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Description: The Avalon Transcendent is a big solid two-way loudspeaker with three drivers similar to the Ascendant and something of a floorstanding bookshelf speaker regardless of how this description might sound. Despite the obvious similarities between both two Avalon models, they share only the cosmetics, size and number of transducers. The speakers meanwhile sound very different. Here the treble is handled by a concave 24.5mm tweeter with neodymium motor. It’s set deeper into the baffle than needed for flush mounting. There is a thick felt pad with a hole just large enough for the diaphragm. The grille too is fitted with felt and frankly speaking I preferred the sound with the grilles on. Midrange and bass are handled by two paralleled 178mm units. This is not an exact 1:1 parallel connection however because similar to the Ascendant each is filtered a little differently to compensate for the different locations relative to the listener and make them behave as one compound transducer. These mid/woofers are the Eton 7-375 Hex-B units with Nomex-Kevlar composite diaphragms woven from Kevlar fibers embedded with Nomex to be very stiff and light. Similar drivers appeared in the Ascendant but there were coated differently for a dissimilar surface. Instead of a soft dust cap there is a solid aluminum cap in the middle. The baskets are cast and very solid and special attention was devoted to the spider not obstructing back airflow.


At first glance the Transcendents are bass-reflex speakers. But there is no port on front or rear but the bottom. This controls the air loading because the floor distance will remain constant regardless of position within the room. Of course how far the front wall is remains important because the plinth of the loudspeaker blocks the single port (the Ascendant had two) on three sides to channel its output to the back. The company refers to it as a lossy hole not tuned to any specific frequency to not be a classic bass reflex alignment.

The cabinet is typical for Avalon, known around the world and has been copied again and again. This is a faceted diamond shape identical to the pricier models with five cut surfaces to stiffen the enclosure and prevent standing waves. The Transcendent is a ‘full’ version of this shape where the Ascendant omitted the lower facets. Actually the cabinet here very much resembles the Time model. Even the grilles are identical, with only the shape of the holes cut into the felt different. Front baffle and back panel slope toward the back. The cabinet walls are very thick and the loudspeaker is reinforced in the middle with a solid brace. Most important is the vertical bulk head with thick MDF rings. Thick rubber glued to these rings supports the mid/woofers from behind. The signal reaches the drivers with thick copper wires where three individual runs are soldered together to increase cable cross section. The tweeter with its solid cast mounting plate fires into a very rigid chamber routed out from stacked plates. The inside of the enclosure is densely filled with synthetic wool.

On the back we get single Cardas uni-block terminals made for spade connectors exclusively. The loudspeakers are perfectly crafted with book-matched veneers. For the base price the choices are myrtle cluster burl, walnut cluster burl and bird’s eye maple. Surcharge veneers are walnut, cherry and maple but the price then much exceeds 68.500zł. Why? This is not caused by the veneers themselves but – as we agreed with one of the Polish loudspeaker manufacturers who saw the Transcendents at my home and was enchanted by their craftsmanship—it seems that Avalon must order a run of cabinets in their basic veneers and anything other gets ordered one at a time to much increase production costs.

The Transcendent comes with three sharp cones per side but twill sound much better on finite elemente supports. Although this increases floor distance to change the non-port loading, this can be handled with an intermediate element to simulate the floor.

opinia @highfidelity.pl
Technical data (according to manufacturer):
Frequency response: 26 - 25.000Hz
Nominal impedance: 4Ω
Efficiency: 88dB
Recommended amplifier power: 50 - 500W
Dimensions (WxHxD): 254 x 1050 x 370mm
Weight: 44kg (a piece)
Avalon Acoustics website