We’ve received a number of emails regarding the first post on this subject from Kharma owners who are considering changing their Lamm or Tenor amps – wondering just who to believe. I say, believe everybody! But make sure you pay the most attention to people who have sonic goals for their system similar to your sonic goals (and similar systems!).
I mean, there are lots of people who sincerely believe Bose makes the best speakers. So you can believe them – but it would be unwise to do as they suggest unless you are looking for that Bose sound.
That is just an extreme example. Usually, like in this instance, it is a case of Vanilla versus Chocolate.
Know your sonic preferences!
Many of the emails go like this: “Somebody is saying that the little inexpensive Kharma amps walk all over the much more expensive Lamm hybrid amps.”
The Kharma MP150 amplifier (it comes in your choice of several colors)
Well, I think the people in question mean and hear what they say. At least, it is nice for us to just assume thy are not trying to justify their buying decision by convincing others to make it too. But do they use any vibration control? And do they use high quality (more on this later) powercords as well on their amps. So, if you read the previous installment of this thread (aka part one) you know that we think the Lamms (and Tenors) benefit greatly from these two things.
The Lamm M1.2 Reference amplifier
I’ve heard both of these amps a few times. What can “walk all over” or “better” possibly mean? Kharma better than the Lamm, for example? With respect to what? Bass? I doubt it. Bass detail? Maybe, but use some vibration control, man, and the difference will be very hard to hear. Weight? Authority? Not on your life. Airiness? I believe it, most solid state amps have more air than most tube amps – and the Lamm are especially guilty of not having a lot of extension on top. Coherence? Am I supposed to laugh? Continuousness? They are so different in this respect – it is hard to compare. Engagement/Involvment? This is what I pay the big bucks for, and why I would chose the Lamm.
But maybe that is just me. I can go on and on and on… but the point is what are YOU looking for in your system? What are you missing that you want to switch to an ENTIRELY different kind of amp and sound? This is a radical change – and indicates that you think the system is far from the way you want it to sound. If this is not the case, then maybe some less expensive tweaks might be in order to tune that system that final little bit to make it perfect for your own ears.
And if the Kharma amps really sounded better than the $20K Lamm amps, would they be selling them for $7K? And similarly for powercords and everything else on the planet. If something is priced way below what it is worth – isn’t it kind of ‘bad Karma’ to take advantage of the poor soul slaving away building the thing?
“But, but…” I hear you saying “they tuned the amp to Kharma speakers and so it sounds great on them, and who cares if they sound good on anything else because I have Kharma speakers! And hey, at least these are LESS expensive for a change!”.
It is a good story. I wonder which of their very different types of speakers it was tuned for. And for what sound. The Tenors and Lamms both sound great on the Kharmas. But these are very, very different sounds. Which sound do you like? I personally like the Lamm ML2 and Tenor 75 much better than the Lamm hybrid amps on the Kharma speakers. I also like the Edge NL amps better than the Lamm hybrid amps. But that is just me – the 5 or 6 other people who has actually heard the shootout here has preferred the Lamms. No accounting for taste I say to them (the losers :-)).
Anyway, decide if you like your current sound. If not, how do you want to improve it? Then decide which component needs to be tweaked or replaced to get this improvement. Then find the tweaks or components that will do the job. Just don’t take your system out back and shoot it (unless it deserves it) because there is a new component that might sound better – unless you already have audio nervosa (the insatiable desire to change your hifi system very week or so) in which case why are you wasting time reading this? Go out and try the thing already and report back about the way it sounds!
But for those without audio nervosa, there is only one component that we know of that is unquestionably better than any other component of its type – that I can recommend without reservation – and that is the Acapella Triolon Excalibur speakers. Everything else has sonic tradeoffs – everything else we only recommend to people who indicate that their sonic preference matches the component’s sonic signature.
The Acapella Triolon Excalibur loudspeaker
