Avantgarde Duo XD
- Thread starter Mike
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Today I brought over my D’Agostino S250 to Mike’s store. Yes, the S250 is SS but I wanted to see if my amp would be a good match for the Duo XDs. Boy I’m I glad we held this listening session.
Readers digest summary, the musicality, detail, texture and stage were superb. The not so positive, the amp needles did not move even a MM.
Yes, the DAG S250 and the Duo XDs can play extremely well together.
Thx Mike!
Readers digest summary, the musicality, detail, texture and stage were superb. The not so positive, the amp needles did not move even a MM.
Yes, the DAG S250 and the Duo XDs can play extremely well together.
Thx Mike!
Kuoppis
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I will be doing a similar test on the weekend: auditioning the Duo XD with a T+A PA3100 HV.
Will be interesting to hear the results. The amp runs in class A up to 10W, so I guess it will be class A all the way.
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Will be interesting to hear the results. The amp runs in class A up to 10W, so I guess it will be class A all the way.
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Paul
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If you can use tube pre to pair with T+A please do so. I heard T+A and Esoteric Class A amps and both sounded much better with VAC pre.
Kuoppis
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Thanks Paul, I concur and will try.
When I auditioned the Uno Fino XD, we first heard it with a SS and then a tube amp. Tubes were better.
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mep
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Why is that a negative? It just means your amp is loafing and that is a good thing.
KeithR
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Did you compare with a tube amp in the shop?
the professor
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still-one
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I'm sure you could get them to recalibrate the meters for less wattage.
The meters in my M400's don't move while playing my X2's unless I overload the room with sound. Pretty normal.
still-one
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I wish you could have connected your Dag up to the 101MK II's. I have wondered how that pairing would sound.
- Thread Author
- #32
If the 101e mk2’s work with CJ, the D’Ag would surely work IMO and no worries about the meters not dancing.
I tried the 101’s with the Gryphon Colosseum and it was superb,
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No, no comparisons made. I have heard the AGs at Mike's quite a few times. Most of the time with tubes and they sound superb but not will all tube amps. The purpose of this listening session was to experience the AGs with the DAG amp. Not only did the combination did not disappoint, it was outstanding!
Jim - That is the case with my Alexias. I've discussed it with Bill but I'm not sending this heavy amp to the factory to adjust the needle sensitivity.
Kuoppis
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Today I had an opportunity to audition the AG Duo XDs, also the screaming orange kind (Lambo-licensed).
- Treble: Very positive, very good retail retrieval, but never sharp. Did not hear any sharpness in the horns, nor funnel effect in the vocals which can sometimes occur, courtesy of the construction principle.
- Mids: Very nice and even, great vocal reproduction. This is where the music lives and it was handled very well.
- Bass: This was the most surprising area. I liked the bass, it had detail, it had attack, it had depth. Even though I am used to Magico bass, I did not feel it left much to be desired. The 2 x 12” paper woofers and 1000W on each side did their job nicely.
Detail retrieval and imaging were superb. The horns were fast and the musical experience rather immediate.
The Duos were jazzy with all kinds of jazz, they did classic well and vocals were great (both popular music and opera), and they grooved when playing pop. A very nice audiophile speaker.
The only thing they did not do as well as I would have liked was to rock. Attack and growl of distorted guitars was too polite. That might have had to do with the bass DSP settings, which was set at -3 db flat (factory setting) to balance out some room modes. I however learned that any room can be measured at different spots with a microphone, and when the data is sent to AG they will send you new settings back, optimized for your room.
In comparison to the Uno Fino I heard last week, a much better speaker, as I find.
I liked them quite a bit.
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- Treble: Very positive, very good retail retrieval, but never sharp. Did not hear any sharpness in the horns, nor funnel effect in the vocals which can sometimes occur, courtesy of the construction principle.
- Mids: Very nice and even, great vocal reproduction. This is where the music lives and it was handled very well.
- Bass: This was the most surprising area. I liked the bass, it had detail, it had attack, it had depth. Even though I am used to Magico bass, I did not feel it left much to be desired. The 2 x 12” paper woofers and 1000W on each side did their job nicely.
Detail retrieval and imaging were superb. The horns were fast and the musical experience rather immediate.
The Duos were jazzy with all kinds of jazz, they did classic well and vocals were great (both popular music and opera), and they grooved when playing pop. A very nice audiophile speaker.
The only thing they did not do as well as I would have liked was to rock. Attack and growl of distorted guitars was too polite. That might have had to do with the bass DSP settings, which was set at -3 db flat (factory setting) to balance out some room modes. I however learned that any room can be measured at different spots with a microphone, and when the data is sent to AG they will send you new settings back, optimized for your room.
In comparison to the Uno Fino I heard last week, a much better speaker, as I find.
I liked them quite a bit.
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mep
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I like to see the VU meters swing from -20 to +3 on my tape deck because then I know I have some real dynamic range. If the meters on your Dag were reading peak power instead of average power, they would be dancing. I have the same *issue* with my Ref 75. Even listening at loud volumes with my JBL 4345s, I rarely see the meters on the Ref 75 hit one watt. It is misleading because you aren't seeing peak power demand, but good nonetheless because your average power is so low.
- Thread Author
- #37
EQ them right, and they’ll do it all.
Edward has mine at 115db playing Ozzy.
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Edward has mine at 115db playing Ozzy.
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Paul
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Thanks for the feedback. I'm glad hear that your experience was better than last one
Was the Duo is a brand new pair?
Kuoppis
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Thanks for the feedback. I'm glad hear that your experience was better than last one
That I am not sure about, Paul. Anything I could say, would be guesswork.
I would be surprised, if adjusting the DSP settings a bit would not give rock guitars a bit more “thump” and “growl”.
The resolution and detail retrieval was very impressive though. On Mark Knopfler’s “Tracker” you could hear at the beginning of the first track “Laughs and Jokes and Drinks and Smokes” that Knopfler is recording the guitar though a mike placed in front of the amp, instead of going direct. That’s impressive.
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Paul
Senior Member
I really hear things I never heard on previous speakers
However, the -3 db flat (factory setting) is so wrong.