System #200 (Vantage)

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Updated system pic, sans ML

This is how my system looks like now, after replacing the Vantages with the Amphitryons.

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The trusty Logos and Esoteric maintain their roles:

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Another full view, now from the right side:

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And a closer full view from the left side:

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Finally, this one shows the external passive crossovers. The amplification shown in the picture was a Spectron Musician III Signature amp and a deHavilland UltraVerve pre that I had on loan. The Logos sounds better to my ears.

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Looks beautiful and I bet it sounds that way. Congratulations!:music:


Glen
 
Looks beautiful and I bet it sounds that way. Congratulations!:music:


Glen

Thanks, I'm still waiting for some bass traps to be delivered. Because the Amphitryons are full-range, there's a lot of bass being emitted to the back and that has shown how limited my current acoustic treatment is. As for the sound, there's a certain "authority" to it, a uniformity across the spectrum, that coupled with life-size images of voices and instruments makes it a really world-class sound. The Vantages, however good they were, don't really come close to this type of realism and naturalness.
 
Did you take a look at the CLX before you made the move? If so, what made you go with the Amphitryons?

I didn't try the CLX. Aside from the comparison of the Analysis Audio house sound with that of ML, which very early on made me prefer the former (there was no CLX at the time yet, and there are a number of discussions here in this forum about that comparison), there are some additional factors that made me opt for the Analysis Audios:

1. It has none of the "plasticky"/slightly colored sound that was bothering me at times with the Logans, plus they go lower in the bass and don't have the crossover frequency in the critical 250-450 Hz region of the spectrum;
2. The impedance curve is extremely stable and benign, making the life of the upstream amplification a lot easier (as a result, the Pathos sounds a little better with the Amphitryons) which also allows a lot more flexibiliy with amplifiers, namely using low- or mid-powered tubes;
3. Because they are big (in the case of the Amphitryons, 7 ft/210 cm tall) they can really convey life-size images, and a soundstage that is "airier" vertically, allowing, for example, to have a sense of whether musicians are seated or standing up (this is especially noticeable with voices);
4. They don't need to be plugged in to the electrical grid, simplifying the whole power conditioning and power cable decisions, not to mention the non-issue of having two less devices to convert to 220 V @ 50 Hz if I decide to move back to Europe, including completely bypassing the variations between 220 and 230 V in some cases, which technically would require different transformers.

Hope this helps.
 
Impressive. If you don't mind me asking, where did you buy them from? I would love to listen to them (PM me if interested, I am in the Boston area as well).
 
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