Starting at the top...

So I'm one of the lucky few to have heard the Avalon Acoustics Tesseract live and in person with a 1-on-1 demonstration (sort of.. I did bring my nephew).   This is not an ideal review, as I did not walk in with the intent of reviewing the Tesseract; I was there for an upgrade to my speakers and the Tesseract happened to be there.  For that reason, I'm calling this a mini-review.  

For those of you not in the know, the Tess (as it's known inside Avalon) is the flagship of their product line.  The best of the best.   I'm not sure how many people in the world have been able to hear them, and I was only able to hear them for a very short amount of time -- for which I am most grateful.  With an expected overall production of ~20 units, the odds of finding a set to listen to are not great.

I will confess up front to being completely biased towards "The Avalon Sound."  I fell in love with it in the 90's with the Avalon Ascent running on a pair of Jeff Rowland Model 7's, and I still listen to Avalon today, with my own pair of Arcus running on a Jeff Rowland Model 5.  

Disclaimer of subjective bias out of the way, these are the finest speakers that I've ever listened to.  Bar none.  The demo took place at Avalon Acoustics Boulder factory in a room that's somewhat similar in footprint to your standard racquetball court...high ceilings and very good sound treatment.  

I'm very familiar with Avalon speakers and have listened to many of their products over the years, and this rightly deserves the crown of flagship.   Clearly, with the sheer size of these beasts which stand up nearly 6 1/2 feet and weigh nearly 1000lbs each, one would expect that the sound would be as big as the speakers, and it is.   The speaker is almost intimidating when you walk into the room, and felt like it towered over me (at 5' 10").     I was able to listen to Rimsky-Korsakov for about 20-30 minutes, and that's it.  My request to take pictures was flatly denied.

While the sound was big, and the imposing nature of the speakers gave the sense that at any moment they could melt the listening position with some sort of sonic death ray, what was most striking was how precise and subtle they were.   Small and delicate sounds were, as they should be, small and delicate.  Enormous, bombastic, crushing sounds were projected with absolute ease and I never got the sense that I ever came even close to hearing the capabilities of these speakers.  They felt amazingly relaxed.  Despite the looming vision of them in front of me, the illusion of a sound-stage actually behind them was most notable to me.  They seemed sonically invisible, as if they themselves actually emitted no sound, but the stage resided around, within and behind them despite their physical presence.  The sound is markedly different from other Avalon products, but still retains "The Avalon Sound(tm)" that I learned to love so many years ago.

The size of them precludes the idea of me ever owning a pair.  They honestly wouldn't fit in my basement, and my second story would require reinforced joists to hold them and the several hundred pounds of amplification and miscellaneous other equipment.  

The price, of course, is the other gotcha.  For me to buy a speaker that costs more than my house, I would have to find a clever way to live in the shipping crates and STILL find a place to set up the speakers.  Don't get me wrong, I thought about it.   At $300k+ they should provide much larger shipping crates that can be converted into a very nice listening room. 

The law of diminishing returns always applies to these things and the question becomes "is it worth that much money?"   This is the first time of many when I'll say this, I'm sure -- If you have the money, and you love them like I did?  Yes.  If you don't have the money, then why ask?  You'd be in good company, I also do not have the money -- in fact most speakers in the low 5 figure range would be a hard sell indeed to my wife and my retirement account.  However, when it comes to sound, it's head and shoulders above anything else that I've ever heard from Avalon -- or anyone else -- however, I have not heard the new SAGA yet, which clocks in at 1/3 the price and retains much of the technology introduced in the Tess. 

Technically it's suitably impressive.  It has a measured flat response between 16hz and 50khz.  This is relevant primarily for measurement equipment, as human hearing is generally limited to 20hz to 20khz.   If you have a ferret for a pet, it will appreciate the extended range (they hear 16hz to 44khz).   Each speaker contains a 2.3 Kw fully push-pull class A/B amplifier, the crossover is mounted in the top unit and the power supply and amplifiers are in separate shielded chambers outside of the bass cabinet.  Unlike other Avalon products, the black piano finish is the only finish available on the Tesseract.  The traditional premium veneer finishes are not available -- Avalon indicated that veneering this speaker would not just be difficult but effectively impossible because of some of the tight inside angles.  It would also increase production time of each pair an unacceptable amount.  If there's one thing Avalon has always cared about, it's fit and finish.  

Last but not least....the shape.  The folks at Avalon can explain precisely why the shape is justified in terms that are well above my pay grade.  The designer, Neil Patel, has always used various forms of facets within his designs to great effect. While I can't say, one way or another, if this facet reasoning is all technically correct, theoretical, or just hogwash -- I will say that they look spectacular, if not mean.  Kind of a cross between a Ferrari and a good ole American Muscle Car that gives you the initial impression of, "wow... this could kick my ass."

And it could.