Avalon
Speakers
Best Known For
Speakers
/
Used Products
33
 Available
Average Price
$40,001-$75,000
Brand Popularity
291
 of 900+
Products Listed
10
Review Count
3
Founding Year
1988
Headquarters
United States
Avalon
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What's unique about the brand

Avalon Acoustics is an American loudspeaker maker based in the foothills of the Colorado Rocky Mountains. Its speakers are built entirely by hand, one matched pair at a time, in faceted cabinets finished in natural wood. The company traces its design goals to concert hall monitoring and studio mixing and mastering, and aims for point-source wave generation with accurate phase and timing. The current range comes in two families, the Precision Monitor and Signature series. The Precision Monitor 2.2 is a current model, and the original Precision Monitor 1 and 3 are legacy models.

Brand overview

When the Korean magazine HIFICLUB reviewed the Avalon PM3, one of its reviewers came back a week later with his own MSB DAC, sure the speakers had more to give. That one change transformed the system, and the magazine credited the PM3 for laying the difference out so plainly. Avalon designs for that kind of transparency. Its cabinets are faceted like a cut gem, with no parallel panels inside, and the bevels around the drivers shrink the flat front panel whose edges would otherwise send out a late echo that blurs the stereo image. The cabinet also leans back slightly so the sound from the tweeter and the woofer reaches you at the same moment. Alain Abensur of Choice HiFi found the PM3 "reflected every change in the system," and Koji Onodera of Stereo Sound heard the PM1 put music "dancing in the sound field on a clear, clean and quiet background." Avalon suits listeners who want deep, focused imaging and will tune the whole system to get it.

The Precision Monitor series is the way into Avalon, below the Signature series that includes the Saga and the flagship Tesseract. The PM3 is the one to start with. Abensur says designer Neil Patel derived it directly from the Saga, with the same drivers and crossover design. In a room of about 4 by 5 meters, Choice HiFi found the smaller PM2 slightly softer and more forgiving, while the PM3 had the bigger bass. Avalon says the PM3.2 is an easy load for an amplifier, and Abensur drove the PM3 with a 250-watt Analog Domain. Give yourself time for placement. Angelo Jasparro of Audio-Activity gives the usual Avalon position as at least 1 meter from the back wall. Hi-Fi+ moved the Avalon Time in tiny steps and ended a few centimeters wider apart and further forward than its first guess. Avalon's ports fire down into the base, and Wojciech Pacuła of High Fidelity notes that this keeps the floor distance the same wherever the speaker stands.

Avalon Acoustics began in Boulder, Colorado, in the 1980s. In that decade, Avalon says, it built some of the first inert cabinets, damped in layers and fitted with thick non-resonant baffles. Pacuła writes that the faceted Avalon shape is known around the world and "has been copied again and again." In 2010 Hi-Fi+ wrote that Avalon had long held a reputation for astonishingly low distortion and neutrality, and in 2019 Onodera wrote that Patel, the company's president, must be named "the number one speaker designer." The Precision series arrived in 2018, in cabinets of a composite that Avalon says is five times stronger than its earlier wood-based material. The flagship Tesseract is named for a four-dimensional hypercube. Each channel stands 87 inches tall, with four 15-inch woofers and its own amplifier for the bass. Avalon tuned the bass enclosure with the twelfth root of two, the ratio between semitones in music, to keep its resonances apart. Every pair is built by hand in the foothills of the Colorado Rocky Mountains.

Sources

https://www.choicehifi.com/2020/05/13/avalon-pm3-speaker-review/, https://www.choicehifi.com/2020/06/08/avalon-pm2-impressions, https://www.avalonacoustics.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/n.Avalon-PM1-Stereo-Sound-Review-09-2019.pdf, https://hifiplus.com/articles/the-avalon-time-loudspeaker-hifi-plus-71/, https://www.audio-activity.com/avalon-idea-in-english.html, https://6moons.com/audioreviews/avalon2/1.html, https://6moons.com/audioreviews/avalon2/4.html, https://www.hifireport.com/avalon-precision-monitor-2-review-at-shs-audio-review/, https://www.hifireport.com/avalon-pm1-review/, https://bestofhighend.com/avalon-acoustics-saga-signature/, https://www.avalonacoustics.com/about/, https://www.avalonacoustics.com/silent-inert-composite/, https://www.avalonacoustics.com/tesseract-signature-a-brief-discussion-of-technique/, https://www.avalonacoustics.com/models/signature/tesseract/, https://www.avalonacoustics.com/models/precision/pm3-2/, https://www.avalonacoustics.com/models/precision/pm2-2/, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7PPwSTIssb4

Our interview with the brand

What are two key technological innovations or strong opinions that differ you from other brands?

What's your approach to customer support?

What are your favorite tracks for showcasing the strength of your products?

What other products pair best with yours?

From Julian's interview with
.

Products overview

Every Avalon is built by hand in a faceted wood cabinet with matched drivers, so voices hold a clear place in the room. The Precision Monitor 1 is the entry, a compact floorstander with two 7.5 inch woofers that reach 28 Hz and work with low-power amplifiers. The Precision Monitor 2.2 adds a separate 3 1/2 inch midrange, so the woofers focus on bass down to 24 Hz. The Tesseract tops the range with powered bass cabinets reaching 16 Hz.

  • Start here. Choose the Precision Monitor 1 if you have a small room and a low-power amplifier, because its 93 dB sensitivity makes the most of modest watts.
  • Sweet spot. The Precision Monitor 2.2 gives a medium room voices on their own midrange driver and deeper bass than the Precision Monitor 1, at a price well below the Signature models.
  • All in. The Tesseract is a separate, far costlier design priced well above Saga Signature, and its four 15 inch subwoofers per channel give listeners with the deepest budget bass and imaging no smaller model matches.
Website author headshot
Julian Shapiro
ExtremeHiFi Writer

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What are two key technological innovations or strong opinions that differ you from other brands?

What's your approach to customer support?

What are your favorite tracks for showcasing the strength of your products?

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Our interview with the brand

What are two key technological innovations or strong opinions that differ you from other brands?

What's your approach to customer support?

What are your favorite tracks for showcasing the strength of your products?

What other products pair best with yours?

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Julian Shapiro
ExtremeHiFi
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Estelon is an Estonian loudspeaker maker, founded in 2010. Founder Alfred Vassilkov studied electro-acoustics in St. Petersburg and started the company with his daughters. The speakers are hand-built and tested in Estonia, and their sculpted cabinets are made from marble-based or thermoformed mineral composites. Curved walls with no parallel surfaces and a system of interior chambers keep the cabinet from resonating and reduce diffraction. Many models use Accuton ceramic drivers. The YB suits smaller rooms, while the Extreme has an adjustable upper module so it can be tuned to the listening space.

Our interview with the brand

What are two key technological innovations or strong opinions that differ you from other brands?

  • The Estelon speakers are engineered with both form and function in mind. Our cabinets are not only visually sculptural but are also acoustically optimised to eliminate internal resonances and diffraction. The distinctive curved shapes, made from a proprietary marble-based composite, ensure ideal dispersion characteristics and phase coherence, allowing our speakers to disappear sonically and create a truly three-dimensional soundstage.
  • Estelon integrates carefully selected drivers, often from Accuton or other high-end manufacturers—with meticulous in-house tuning. Every driver is individually measured and matched to its cabinet to ensure perfect performance. This “obsessive” attention to detail results in an effortless, natural sound that remains coherent across all frequencies, even in complex musical passages.

What's your approach to customer support?

At Estelon, customer satisfaction is a top priority, and we are committed to providing exceptional support at every step. In most cases, customers should first contact their local dealer or distributor, as they are trained and equipped to assist with product-related matters. However, we are always available to support our partners and end customers directly if needed.

If a customer experiences an issue, they can expect a prompt and professional response. We work closely with our partners to ensure that any problem is resolved efficiently, whether it involves replacement parts, technical guidance, or logistics. Our engineering and production teams are also directly involved when necessary.

Our team is small, dedicated, and accessible. We know many of our customers in person, and we treat every support request with the same care as we would for a friend! For special cases, such as custom finishes or installations, we often go beyond standard procedures to ensure everything meets our standards and the customer's expectations.

What are your favorite tracks for showcasing the strength of your products?

This is a personal selection, of course. At the Estelon factory, we use a wide range of music covering various genres to ensure our speakers perform exceptionally with all types of music. 

Here are three of my current favourite tracks for showcasing the strengths of our products:

  1. Geoff Castellucci – The Sound of Silence
  2. California Guitar Trio – The Good, The Bad, And The Ugly
  3. Carolin No – Still Waters Run Deep (Live)

Again, while these are a couple of my personal favorites, we regularly test and fine-tune our products using a wide variety of music to ensure outstanding performance across all genres.

What other products pair best with yours?

At Estelon, we test a wide range of electronics during the development of our loudspeakers to ensure broad compatibility and exceptional performance across different systems. Our goal is to create speakers that not only reveal the finest musical details but also perform beautifully with a variety of high-end electronics.

Some of the brands we frequently use in our facilities include Vitus Audio, MSB Technology, Accuphase, CH Precision, Soulution, Pass Labs, and many others. In addition, we collaborate closely with partners who represent carefully selected lines and brands that pair exceptionally well with Estelon speakers. This means customers can rest assured that they will be guided to a system that delivers the best possible outcome, both sonically and aesthetically.

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Julian Shapiro
ExtremeHiFi
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About the brand

Von Schweikert is an American loudspeaker maker founded by Albert Von Schweikert, a Caltech-educated physicist and professional musician. Since 1975 its speakers have followed his acoustic theory. A rear-firing Ambience Retrieval System, adjustable by the owner, aims to recreate the space captured in a recording, and the crossovers follow the company's own G.A.I.N. and A.I.R. designs. Drivers are often modified Accuton and Scan-Speak units. The compact VR.thirty combines the Foundation Hybrid Bass System, with three 7-inch woofers reaching 20Hz, and a ribbon-based rear array. It was The Absolute Sound's 2026 High-End Loudspeaker of the Year.

Our interview with the brand

What are two key technological innovations or strong opinions that differ you from other brands?

What's your approach to customer support?

What are your favorite tracks for showcasing the strength of your products?

What other products pair best with yours?

Website author headshot
Julian Shapiro
ExtremeHiFi
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About the brand

TAD, short for Technical Audio Devices, is a Japanese speaker maker with a background in professional audio engineering. Its central technology is the CST, or Coherent Source Transducer, which mounts the tweeter concentrically inside the midrange so both radiate from one point for coherent phase and stable imaging. TAD forms its beryllium diaphragms by vapor deposition. The Bi-Directional ADS port keeps port noise low and lets owners place models such as the TAD-E1TX closer to a wall, while the TAD-R1TX flagship suits large rooms.

Our interview with the brand

What are two key technological innovations or strong opinions that differ you from other brands?

What's your approach to customer support?

What are your favorite tracks for showcasing the strength of your products?

What other products pair best with yours?

Website author headshot
Julian Shapiro
ExtremeHiFi
Brand Page
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Used Products
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 Available
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About the brand

Raidho Acoustics is a Danish speaker maker that builds its own drivers and components in-house. Its hand-built tweeter is a planar magnetic design with an 11 micron foil and no voice coil. That gives it about a fiftieth of the moving mass of a dome tweeter and a breakup point of 82 kHz. The bass and midrange drivers use tantalum-coated ceramic diaphragms and titanium voice coils. The TD series adds an underhung magnet system. Buyers can start with the X series, such as the X1.6, whose stated goal is extreme performance for the money.

Our interview with the brand

What are two key technological innovations or strong opinions that differ you from other brands?

Ceramix and Diamond Membrane Technology

 Raidho is renowned for our ultra-lightweight yet incredibly rigid ceramic and diamond-coated drivers. These custom-built diaphragms offer unmatched transient response and detail retrieval — delivering a level of realism and micro-dynamics that is virtually impossible to achieve with conventional materials.

In-House Ribbon Tweeter with Extreme Resolution

 Our proprietary ribbon tweeter is another cornerstone of the Raidho sound. With extremely low moving mass and wide bandwidth, it reproduces high frequencies with effortless air, nuance, and spatial depth — all without harshness. We care deeply about emotional connection, not just measurements. Music should move you — not just impress on paper.

What's your approach to customer support?

At Raidho Acoustics, we genuinely value direct contact with our customers. We see it not just as support, but as a way to invite people into the Raidho family. We want every customer to feel personally guided and cared for, and we take the time to offer thorough advice based on each individual’s needs and listening preferences.

That said, we also deeply appreciate and rely on our global network of distributors and dealers. After all, it’s at the dealer locations where you can experience our speakers firsthand — and hearing them in a proper environment is what it’s really all about. So, while you're always welcome to reach out to us directly, we also encourage you to connect with your local dealer for demonstrations and purchases.

If an issue arises, we are here to help — quickly, competently, and with a personal touch. Our support goes far beyond just fixing problems. We often assist with system matching, room setup, or fine-tuning to help you get the absolute best out of your Raidho speakers. Our goal is not just to provide customer service — it’s to make sure your music experience is as exceptional and emotionally engaging as possible, every single day.

What are your favorite tracks for showcasing the strength of your products?

“Keith Don’t Go” – Nils Lofgren (Acoustic Live)

 A beautifully recorded acoustic performance that lets you hear the texture of strings, finger movement, and ambient space — pure magic on Raidho speakers.

“No Sanctuary Here” – Chris Jones

 Deep, punchy, and rich in tone, this track shows how Raidho handles power and impact while maintaining finesse and subtlety.

“Stimela” – Hugh Masekela (Hope)

 A powerful and emotional live recording where the depth, dynamics, and presence of the performance come alive. It’s like being in the front row.

What other products pair best with yours?

Website author headshot
Julian Shapiro
ExtremeHiFi
Brand Page

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