[mca]

I was checking out a new local shop yesterday and was drooling over their Avalon speakers. The store owner asked me if I wanted to hear something that will really blow my mind. I of course said yes! He took me over to a pair of stand mounted Avalon Evolution 1.0 speakers. "Don't let the price tag of 1,695.00 fool you, they do many of the same things right that the upper end Avalons do" he said.

I was blown away, how could a pair of speakers with this low a price tag sound soooo good? I asked him if they have a floor standing version of this speaker.  "Yes they do, I will order in a pair if you would like to take them home and try them out"

Long story short, I will have a pair at home in a couple of weeks to listen to for up to 30 days. Oh yeah, he drove them with a Rega CD player and a Rega integrated. He also switched over to a nice VTL integrated so I could hear them with tubes, they sounded great with both.

That's how a store should operate! The owner Larry was a very nice gent and we talked for about an hour about all kinds of audio related stuff. He even showed me a very high end record cleaner that customers can bring in their own records to clean.

The store is called Resolution Audio Video in Ballard if anyone is interested. 

[mca]

This is what the Evolution 2.0 looks like. Anyone have experience with it or other Avalon speakers?

[electricbear]

I have owned 2 pairs of Avalon Acoustics Ascendants and would still own a pair if my wife had remained employed. These are by far the best built and best sounding speakers I have come across at their  price point. Working for a highly respected dealer I have access to almost any speaker out there, a simple phone call to a manufacturer and I have whatever I want at a very good price. On the advice of a friend I called up Avalon and ordered a pair. I was firstly amazed at the wooden crate they arrived in. Then my jaw dropped at the depth of soundstage these speakers produce. I joke about hearing what the backing singer was eating for their lunch last week but with these it is almost true.
If you have not heard Avalon speakers you owe it to yourself to head on over to your nearest dealer.

[wywires]

I would agree. I owned a pair of Avalon Arcus. The build quality is second to none and the magic is certainly there except that they have a nasty reputation of being hard to drive. Careful amp matching is therefore essential. They are very revealing speakers so a bright amp/preamp combo will not be good. I first tied mine with a Krell KSA 250 and it made my ears bleed. Then I switched to a pair of BAT SS monoblocs and all was well. Although the line you are looking into is somewhat less pricey, I would not hesitate.

[Construct]

I have listened at reasonable length to eidolon and indra, both the ceramic and the diamond accutron equipped models.  They have a unique presentation.  My preference was for the ceramic/non carbon crystal tweeter models.  There is a silky-smooth presentation.  It's definitely on the warm-ish side, but very musical.  IMO, the speakers are voiced best for classical and acoustic music- but would not necessarily work best with hard music at a fast tempo.  Rock, prog, metal would probably sound a bit slow on these, but that's just my extrapolation.
I agree with the previous posts concerning sound stage, depth etc, and they do need a lot of juice.

[GFelizardo]

I just bought a demo pair of NP Evolution 2.0 from an audio dealer off of audiogon.  I had been trying to find a pair to hear for a while; I had know idea there was a dealer in Ballard.  I used to work in Ballard- is this a new business?  I called Avalon Acoustics a couple years ago to find a dealer and they directed me to a dealer in Colorado.

Anyway, about the speakers- wow I was surprised with their smoothness and airy top end.  Very good with classical and guitar, but also very good with lots of rock/pop as long as the bass is not too heavy.  For example  Michael Jacksons "Billie Jean"- the bass line is somewhat lighter than with my previous speakers.  And Rage against the Machine, "Renegades" sounded very good, but I think I preferred using my sub + mains. However, the vocals of both those songs were much better and natural than I'd ever heard in my setup before, and the electric guitar sounded great.
And they can get LOUD.

I was worried that I might find them too bright, but that hasn't been the case yet.  And my electronics are rather mid fi- an Oppo Blu ray player via HDMI to an Onkyo 805 receiver with preouts to an Emotiva XPA-3 amplifier.
I'm still experimenting with toe-in and exact placement.  I use this setup for lots of HT as well, but I haven't had much chance to experiment yet- still stuck on music, and I find that a good thing!

[GFelizardo]

I've listened to my speakers a bit more, and moved slightly back and toed them out just a little.  I now think my bass is more accurate and I now prefer to listen to music without the sub.  The bass is lighter than my previous speakers, but now I am beginning to realize my previous speakers overemphasized bass a bit.  Still loving my new NP 2.0s

[mca]

Good to hear! My Demo pair is still a couple of weeks away 

Really hoping to hear them while I have the demo Virtue Audio Sensation here.