Wilsons...yes there were good in their own way, and the amp matching may not have been ideal (I really think they wld be better w/ tubes) and finally the rooms were different etc etc. The pt for me is that I just loved the Kharmas, plain & simple while the Wilsons were not my cup of tea. Everyone has different tastes: if we all had the same then there would not be that many manufacturers in the hi-end!
Anyways, today yet another audtion
(Linn Kontrol preamp + Klimaxx Mono blocks)
vs. (Hovland HP200 + Radia)
Source: Linn CD 12, speakers: Linn Komris
Again this may not be fair. Room, music was all the same but an all Linn system has got to have some synergies, plus the Komri's sensitivity is only 86db, though for bass it has internal driver.
The Hovlands were certainly beautiful (!), and sounded fine...hung well together. A bit of softening on the transients, pace was normal. Soundstage was better than avg., though I sensed the sound to be bit foward. However the Linns were quick, more transparent, and had a wider soundstage. But more so than soundstage (left to right) was the front to back depth where Linns clearly out did the Hovlands. I had somewhat expected this given I am quite familiar w/ Linn by now, but I also thought that the Hovlands would provide more mid range lushness, sex appeal if u will, given the pre-amp is tube, but it didn't really: if so, only a hint. Perhaps if the power amp was tube it make much bigger diff, given Radia is solid state. Hard to tell.
In any case, Hovlands did not rock my boat. They may excel with other speakers, true. The Kharmas I like a lot are 89db in sensitivity and already have that mid range, sound stage done so perhaps wld work well w/ the Hovlands? Does anyone have any idea/opinion on this?
Another thing, the Linn Klimaxx monoblocks have a input impedancy of only 7.5K, so clearly the HP 200 can't really drive it well (HP: output impedance is 50K, Kontrol 300 ohms).
So if I keep the Klimaxxes, I got to find a preamp with a matching output impedance. Apart from Linn Kontrol and BAT VK 51SE (200 ohms), does any one have suggestions?
Of course, I still need to make the trip to the Kharma place w. the Klimaxxes to see if there are a decent match. I suspect they will be as their respective strengths are complimentary.
Future plans: audtion BAT 51 VK SE. Jtinn suggested using the Emm Labs (which I am interested in)...and driving the power amps directly from the DAC22 for greater transparency....but I now doubt this is possible given the Linns input impedance...certainly will check it out.
