Review: Avantgarde Acoustic SOLO

Stereo: 8/2002

Reviewer: Holger Barske


Fear of Flying?


Desire sonic lift-off? Admire Avantgarde Acoustic Solo's new turbine design? Harbor anti-horn notions? The doubts are ungrounded.

It's clearly true that even "normal" hornspeakers look like anything but loudspeakers. The 4900 Euro/pr Avantgarde Acoustic Solo cuts a profile that could derail even a professional. - truly dapper, no doubt, but more turbine engine on stilts or oversized search light than loudspeaker. For heaven's sake, how's this thing supposed to produce sound, never mind its modest size? It can - and how!

To deliver, the folks around developer Matthias Ruff had to dig rather deeply into their bag of tricks to unite two usually mutually exclusive mandates under one common banner: Horn systems and compact dimensions.

First to go were the trademark individual horns stacked two or three high on their steel frames. While the Solo does use twin horns, they're axially coincident in proper dual-concentric principle, albeit implemented to the extreme. A long-throw 12" woofer forms a block with a no less imposing compression-loaded HF transducer firing through the vented pole piece of the woofer's motor. This loudspeaker marvel already related to sound reinforcement principles was conceptually blessed to offer triple-digit dB action radius. While thus ideally suited to horn loading and certainly applicable to the highs via a miniature horn, it wouldn't work for the lows. Hence the soundpressure-amplifying 48cm diameter rim around the woofer diaphragm abandons the very lowest frequencies. Which doesn't matter though.

The gent acquires help from electronically assisted bass reflex loading via twin rear-firing ports which, by itself, wouldn't suffice for truly penetrating bass response, hence the inbuilt amplifier. Yes, the Solo is an active speaker. However, both passively filtered transducers are powered, the requisite LF boost accomplished by EQ. Despite power-intensive bass amplification, high driver sensitivities render the onboard 150 watts sufficiently potent to destine even professional headbangers for the hospital - in the most positive sense possible.

If the frontal presentation passed visual inspection, the enclosure and its business end were expected to keep up. And that, according to Avantgarde president Holger Fromme, was the greatest challenge, something that's been solved most masterfully indeed. The chassis is molded polyurethane - very inert, very expensive, suitable to tight-tolerance details. The amplifier heatsink -- simultaneously connection terminal and adjustment central -- was custom contracted and integrates perfectly with the system's fluid aesthetics. A classy matte-gray Nextel finish is the crowning touch. Considering the implied luxury, the Solo, tactfully, should be called rather affordable.

Only the stainless-steel/aluminum stand is extra, hitting the check book with 350 Euros each. Due to the standardized coupling interface, the Solo can be optionally mounted, including with wall brackets available from the PA accessory sector.

The miniature horns passed the listening test without even sitting down and painted disbelief and wonderment on all listeners' faces. Bass attenuator at half mast, highs attenuated by 2dB and presto, a bona fide audiophile-approved, highly resolved upper-crust loudspeaker. Driver integration is flawless, the compression tweeter evinces no PA roots. Gentle, silky, outrageously precise, I'd have guessed fabric dome blindfolded. And if you assume that the hornloaded 12-incher would have to squawk, no such thing. Unexpected because of extrovert appearance and uncommon operating principle -- and disregarding exotic appeal -- this is a real and very good loudspeaker.

One of my current favorite audition CDs demonstrates lastingly how ingeniously the voicing of the system has been accomplished. American songwriter Ryan Adam's "Gold" proved that emotional emphasis, tangible presence and extremely subtle vocal shifts posed no problem for the Solo.

But how does the reflex-loaded bass support integrate into these proceedings? Surprisingly well. Granted, it falls a bit short of the utter effortlessness and saturation of the horn-covered spectrum but offers the kind of substance that renders this speaker far bigger and more powerful sounding than Physics would have you believe. Also, a fair percentage of what is perceived as bass "speed" is really a function of the midband.

For confirmation, it's telling to feed the Solo with somewhat coarser percussive material. Now you can back off the bass attenuator a notch -- readily accomplished with a quick counterclockwsie turn on the rear-mounted pot -- and a tightly tensioned snare drum will do what she does best - crack like a whip.

Which brings us to the topic of max output levels. Not surprisingly, the bass section becomes the ultimate damper. Yet even without limiting thorugh the variable high-pass filter, a heavy hand on the volume control is fun only from the distance. Trust me, you don't need more headroom..

In terms of spatial reproduction, the Solo pulls a stunt that usually eludes horn systems - it disperses far outside the actual box, clearly a benefit of the coaxial array. All of which garners the Solo a four-star track fitness.

Playback chain

CDPs: Mark Levinson No. 390s, Wadia 301, Lindemann D680
Preamps: Mark Levinson No. 32, Octave Jubilee, Spectral DMC-12 II, Audionet Pre G2
Loudspeakers: Dynaudio Temptation/Confidence C2, B&W Nautilus 801, JM Lab Utopia
Cables: Nordost Flatline, Silvercom, HMS, Siltech, Kimber

Conclusion

This baby is the hammer! Outer-space looks, requiring no amp, it simply sounds stellar: Resolved, dynamic, gentle, without typical horn colorations. A massive recommendation for everyone sans rustic-oak floor-to-ceiling entertainment centers.

Test

For a horn system, rather even frequency response. Despite roll-off below 80Hz -- that' a fact -- the electronic EQ renders it more shallow than with conventional speakers. The roll-off above 10kHz looks more dramatic than is actually audible. The accelorometer test shows good system integration despite residual resonances.

Score

Sound rating: 78 %

Price/Performance: **** excellent