Since a review did not exist I though it may be helpful to some if I wrote-up a general review on the Avant Garde. First off these are Beautiful speakers!! Construction is solid and well built!! Of all the speaker I have carried (I am a dealer) these have both the looks and sonic performance. After Von Schweikert went out of business, I searched for a new line to carry. A dealer freind told me to listen to the Girshman Accoustics at the HiFi 99 show. I did and fell in love with the tremendous amout of detail and how low these went (24 HZ)in a small package. Imaging is above average as comparied to higher end speakers also. The Center channel match well to the left and right and is one of the best centers I have heard and is an incredible value ($800 list)! The Girshman's perform very well in home theatre!!Two things to note, these take A LOT of break-in time and if you hear them and sound bad, good chance they have not been broken-in. I was very disapointed when I listened to them after a couple of hours of break-in. They were flat, dull, simply BAD! After 10 hours these were not the same speakers. I now have 50+ hours on them and they went from bad to incredible. I am now delighted with the performance. Packaging was also a sore spot since it was not formed to the speaker but thankfully they shipped fine (they tend to move a lot during shipment).
I flipped the switch on the back which changes midrange crossover points but did not hear much (if any) of a difference. Also, the grill cloth does roll off the the detail. I would perfer a more transparent grill cloth (a problem with most companies who choose strength over accoustics.) Take the cloth off if you don't have small children. The difference is clearly better!
In conclusion, these are BEAUTIFUL (much better in person than in pictures). Detail is far superior than most highend speakers. These speakers are very wife freindly and work out well if space is an issue. They go VERY deep and play loud if needed. I love them and tend to be very picky with speakers. If you don't have a dealer nearby and need technical help or just want some more feedback, I'd be happy to help and quote you. These should be on your short list is you want high performing speakers that look fantastic!
Steve 612-308-7736
Authorized Lines:
ATI, Acurus, Aerial Acoustics, Aragon, B&K, Bryston, Class'e, Cinepro, DynAudio, EAD (Enlightend Audio Designs), Energy (Local Only), Gallo Acoustics, Gershman Acoustics (Beautiful Sounding and looking speakers), Innersound (ElectroStatic), Lexicon (Local Only), Marantz (Local Only), M&K, Monitor Audio, NHT, Panamax, Parasound, Pioneer (Not Elite), Plinius, Sherwood NewCastle, Toshiba, & Velodyne.

Beautiful fit and finish, time coherency, full bass

Requires careful positioning and high current amplification

More a sculpture than a speaker, the Avant-Garde's are my favourite in the Gershman line up (and that includes the flagship GA-P). The bass, which can sound bloated and flabby without careful placement, is surprisingly deep. This can be attributed to both the heavily customized 8.5" woofer, and the quasi-transmission line/port.

I'm running them with a Bryston 4B-ST which is pretty stiff, but I find it to be a great match. Any high current, quality amplifier will match well (I've demo'd Aragon 8008BB, Classe CA-200 and SimAudio Moon W-5), but the speaker is forgiving enough to compensate for flaws in the amplification.

My only complaint is that the sound is a little too rich - there is a definite texture that while highly musical and enjoyable, is not necessarily true to the recording. Fans of ProAc or Dunlavy should look elsewhere - these are not hyper-detailed and accurate speakers (despite time coherency). On the other hand, they allow for hours of listening to any kind of music.

These speakers will remain at the heart of my system (along with the Proceed CDP and Bryston 4BST) for a while until I can realistically afford either a pair of Martin Logan Prodigies (assuming they sound as good as they look) or a pair of Revel Ultima Studios/Salons with a matching set of Bryston 7B-STs. At $4600 these are positioned squarely in the middle high-end market, and they perform admirably.

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PSB Stratus Gold i, ProAc Response 2.5

Low frequency extension/Soundstage/Image

Lack of very top end extension

For the most parts, I have to agree with the reviewer from Toronto. From the price vs performance standpoint, the G.A. AVG matches well with many class B (full range) recommended components by Stereophile. Mine now are at least 2 mth olds and probably half way broken in and yet seem getting better everytime I turn on the music. The AVG's biggest strength, without a doubt is its bass extension; perhaps the best bass I've ever heard from any loudspeakers I've auditioned to date and definitely beats out my home theater NHTVT2 and the B&W801S3 which I no longer owned. Another impressive features about the AVG, with proper amplification and placement (emphasized!) are the soundstage and image it puts out: Simply breathtaking! With proper room treatment, extremly deep soundstage and surgical pinpoint imaging can be achieved with ease. My only complaint is that the AVG seems to lack of the very top end extension or a bit less liveliness as you might say although this may be due to my up-stream sources. Another note, the AVG loves to be played loud too if amplification allows. I could easily achieve at least 105db sustaining SPL in my room using SimAudio P5 and W5 combo without any level of distortion or breaking up. These speakers are not for everyone, careful amplification and source matching and room treatment are keys to achieve music heaven. My associate gears include:
SFCD1-CD
SimAudio P5 pre-amp
SF Line3 Pre-amp
SimAudio I-5 Integrated amp
SimAudio W5 Power Amp
Synergistic Res. Kaleidoscope P2 RCA Interconnect
S.R. Kaleido. Phase 1 XLR Interconnect
S.R. Signature 3 spkr cable for mid/hi for bi-wire
Wireworld Polaris III spkr cable for low level in bi-wire

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B&W801/NHTVT2

All around performance, magical midrange and outstanding base

None yet

I can't say enough about these speakers. I have them matched with great electronics from Goldmund and they really sing !
I am just spending so much time litening to all kinds of music, and for the first time in 10 years I can honestly say thay I have no thoughts of any upgrades. It is just the most musical sound I ever had. The midrange is better than Proac, the tonal balance and highs are better than the Avalons, and base better than them all.

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Proac 3.8, Dunlavy Aletha, InnerSound Eros, Magnepan 3.6, Martin Logan ReQuest, Avalon Eclipse

Everything - just the sheer musicality of these speakers.

None except i have to get my husband to lift them - 75lbs!!

Before we listened to these, we had auditioned what felt like hundreds of speakers, however after only 15 minutues of listening to the RX-20's, our descision was made. As always , we ended up spending a lot more than we budgeted for. We set off looking for a pair of speaers to replace our monitor audios and set a budget of £3000 GBP. However at £4400.00, these were quite a bit more than we bargained for.

Are they worth it?, well put it this way, the first day we had them, my husband and I stayed upo till 4am listening to record after rec0rd and we kept saying - oh just one more!!!

The thing with these is they make every piece of music sound so real. You can hear everything in the recording and I mean everything. For someone like myself involved in the music industry, I am always too critical of everything I listen to and as such my listening enjoyment can often be spoiled by analysing the sound too much. I found with the RX-20's I was enjoying music more than before. We now hardly ever watch television.

Drawbacks - only the sheer weight of these. They are not that big, but weigh plenty. The only upgrade we are waiting for is the 'tip toes' at another £200 they give greater slam and attack to a music piece and should be well worth the money. No upgradeitus on the horizon for us and that is a first let me tell you.

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JM Labs Utopia, Living Voice Avatar OBX

The GAP-520-x has exceptional bass response where the "kick" in the kick drum is also felt.Overall, the balance throughout the entire range is superb where you're not overpowered by fatigue in the low,mid,and high range.The GAP's are quite rich sounding and are very dynamic. They completely fill my very large listening room(22' x30') and even offer some intimancy when the music requires it.Design and build is first rate throughout.The piano finish and very attracctive aesthetics are a big plus in the home decorating scheme of things(wife), r 4 er

The weaknesses in the GAP-520-x speaker is ,for one, the long break-in period.The speakers took at least 150 hours to really open up and blossom.Secondally, placement is important here because the speaker is so dynamic.When improperly placed they can sound a bit booming in the sub bass.The bass port in the rear does not allow for optimum listening against the wall. Also, beware, each speaker weighs in at a mere 120 pounds or so.

A very musical,extremely enjoyable speaker you can listen to for hours on end.Highly recommended for the analytical listener who also loves all types of music at all volumes.

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martin-logan,B&W,maggie's

full range with surprisingly deep bass,Imaging & staging, beautiful looks, quality construction

not really a weakness, but low-powered tube amps are not a good match,early model binding posts sucked, but I got the Cardas upgrade that's on all the new models

These speakers are made by a small Canadian company that many haven't heard-of, but when people have heard their speakers, they don't forget! Over the last ten years, they have consistently surprised listeners at Consumer and Dealer shows. They attract repeat visits at shows, and are now appearing on "Best Sounding Room" lists in the U.S, as well as Canada.
The Avant Garde is a solidly built (70lbs!)little rock, but only about 36" high, in a roughly elongated pyramid shape. Its shiny black piano lacquer finish is a real eye-catcher, and a definite winner in the W.A.F. category.
But it's the sound that really catches your attention. They throw up a big sounstage, and disappear into the room. I've heard them with all kinds of amplifiers, and anything above 40 watts will do. I've actually tried an 18 watt tube amp, and it was fine, until a classical piece went
dynamically-loud; the amp started to clip. The imaging is spooky when you get a really good amp powering them.(I've tried several at different level$, SimAudio Celeste or Moon, Electrocompaniet, Classe, YBA, Plinius, Parasound, Myryad, Adcom, Rotel) You can stand outside the lateral lines of the speaker set-up and still have an image hovering over the centre! The sound of the Avant Gardes will improve with every improvement you make upstream.
A soft dome tweeter and carbon fibre midrange provide quality, non-fatiguing mids and highs, and the bass will astonish you with its depth and extension.
This is truly a "keeper", a revealing speaker that will even make restless hobbyists settle down for a while and listen to music. Instead, they can worry about improving their electronics!!
The quality of the cabinet-making doesn't come cheap, so they're starting to get up there, at around $4300.00 US. But their dealer base is still pretty small, which means if you don't have a dealer nearby, you can deal direct, for now anyway, and with the US dollar being so much stronger than Canadian, you could probably make a great deal! Finding them 'Used' is tough; people tend to hang on to them, but if you try Audiogon.com, or some Canadian websites, like UHF (uhfmag.com) or the Toronto Buy and Sell newspaper and website, you might get lucky.

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Meadowlark Shearwater & Heron, JM Labs, Martin Logan Aerius