Cables for Tenor/Kharma/Capitole MKI

Rcr, I agree with Mike LaVigne. Right now in my home I have the Jena Labs Pathfinders, the Nordost Valhallas, the Kharma Enigma and the Kharma Grand Reference cables (with Harmonix on the way which, based on their very neutral Studio Master Power cords, I am looking forward to hearing). I only have the Pathfinder interconnects right now whereas with the Nordost and Kharma I have both the interconnects and speaker cables. Because I now have the Exquisites with the 30mm diamond tweeters and the new midrange drivers, I am again playing around with interconnects and cables to make sure I fine tune my system to meet MY tastes. My first impressions are that, like Mike, where I had previously thought the Kharma cables a tad warm, in my system right now they sound very good (any of that colored or warm sound has been ameliorated by the Harmonix Studio Master PCs and Kevin Tellecamp's incredible SRA Ohio Class XL bases under my Tenor 300s - I cannot speak highly enough of the improvement brought by the SRA bases - but that is another story). OTOH, both the Valhallas and the Jena interconnects have some great strengths in my system so I am having to carefully system match the power cords, interconnects and speaker cables before making any final decisions.

If I were forced to make an analysis of the three (and AGAIN guys, this is based on only my limited tests to date and on MY tastes, system, room and preferences) I would say this:

Kharma Enigma - nice suprise now with the Harmonix cords and SRA bases - smoothest and most non-fatiguing [not that the other two are slouches in this regard] of the lot and with the least amount of "halo effect." Possibly because of the incredbly low distortion and resolution of the diamond tweeters, I do not now feel there is any loss of detail or information at all with the Kharmas.

Nordost Valhalla - a tad leaner in the bass but with a slight edge in bass articulation. The best imaging and pin-point focus of the three but not as rich and smooth as the Enigma.

Jena Labs Pathfinder - richer in the midrange and upper bass than the Nordost, but not quite as good as the Valhalla with image focus but a little more relaxed (don't shoot me but I hear a little more smearing of the images with the Jena versus the Valhalla). These are kind of bewteen the Enigmas and Valhallas.

I am having a problem with the balanced input connector on my Tenor 300 (simple solder connection) so I cannot listen to the Jenas right now. When I fix that problem, I am going to be doing some more testing. Forced to pick today, I am favoring the Kharma Enigma but that may change as things go forward and I do more testing.

To all those who disagree with my analysis, no problem, I am just calling it as I hear it in my system but, as always, YMMV.

Frank- I disagree with your analysis! What'cha gonna do 'bout it!! :)

Oh yeah! Well my speakers can beat up yer speakers! That's what this crazy hobby is all about my friend - different stuff may sound different to each of us due to all the variables in each system and since we all hear differently. Also, as I stated, since I have been switching PCs as well, I need to do more testing with more consistency (changing only ONE variable at a time [e.g., the interconnect only] and then re-test all the cables to ascribe any absolute qualities as they apply in my system). That is why I said "if I were forced to make an analysis" because I have't heard the Jena's (which I had preferred prior to making the PC cord and amp stand changes and before that I preferred the Valhallas with my Midi-Grands) since my balanced input connector failed [I have single ended Kharmas and Valhallas].

Besides young buck, you are WRONG just because nobody yer age should have THAT good of a system! (just kidding - I am just jealous cuz I had to be an old geezer before I approached that level of system).

Now about those wimpy ass Maggies!!! ;-) Your mother was a hamster and your father smelt of elderberries!! Now go away or I shall taunt you a second time! (I am hoping you are Monty Python fan, if not, ignore those last two sentences)

Tireguy- I have seen you are using Jena Labs Symphony Interconnect and Valkyre Loudspeakers. How do you compare them to the Valhalla or Kharma cables?

Frank- Now is that a south african hamster or a north african hamster? Because that will change the outcome- and if you cryo treat the hamster.........

How long of Speaker cables are you looking for? if a 6 foot pair will work you can borrow mine try them out- I know it may be a while before you get your pathfinders- I realize I only have the valkyre's but there still pretty good ;)

Rcr- Now I can't say this is conclusive but I have tried these cables in a few systems that I was/am familiar with and the results have always been the same. The Valhalla's are very quick, transparent, good soundstage(but not the widest), not the blackest background(in particular the speaker cables), and can be shrill if anything in the system is less then top of the line(not a cable fault, if your system isn't up to the task they can be ruthless in showing you!)- I would suspect with tenor/kharma/capitole you would not experience this shrill/unnaturalness- unless you had really dirty AC power coming in. The kharma's on speakers other then kharma's are dark and slow, but convey a HUGE soundstage- it makes for great back ground music, but if you try to critically listen it literally will put you to sleep and besides for that much money who wants background music! The kharma cables on kharma speakers is another creature all together- the darkness and slowness is less noticeable. They are very full and natural sounding, this could be due to the silver components used in the kharma speaker crossovers- I dunno for sure though. The kharma's don't have as black of a background as the Jena's and they're not as fast and dynamic sounding as the valhalla's- all trade off's! For the money I don't feel the kharma's are worth it, if they were in the valhalla price range I would think differently, but they are too much of a compromise for that much money- IMO. Another thing to consider which Frank mentioned is my age, I am a LOT younger then the other guys here(early 20's) and human hearing changes as we get older at around 30 most typical humans lose around -2dB@10khZ and up, which can have a HUGE impact on how we hear the differences we do. Something that is bright to me may be fine to someone who is older and so on and so fourth. For what ever all of that is worth, I wish you good luck on your quest- and make sure you let us know what you end trying and your experiences along the way.