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Kharma ceramic blow up

Has this happened to anyone?

I went to listen to the Kharma Exquisite Reference today paired with Soulution preamp, Soulution monoblocks, and the dCS Scarletti stack. I really enjoyed it until I put in Bela Fleck's "Flight of the Cosmic Hippo" track #4 which is very bass punchy/heavy.

The ceramic midrange proceeded to blow up BOOM and shatter! Is this common with ceramic midranges? I mean the whole driver literally blew up and shattered into pieces.

Usually a speaker blows up because of amplified distortion which causes the speaker piston movement to become non linear, but I highly doubt the Soulutions or dCS somehow caused this.

Nothing against Kharma, as maybe this was a one off thing. I did really like this setup though. The music was beautiful until it happened. I've been listening to setups from Rockport Altairs, Wilson Maxx3's, TAD Reference 1, and now today the Kharmas.

Should I be wary of about this? I don't want to spend so much money and have problems like this. Do you think this was just a one-off? Again I thoroughly enjoyed the Kharma's until then (but still needed to listen longer to get a better sense of the speakers).

Cheers.
changster
lbmp
17 posts
 
I've had ceramic mid - woofers break in shipping. I returned a pair of speakers in factory road cases.
later I got an email saying the woofers were broken and I thought they were talking about a burnt voice coil (which still didn't make sense because I would have heard that).
Finally they sent a picture both had shattered and the metal grills covering the drivers looked fine. The cabinets which were high gloss black also looked unharmed.
PS these were not Kharma's but...
changster OP
40 posts
 
Jtinn, Buff - The Soulution preamp was set at "50" if I remember. I highly highly doubt this was over 115db. Maybe 100db, I'm not sure. Jtinn, what do you mean by the amp pushing DC current to the speakers?

Mtdking - were they the ceramic midranges that blew up on you? Was it like what happened to me, where the ceramic cone shattered into pieces?
jtinn
1,124 posts
 
If the amp or preamp pass DC current to a speaker, it can likely cause the drivers or a driver to blow.

Having owned Kharmas and been a past retailer for them, I have dealt with this many times. It is always upstream. The driver does not just fail.
mordante
511 posts
 
I think there are better brands then Kharma that use ceramic drivers Marten design maybe. But whatever you are going to decide I think you are a "hero" in my book already for owning the best "in my book" amps in the world.
rtn1
535 posts
 
The Kharma Exquisite Reference is an excellent speaker. It can truly portray that sense of scale. Unfortunately, Kharma is too much money in the US, which I think is a by-product of currency and importation costs.

Aren't all ceramic drivers made by Accuton/Thiel? Who else makes them?

I think the key to a speaker with a ceramic driver is to have a woofer which properly balances the midrange and tweeter.
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