From the mind of Matthias Ruff, chief designer of Avantgarde Acoustic and responsible for their groundbreaking work on spherical horns and the recent state-of-the-art BASSHORN, now comes an equally radical piece of electronic innovation:

The new Avantgarde Model 5 Preamp/Integrated.

Using his top hornspeaker model TRIO OMEGA as high-magnification laboratory during the R&D phase of the Model 5, Matthias concentrated on ultra wide bandwidth for maximum speed, dynamics and micro resolution. The resultant circuit is solid-state Class A/AB push/pull, with a mere two stages, a minimum of global feedback and stage-specific high-precision local feedback loops. A custom transformer with seven secondaries isolates each stage, bias control, remote volume circuitry and the custom analog display. Balanced XLR pre outs can interface with amplified speakers like the SOLO while WBT speaker terminals deliver 27/38w into 8/4ohm, with full Class A operation up to 103/110dB of output for the DUO and TRIO models respectively. One of the five single-ended RCA inputs can be configured as an AV thru-put by disabling the volume control via a set of optional internal jumpers.

For those wanting the complete tour of technical innovations, we're currently preparing a translation of his White Paper. We will link to it from this page shortly. Stay tuned. Needless to say, while the Model 5 is the perfect performance solution to drive our hornspeakers with, Matthias has conducted extraordinarily challenging tests (described in the White Paper) to insure that this amp is equally at home with difficult loads.

Well, in fact, we have saved the best for last.

The Model 5 preamp/integrated retails for $3,970, making it an eminently affordable state-of-the-art integrated solution. You no longer need to sweat the uncertainties of which amps to partner your Avantgarde hornspeakers with. The designer of your very speakers has assured perfect matching. Redundant complexity; unnecessary power and its associated performance compromises from paralleled output devices; long feedback loops with their timing errors and phase shifts - all of this has been eliminated. But then, what else did you expect from the technologocial innovators in Lauertal?