Eidolon vs Opus

Jtinn, nice follow-up. Thanks for the additional clarification and for reminding everyone that you are a Kharma dealer. I must admit that I don't hear the mid-bass bloat you say MES complained of with the Eidolon and ARC Ref 300 MK II's. I run my Eidolon's with Atma-Sphere MA-2 MkII's and find the integration to be outstandlingly good. Given what I hear with the Eidolon/Atma-Sphere combination, the Kharma truly must be outstanding.

BTW, you never did clarify which model of the Kharma you're referring to.

After reading this post I think everyone can see that what works for one person doesn't work for another. Go listen for yourself and go with what you like best. If someone buys Kharma and another buys Avalon they both will have great speakers to them. To others they will not like those speakers for one reason or another. What I find funny is today its Kharma, next week its Avalon, the week after that its something else. I always like reading old post where one person will say something is the best they have ever heard until they hear something else. I have been very lucky (I think) to have owned many speakers and all have their strengths and weekness. One of the best systems I have every heard was with Avalon Radians. Now does that make Avalons the best, no but they where nice.

This is starting to sound like the person who buys a BMW just to hear another person say they use to like BMW but now Mercedes are the best. They all are very fine and I would love to own either.

Ha, Ha, Ha -- well said, Bryans! And in the meantime we've lost any additional replies to Rmaurin's original question about what to expect if he upgrades from Opus to Eidolon.

I have not heard the Kharmas yet, I have plans to do it very soon. I do have a fair amount of experience with Avalons(they were my last speakers), I always felt myself wanting something I just couldn't obtain with them, not to say they were bad I just felt they were on the lean side and pretty far from the last word in coherency. I am currently using a MUCH cheaper speaker and everyone who has heard before and after agrees the current set up is better on every plane. The things I felt missing from the the avalons is exactly what I am told the kharma's do so very well. The model I believe they are reffering to is either the Midi Grand(30k msrp) or the infamous 3.2 monitor(19k msrp) so they are on par with the mid-twenties from the Avalon Eidolon. I do think you could do better for the money the Eidolon's cost, I at one time lusted after Eidolon's more then anything and now they are not even on my list any more :( They do look incredible though! You owe it to yourself to do a little auditioning at this price level.

I think this is a fair statement. Feel free to disagree if you are inclined. Though many people like Eidolons with tubes, I think they excel with coherent and fast solid state, where the Eidolon transparency, staging, and resolution really shine. They are holographic in the sense that electrostatics are, and in that sense they are thinner than a traditional tube presentation is, though in every sense musical. I simply disagree about coherency, having heard Eidolons with Spectral's best amps and latest DMC-30sl preamp and with excellent room acoustics and vibration control. The stage is tightly coherent, wide and deep. Eidolons mirror the signal fed to them.
On the other hand, if you prefer a warmer, fuller tubelike presentation, then Kharmas appear to be well-matched to electronics of that type. My impression of the $70k Exquisites with Lamm is that they portray, say, a guitar in the same room with you in a more vibrant, organic way than Eidolons, while Eidolons will excel in portraying realistic soundstages with fine low level detail.
I haven't heard the midi-Grand or Ceramiques, but there is probably a family resemblance.
Basically, I'm suggesting there is a style difference in the two speaker lines which would probably be revealed by a/b'ing with similar electronics.