Kharma 3.2 CRM FE and which power amp?

Asonicyouth said: "kharma voices their speakers with Lamm gear..."

No kidding?

Yes, I've heard the same, he uses the ML2's is my understanding.

Sasa

As the saying goes, everyone has an opinion, but understand that everyone has a perspective and perhaps even an agenda. I'd be careful of this when asking opinions on this forum especially without listening firstly and secondly to have a good idea of who told you this and understand what this perspective and opinion is based on as well as the history behind it. If you like you can contact me directly to discuss this.

Guys,
Finding the ideal amp for Kharmas is challenging.With my 1D/DE's, I currently am using the VTL 750's, which on paper seem like the wrong amp.

I owned Tenor W/I 75's and Air Tight ATM 3's modified and upgraded by Tom Tutay, both of which offer excellent performance, but the VTL's deliver an additional Octave of deep bass, a much darker background and a huge soundstage missing with the other amps. They may offer a slightly different mid range presentation, but the trade off is loss of dynamic range which is critical to the listening experience. With the 750's, I feel like I am in the hall listening to a live concert. With the others I am listening to a pair of speakers.

It would be hard to imagine the ML2's with 18 watts will deliver the whole package.

The VTL's support the old addage that there is no substitute for horsepower or in this case a huge power supply.

I am tempted to try the Lamm's but my other experiences make it seem improbable.

Logenn,

Sounds like you're really enjoying my old amps, LOL! The Exquisites certainly are a far more difficult speaker to drive than the 3.2's but I can assure you the Lamm's don't lack for meeting close to the limits of the 3.2's dynamic capabilities. The power handling on the Kharma 3.2's is fairly limited anyways, I've been told 7 watts so it really can't use all that extra power regardless. The 75w OTL Tenors I owned did not do dynamics anywhere near to what the Lamms can on the 3.2's, as the Tenor amps would just give out completely on dynamic swings, losing all the low end, and collapsing utterly. I think simply looking at watts is misleading as the ML2's sound more subjectively powerful in real life than on paper compared to many far more powerfully rated amps I've had in my system. I think the secret is the output transformers but am certainly not sure of what aspect of Lamm's design contributes the most to this effect. In fact, if anyone at CES heard the Wilson Maxx2's with the ML2's they'd agree. It was sterile, mechanical, dry and dull with Lamms solid state amps until he switched to ML2's and according to many, including a TAS reviewer who was there, and reported recently in the magazine, really came alive with the big Wilsons- he preferred it to the big VTL and ARC amps. I couldn't believe how much the bass improved and became far more real in the room than I could ever imagine, with of course the beautiful midrange of the SET. Logenn, I'd make every effort to try and hear them on your 1D's if you can as I think you'd be surprised. If you lived closer, I'd drive them over to you ;^) They may not bring everything the big VTL's do to the party, but it sure would be interesting...