given that you just feed them a digital stream from a transport/computer and they look after the rest, no amps, no dacs, no audiophilia nervosa. I'm not sure I'm ready to make such a leap, but there's something to be said for it!

In typical Avantgarde fashion they had massive scale and real timbral accuracy with orchestral instruments, along with unfettered dynamics. They don't have the midrange class of their bigger brothers, but in many ways I think they're more manageable and it's probably easier to get the sound to integrate better. The guys in TLS have the speakers very far apart and the chair quite close to the plane of the speakers, which is the exact opposite of the way I'm used to listening, so that led to some interesting discussions... :) All in all, a very interesting dem.

Thanks to Jonathan for his hospitality and good humour. I'll be back!!

Very interesting Simon. Some lovely snaps here...

http://www.avcat.jp/main/avnews/2013/05 ... -zero1-」登場！！

Must get in for a listen. What's the damage?

T

We didn't discuss the specifics while we were there, but the website says €10,500 (http://thelisteningsuite.ie/products/sp ... ero-1.html)

The tech inside them sounds very impressive but I'd really have issue with the toilet bowl looks. Do they come in black at least?
Couldn't warm to the bigger models to be honest, at least for small scale works or vocals. Just sounded like I was listening to a gigantic head singing in front of me. Maybe that was to do with the in-your-face seating position, either way it just didnt seem right to me. I'm sure though it would have sounded spectacular with big symphony playing.

I would probably share the view that they seemed to favour large-scale work, but as I said to Jonathan, I just couldn't live with them set up that way at home. It would be intriguing to hear them in my own room.

So a home demo is being arranged so? :-) Surely they'd have to accomodate that sort of thing, especially with selling speakers?

DaveF wrote:So a home demo is being arranged so? :-) Surely they'd have to accomodate that sort of thing, especially with selling speakers?

They offered a while ago, it was all in hand, and then my little one got chickenpox so we had to cancel. :(

I may pursue it at some future point, but in the short term I've blown whatever budget I may have had on summer holidays so it doesn't seem right to drag them to the house. I'm not sure I'd be ready to give up on audiophilia and get rid of separate amps either.

DaveF wrote: ....Couldn't warm to the bigger models to be honest, at least for small scale works or vocals. Just sounded like I was listening to a gigantic head singing in front of me. Maybe that was to do with the in-your-face seating position, either way it just didnt seem right to me. I'm sure though it would have sounded spectacular with big symphony playing.

Any time that I have had the enormous pleasure of hearing Avantgarde speakers I have always preferred to be well behind the seat and just at the back wall (in the old premises).