I started this about a year ago, yes, that long! It's the first time I build speakers and basically the first time I build any kind of "furniture". I've been doing some small renovations in the house over time but that's about it for my wood working skills. It took me so much time mostly because I'm a bit lazy and have so many other things to do that I was just working on them a couple of hours a week sometimes not even that.
The building process was a lot of fun. I don't think these will be the only speakers I'll ever build. I'll take a break this year, well at least I'll try!
The veneer I chose is pine for the AV3 and AV3s, not the greatest choice, it looks nice but it's quite fragile. The AV1rs are painted the same color as my wall.
My previous speakers were NHT 1.3 with an NHT sub. My electronics kit is an Audio Aero Prima MKII amplifier, an MHDT Paradisea DAC and a RedWineAudio SB2. Before selecting the AV3 I had gone to several audio stores to try and find replacements for my aging NHT. Most speakers in the $1500 or less were not really better to my taste then my old NHT. Above $1500 there is the Meadowlark Kestrel2 and the Proac D15 that satisfied my taste but not my wallet!
So how do the AV3 sound? Pretty good! I had them running a good 150 maybe 200 hours before doing any type of critical listening. Unfortunately I can't crank them to high volume so the burnin was done at normal listening level in order not to have the immediate neighbours call the police. Compared to my NHT I find that they sound more refined, bass is great significantly better then my NHT 1.3 without the sub. On mids and voices they sound more natural. Highs are what I will call "polite". On certain songs and type of music my NHT had this kind of sparkle in the highs without being harsh. The AV3 doesn't have that sparkle but has plenty of details. On most songs, specially jazz stuff, the AV3 are better. On a minority of songs, specially ones that have a lot of highs, they are not worst but not necessarily better, they just sound different. Overall I find them quite a bit nicer then my old NHT.
The AV3s and AV1rs are a great complement for HT use. The AV1rs fit perfectly being painted the same as the back wall. The AV3s is stunning as a center. Very clear and neutral, perfect to provide great sound for movie dialogue.
Hope I did not bore you too much, I'm not too good with "audiophile" words and not much of a reviewer but I hope it still gives you an idea of what I think about those speakers.
Thanks Danny!
Ho, and you can look at them in my gallery:
http://www.audiocircle.com/index.php?action=gallery;area=browse;album=729
