Hi Everyone,

I got my lazy self down to Metrosound to listen to some AVI 5 1/4" splits. What was on the board were also the 5 1/4" Focal Utopias and the AVI XL 5 1/4" splits.

--- Short Review---
Basically I listened to some tracks from the Highway one cd with both powered by some alpine amp ... forgot which model.

Comparing the two to my ears the AVI's sounded smoother, more forward in the midrange and clearer than the Utopias which surprised the hell out of me. The thing which floored me the most was the difference in clarity between the AVI mids versus the Focal mids... I did a test where I listened to only the left hand side of each pair, covered the tweeters with my hands and let the salesman (owner of the shop) switch between the focals and the AVI's. The difference between the two was the clarity with the focals sounding kinda muffled compared to the AVI's... The AVI mids sounded to be able to play much higher up the frequency band than the Focal mids.

Regarding the tweeters to my ears they sounded very much alike... The Focals TN51 was a metal dome that sounded very smooth whist the AVI 25T's were silk and sounded smooth too.

But what impressed me the most was the difference in the clarity between the mids.
--End of short review--

Now what didn't impress me was the price... The AVI XL splits were:

AVI Component set Express (XL)
HF-25T Tweeters $330
XL-130 Mids 5 1/4" $250
XL-130 Xover $120
Total $700
This is not including grilles yet! And also AVI's Lowest line for components... OUCH!! Now here I thought about spending only $500 max...
What was interesting though was that I could break the set up and just get components, so my options I'm considering at the moment are:

1) I'm thinking maybe getting just the next set up of 5 1/4in mids EL-130 (which sport higher power handling with the same sound as the XL's) as I liked the midrange on these things very much. The EL-130 Mids cost $350 and are the same ones that weaponx used in his beast of an SPL car. Now if I go this path I'm stuck with the dilemma of matching up the mids with some more sanely priced tweeters and building some sort of crossover. Anybody have Ideas on some nice smooth sounding tweeter around the $200 price range... I also plan on spending $50 for crossover components if I go this route.. any suggestions??

2) But on second thoughts I think about it again and with the money $500 I should be able to bargain down a set of Polykevlar Focals for this price which includes every thing and no need to **** around with custom crossovers etc...

3) Another option is maybe to save some more and get some Dynaudio system 220's ... but in all honesty I don't think with my ears or music prefrences I will be able to fully appreciate the dynaudios. But I still have yet to demo them... any places in sydney guys??

Any comments or help on my Dillemma guys?? The bloody AVI mids impressed me so much I wish I didn't hear them in the first place..

Side note:
For anyone interested in some AVI prices I'll list the following that I got some quotes for at Metrosound (Apparently they are the distributors as well and the owner basically told me that that's the price and if you don't like it well I can't do much for you!! Which is fair enough as to me the speakers sound pretty damn good .. otherwise this kinda attitude I dont really appreciate..

Model numbers and speakers are on their web page http://www.avisound.com

HF-25T Tweeters $330 pair
LXD-100 4" Midbass $370 pair
XL-130 5 1/4in Mids $250 pair
EL-130 5 1/4in Midbass $350 pair
XL-130 Xover $120 pair
XN-18EL Xover $180 pair
XN-24G Xover $300 pair

Couldn't bear to get quotes for their top of the line stuff.. I'm not looking for a heart attack.

[ November 21, 2002, 01:19: Message edited by: splbound ]

Well personally, I think you should go with the AVIs in some shape or form. I auditioned them against the Focal Utopias and also a few others at Metrosound and was mightily impressed with their sound, especially their midrange, like you said.

I was told however (in regards to the 6.5" ELS), that they did not need an external crossover and that I should just run them full range (tweeter in parallel with the woofer), just with a capacitor on the tweeter. I know WeaponX who has a pair of the ELs has done this and you can't fault how they sounded in his car (so I'm told).

Also, I found there was an audible difference between the XL and EL woofers, the ELs being cleaner and more defined. Going on their specs off the AVI website they also seem to be quite different - different cone material, larger magnet on the ELs, larger voice coil etc

I know this hasn't been much help to your dilemma, but if you can get over the seemingly high price for a pair of "entry level" components, then I think they're well worth it. If you don't get them, you'll be forever wondering just how good your front stage might have sounded and how much better it might be if you had just forked out for the AVIs in the first place.

In some respects, I too wish I hadn't heard them, coz now I HAVE to save up and buy a pair. Good luck with the final decision though and if you do go with the AVIs then I'd love to hear them in your car one day and maybe justify my desire for them.

i've not auditioned the AVI's so cannot comment. but your review certainly sounds impressive.

i'll only add that the dyn system220mkII has a RRP of $799. so worth auditioning them just for comparison. streetprice may be a bit better, so placing them plum in the pricerange of the AVI set.

what are your thoughts and dilemmas of buying bigger 6~6.5" splits? or is the idea to match things up with the 8" woofers for 3-way front stage?

Thanks for the reply Zed and shiny!!

I'v been scouring the Internet regarding building passive crossovers and so far it is a task I can definitely handle...

At the moment I really don't want to be regretting so am swaying more toward the EL-130 5 1/4", hand building some passive xovers to match their response and going through the huge task of finding and matching some cheaper tweeters for the meantime... It's the midrange that I like the most of the AVI's...

Shiny... I'm going the 3 way route as I really want a system that will play nicely with or without subwoofers.... I can no longer take lugging around 100+ Kg worth of subs and MDF 24/7.. Hopefully this way I can run the 8 inchers lower when the subs are out.. The bandpass crossovers on the 8's will be active so I can do this much more easily... go the kicker modules!!

I've chosen to go 5 1/4in as they are the largest speakers that will fit decently in my Kickpanels but also for a much louder snappy sound to the mids.. eg. the initial attack of a drum beat.. Otherwise I would have opted for a 4" midrange for even more clarity... but the AVI's handle the clarity part pretty damn well for a 5 1/4in.

At the moment my IDQ8's are not 100%, as their spiders have warped (maybe water damage) causing an audiable clicking noise eminating from the spiders at extreme excursions.. otherwise they play and sound just like new. I'm also planning on making sealed pods for the 8's on the doors to see how that sounds like... I should be able to find about 3 Litres per speaker... which according to Image Dynamics is perfect for the Midbass range of 250Hz - 70Hz for IDQ's. But due to the difficulty of finding a local place for repair I'm keeping a lookout for a suitable replacement.. Maybe Morel HCW, Hertz Space... you can't believe it how hard it is to find a decent 8in Midbass that is actually sold in Australia... but more on that once I get my mids and tweet sorted.

Oh well just to cover all my bases I'm going to find a store that can demo the Dynaudio's for me...

OOh yeah Zed .. just regarding what metrosound said in running the mids without crossovers... I'm fine doing this with the mids but I believe it would be a good project for me to build a proper LP xover for them... If it sounds crape then I can just fall back to the recommendation..

Regarding the tweeters, 6db/octave xover the capacitor will apply is just too shallow, and increase the risk blowing them (the way I might crank it now and then )... I may or may not go with AVI tweets anyway so a higher order HP tweeter crossover will be a must for me.... besides I would really like to try and design a crossover that truely matches the speakers.. ie. Impendance compensation circuit, 18Db/octave Butterworth slopes , maybe some contour matching, 0db -3db -6db attentuation and maybe some a tweeter protection circuit using a PTC device... Bring it on I say...

wow, sounds like a challenge! no doubt you're up to it, and will pull off something damn fine.

good luck.

You can audition the Dyns at Auto Acoustics in Sydney. Ask for Juerg.

Steve Hutchison

LOL...

"The Curse of the Dreaded AVIs"...honestly, I don;t know a single person who hasn't heard the AVIs and bought a pair. They're almost irresistable. Don't know if this is due to the speakers of the "persuasiveness" of Hutch the owner...
Seriously, these are VERY good speakers (unbiased view!). I personally don't own a set, have demoed them on board and in car. I like them a lot. They are very reminiscent of a pair of high quality bookshelf (home) speakers. They possess good tonality and speed if somewhat shy on dynamics.
The AVIs seem a bit left-field SQ wise, coz they don't have that typical in-your-face-sounds-good-on-the-demo-board type sound (you know the type, sounds great in demos sounds crap in car). Honestly SPL, take your own CDs with you and seriously audition them. Just leave your wallet...
The only reason I have yet to buy a pair is due to the fact that I hate pushy sales people!

LOL... o so very true... It was very hard for me to walk away without purchasing .. but common sense got hold of me and I kept my wallet closed.

I really like the sound of these things, most importantly is that they get loud and still stay sounding good... I reakon the mids are what makes the set so good.. but the tweeters (well the ones I listened to) were pretty good but not spectacular.

Just a quick question .... which AVI set did you demo?

Next time I go back there I'll make sure that Haig is the one who serves me... and I'll bring some of my own music... as I don't really like pushy salespeople too..

I have yet to audition the dynaudios so I'll get around to it when my funds come back up... =)!!

do you sell this stuff...common sense??? you'd make a killing.