I think RCupka understates significantly what is happening in his room right now.
Having been a real skeptic regarding what some call fart machines, or should I say subwoofers, and been exposed as well as owning a fair number of them in various systems have never heard anything integrate to my satisfaction with mains and sound cohesive. Anything, except perhaps statement speakers with bass towers like Genesis 200’s or Martin Logan Statements, which are not standard subwoofer type setups and are in a different price range than when we discuss “subwoofers”. This includes, yes, flying out to CES to hear the subs in a couple of setups including 3.2’s and Midi Exquisites with the Kharma sub.
What I heard from the Kharma sub before setup was perhaps the best sub that is super easy to integrate and setup and have good bass. At CES I felt that there could be a little more tweaking to phase and perhaps placement but that it was pretty good, but not great sounding. Certainly better than other professionally setup sub satellites except perhaps for one. I however sensed some directionality some phase and integration issues and told Bill Parrish this. Maybe spend some time and they could be good, or at least better, I didn’t know but all I can say is that after the experience I wasn’t real excited about the sub. I came back from CES and against my better judgement based on my past experiences and what I heard at the show and after asking a lot of knowledgeable people on this sight and my knowledgable dealer and Bill at GTT what their opinions were, I ordered the sub and simultaneously dreaded their arrival, mostly due to my ears being hugely sensitive to crossover points and the havoc the wreak. That's probably why I ended up with 3.2's since to my perception they are very seamless.
Anyways, having heard that the master of disaster had paid a visit to RCupkas, I straightaway paid a visit yesterday. Here is what I found:
When I got to RCupkas house, I had very low expectations as he has a basement room and many world class speakers he’s had in this room had sounded very flat dead and some even bad. It’s a tough room and I’ve heard his 3.2’s there and felt like there was no way any bass could ever integrate and wouldn’t even be needed as he was achieving the finest results I’d ever heard in the room with the little Kharmas. Any hesitation I felt evaporated with the first notes. As far as the bass goes, it's not just a matter of bass. The 3.2 is not added to but rather is completed by having the sub in the system. Totally seamless (to my perception) sound non directional, tight , powerful and defined as anything I've heard. There was one disc I put on Sonic Trance by Nicholas Payton and I thought I was hearing a drum with awesome bass fundamentals. It was actually a very highly tuned sharply played electric bass! It was that tight.
Also, where the recording places bass is where it ends up. I played Infected Mushroom BP Empire first track as an allout bass test and it literally energized to entire room where the bass seemed to originate from OUTSIDE the room, surrounding you with waves of controlled pressure that would literally shimmer all around you with tighter more defined bass and the 3.2's STILL exhibited their just razor sharp imaging. It was stunning and I had never heard that effect before, even from Alexandrias. Our pantlegs were flapping but there was zero bloat, just pressurized energy in the room that made us giggle like little schoolgirls.
Guitars, male vocals and horns had weight and mass that was just stunning. Stevie Ray Vaughns strat sounded like it was in the room with the woody body and awesome majestic power and presence of the real thing.
Pink Floyd cut from Burmester has a low level harmonic that is just lost on most systems. Completely captured by this setup.
When called for the low end was sledgehammer like. On Peter Gabriel's So it was the best I'd heard Tony Levin's bass stick, even better than in concert.
There were only 2 tracks where I even detected there was a sub in the room, Victor Wooten's bass on a Bela Fleck disc. He plays the uppermost range of his bass, then flies down the scale you do hear a slight transition to the sub at around 60 hz or so where the notes are not as tight and are more expansive and less defined. Perhaps it was the sub, perhaps the recording, I don’t know.
Just spectacular, truly transcendent. The magic of the 3.2’s is still there, in fact enhanced by the sub creating more weight to vocals and instruments to create more of the pulsing sphere effect of sound resonating in multiple directions with weight and body with subjectively a larger and deeper more natural soundstage. Was it perfect? I don’t know, is anything? Perhaps with 2 subs you could get more texturing in the bass, I’m not sure and don’t really care. I have heard better bass but it was in a very custom system tuned and built for a specific room with retail cost of $60k just for the bass part of the system. It textured more.
Again, is it perfect? I’m sure it’s not but shock and awe describes what I heard that day and you’re still faced with the limitations of the 3.2’s being small 2 ways. If you play your music much above 80-85db then I would say perhaps there are better speakers and setups if you’re into huge symphonic no dynamic compression type sound, get some 120db efficient horns. If you listen however at near reasonable levels the Kharmas are just taken to a new level. The magic of the 3.2’s is not interfered with, it's enhanced and completed.
