Reviewer:
Srajan Ebaen
Financial interests: click here
Sources: 27" iMac with 5K Retina display, 4GHz quad-core engine with 4.4GHz turbo boost, 3TB Fusion Drive, 16GB SDRAM, OSX Yosemite, PureMusic 3.01, Tidal & Qobuz lossless streaming, COS Engineering D1 & H1, AURALiC Vega, Aqua Hifi Formula, Fore Audio DAISy 1, Apple iPod Classic 160GB (AIFF), Astell& Kern AK100 modified by Red Wine Audio, Cambridge Audio iD100, Pro-Ject Dock Box S Digital, Pure i20, Questyle QP1R; Metrum Adagio [on review]
Preamplifier: Nagra Jazz, Esoteric C-03, Vinnie Rossi LIO with DHT module, COS Engineering D1, Wyred4Sound STP-SE Stage 2
Power & integrated amplifiers: Pass Labs XA30.8; FirstWatt SIT1, F5, F6, F7; S.A.Lab Blackbird SE; Crayon Audio CFA-1.2; Goldmund Job 225; ; Aura Note Premier; Wyred4Sound mINT; Nord Acoustics One SE UP NC500MB; Linnenberg Audio Adagio [on loan]
Loudspeakers: Albedo Audio Aptica; EnigmAcoustics Mythology 1; soundkaos Wave 40; Boenicke Audio W5se; Zu Audio Druid V & Submission; German Physiks HRS-120; Eversound Essence
Cables: Complete loom of Zu Event; KingRex uArt, Zu and LightHarmonic LightSpeed double-header USB cables; Tombo Trøn S/PDIF; van den Hul AES/EBU; AudioQuest Diamond glass-fibre Toslink; Arkana Research XLR/RCA and speaker cables [on loan]; Sablon Audio Petit Corona power cords [on loan], Black Cat Cable Lupo; Ocellia OCC Silver
Power delivery: Vibex Granada/Alhambra on all components, 5m cords to amp/s + sub
Equipment rack: Artesania Audio Exoteryc double-wide 3-tier with optional glass shelves, Exoteryc Krion and glass amp stands [on loan]
Sundry accessories: Acoustic System resonators
Room: Rectangular 5.5 x 15m open floor plan with two-storey gabled ceiling, wood-sleeved steel trusses and stone-over-concrete flooring
Review component retail: £4'280/pr standard finish, £5'010/pr upscale finishes


You needn't be an Italian kid to know what mum meant when she shouted "avanti, avanti!" Audio Physic's narrow Avanti tower—1.7" tweeter + 5.9" midrange visible, 8" long-throw woofer with downfire slot hidden inside—says the same. Even though the word's actual meaning is forward or ahead, "let's go, let's go!" is implicit. That's never about tomorrow or later. It's always now. If there's any truth in advertising, we'd not expect a poncified lazy transducer. We should get one that's quick and snappy to turn on a dime. If there again were a Roman numeral in the name as there was in the past, it'd be a IV to signal 4th-gen maturity as a single lifer; or fourth incarnation if you kept on coming back. Instead, this speaker reborn goes by Avanti; just Avanti.



The rendering shows porous open-cell ceramic foam dampers in strategic locations which include resistive damping for the holes of the window-pane braces and even the woofer's floor coupling interface. It also shows discrete chambers for the upper two drivers. Not apparent is the proprietary nature of these transducers which are manufactured for them by Wavecor on tooling developed and owned by Audio Physic.


Their 3rd-gen ceramic-coated aluminium Hyper-Holographic Cone Tweeter above 3kHz is not a ubiquitous dome at all but a cone with a dust cap...


... whilst the equally 3rd-gen Hyper-Holographic Cone Midrange with ceramic-coated aluminium membrane explores new mechanical ground with a dual-basket array that combines a die-cast aluminium outer for stiffness and thermal coupling with an optimally damped plastic inner frame [red in exploded drawing]. As the drivers are from their baffle and the filter boards from their supports, even the single-wire WBT terminals are elastomerically decoupled. With a claimed bandwidth of 31Hz-40kHz at 89dB/4Ω, the 29kg Codex takes up 17 x 39cm of floor space—actually a bit more with its outrigger stabilizers—and 108cm of air space. Finish options include five wood veneers and 12 high-gloss, yes glass skins. The latter not only increase weight but enclosure stiffness by becoming a hard outer layer.


The spike footers can be upgraded to Audio Physic's 'levitation' devices where counter magnets create better mechanical isolation from the floor. Alternately, there's also the optional base in black or white gloss as shown in the opening photo. Below we see how the Avanti slots into the core lineup which, past the Step, continues with the Classic range. It occupies the spot between Virgo 25plus+ and the previously reviewed Codex. That's how this assignment came about in fact - having been Code X'd.
Right after that review, their UK importer Elite Audio offered me the next model up: the Avanterra III with 2 x 7" woofers per cheek in Audio Physic's classic force-cancelling sidefire array. Having been tremendously smitten with the bass system of the Codex which avoided all the usual port issues; and less so with the room integration of the Boenicke W11's sidefiring woofer... I instead asked for the Avanti to give exposed woofers a miss altogether. It retains the same tweeter, midrange and hidden-woofer bass. The latter simply shrinks from 10" to 8". Eliminating the 150-350Hz 7" mid/bass coupler of the Codex turns the Avanti into a classic 3-way. Its specs go narrower, shallower and shorter on dimensions and only 3 Hertz lighter on bass reach. The reach into your wallet is a lot lighter than just three quid, however. Given the superlative showing of the bigger sibling in our 100m² room below, I reckoned that the Avanti would be all anyone could want for a more standard 5 x 7m room. Luckily Elite were happy to accommodate my preference. I could learn how downsizing would sound out.