Better Amps For Talon Khorus CAT JL2 or Tenor 75?

For what it is worth, I agree 100% with Mike at Father & Son Audio. I heard both Talon rooms at CES - and they more or less sounded exactly as he described them (I did not bother to report on the Joule Electra room in our trip report - the sound was neither remarkable nor overly dissapointing). Mike has much more experience than I with the Talons - and even though the 'Tenors and the Joules' (sounds like a hit TV show... :-) are two of the finest lines of tubed amplifiers in the whole blamed world - the Talon's bass was just not very present, detailed nor dynamic at CES and really did sound like it wanted something to drive it that can as tightly control the bass as, as... (I really wanted to put something humourous here but I just think it would get me into a lot of trouble - so use your imagination... :-) one of the better solid state amps.

- Mike (Audio Federation)

hi Guys; this looks like a fun discussion......so i'll give my Tenor-lovin 2 cents.......

it may be interesting how the Firebirds do when they are completely mature as a design.....in a proper room. i was in the Firebird room at CES early on Friday morning and Mike had still been tweaking with the Firebirds.....trying to get the bass to behave and integrate.

then on Sunday the bass was much better. turns out that Rives Audio (www.rivesaudio.com) installed a mid and low bass equalizer called a PARC in the room to reduce/eliminate the bass nodes. the bass was still possibly not perfect.....but these Firebirds are still prototypes.....so it is hard to fix any specific cause for that. in my experience with other speakers.....lots of ss current will possibly tighten bass but at a critical loss of bass texture and nuance compared to the Tenor......and to me live acoustic bass sounds more like what the Tenors do than what ss current might do.

so 'can' the Tenors be the ideal amp for the Khorus X or Firebird?

i'll answer that by describing my experience with my previous speakers, the Wilson Watt/Puppy 6s. i had a few very well respected ss 'muscle' amps on the WP6's.....the Levinson #33 and the Halcro DM-58.....and another couple of relatively high-current tube amps....the Atmasphere MA2 MkII.2 and the Red Rose Amp 1. after trying the Tenor on the WP6, it was crystal clear that none of those very nice amps were in any way close to how the Tenors did bass with the WP6....i heard texture and definition that made things sound real. did the bass performance move as much air.....maybe not.....but it sounded more like what i would hear live. the speed and 'jump' factor were there on the Tenors.....but not with quite the 'hifi' impact of other higher current amps. the Tenors presented an overall believable picture compared to pieces here and there.

so in comparing the WP6 to the Khorus X or Firebird......the Khorus speakers are certainly much more OTL friendly and should be less likely to benefit from ss amps than the WP6. the WP6 is notorius for liking lots of current.....which i certainly had with the amps i tried.....yet the Tenors were the best that i had heard on the WP6.

this may come down to taste.....what flavor of bass do you want? if you are looking for "Rock Show" bass.....ss might be a good choice.

personally, i'll choose naturalness over impact every time.

when you add in the fact that the top to bottom natural clarity of the Tenor is simply not availible in any other amp i have heard it becomes an easy choice.

my point here is not that any of the choices of the above posters aren't excellent or that they might not do certain things that that poster might prefer with the Khorus speakers......but if the question is what amp is the overall best amp with the Khorus X speakers......IMHO it is the Tenor.

That is a pretty darn convincing argument, Mike - though one *could* point out that those solidstate amps (the Levinson 33 and Halcro) are two of the more laid back and boring (Oops, I mean neutral :-) monoblocks out there (compared to the sweet Accuphase A-50s, the natural Lamm M1.1s, the PRaTly Edge Signatures)... no wonder you liked the Tenors (one of the most liveliest amps of any genre/species) so much more on the Wilsons.

It must have been like walking out into the Spring sunshine after working a looooong Winter in a basement somewhere...

Sure would like to just hear the Talons driven to their fullest potential, or the Rockports for that matter. Hmmmmm... hope to see a lot of those 300 watt Tenors at the next show :-)

Sorry about all the parenthetical statements in that one sentence paragraph - I know it can be kind of challenging to the brains parsing skills (it was certainly easier for this old brain to write than to read :-)

With any dead and “inverted” speakers the Tenors will do good job to impress an average “sounds listener”.

Justa.....plausable response.....except.....i spent about an hour in the big Edge room. i heard a few different types of music......i never heard bass texture, micro dynamics or toneality like what i hear from the Tenors......i actually like the Edge amps....one of my favorite ss amps for sure.....ditto for the Lamm 1.1.....but....they just don't play the notes like real music IMHO compared to the Tenor. i'm not a big fan of the Wisdoms......or the prototype speakers with those obscene pyrimids.....but those amps have some limitations in areas that are essential to me.