The Advent Loudspeaker Manufacturer's Comment

Manufacturer's Comment

Editor: We are very grateful that Stereophile has evaluated the Advent loudspeaker on the basis of absolute sound quality rather than restricting comparisons to its price peers.

We are a bit confounded by the statement that the speaker is "noticeably amplifier sensitive," because this does not agree with our experience. The Advent loudspeaker is critically damped, having an almost ideal system Q of slightly less than 1. As a result, it does not change character when used with different amplifiers that differ only in damping factor, so long as each of them has a minimum damping factor of 10. Any speaker will sound heavier in the bass, for better or for worse, with a low-damping-factor amplifier.

We wonder how many amplifiers Stereophile used with the Advent speakers. The two mentioned in the review have been noted in prior Stereophile reports as having sonic differences when auditioned on other speakers. We suspect that what the reporter heard with the Advents were the previously noted differences between these amplifiers, rather than differences between otherwise-similar amplifiers that were caused by the Advent speakers.—Henry Kloss, Advent Corporation

Comments

Advent Loudspeaker

Submitted by dalethorn on January 20, 2012 - 8:45pm.

The Advent was my first serious speaker system, inspired by the Stereophile review and embellished by the literature supplied by Mr. Henry Kloss, containing such classic phrases as "Hoffman's Iron Law" and "The shortest distance between two points is a straight line, or the line that's the straightest under the circumstances."

But the key thing about these speakers wasn't the absolute neutrality or other such audiophile considerations. It was the deep bass that seemed to rise out of the earth and take over the room, which I had never heard before the Advent. Kloss was a genuine inspiration to me.

Advents!

Submitted by funz51 on March 12, 2012 - 10:47am.

I purchased the 'baby' advents in the late 70's before college. I ran them like mules for 4 years as a electrical engineering student. 10 years later, I removed the pink tweeter, which I really thought was too bright anyway, and replaced with a soft dome mid, and a 90's polk tweeter. Let me tell ya, what an improvement. I have replaced thier surrounds twice in the past years. I now am contiplating selling them, but am afraid I will miss them... ;( Kloss knew his stuff, just like Hsu with his sub's... terrific!