Kharma Midi Exquisites and Kharma subwoofer
 

The problems had a lot to do with imaging and clarity - images were blobby at best, and it was often hard to tell where a sound was coming from. There were difficulties with separation and back to front anomalies where bass notes and percussion notes would appear to come only from the plane of the speakers. There was also a 'fuzz' to the notes, that robbed them of their purity and seemed to add a whitish or brackish haze to everything.

But, besides just the physical aesthetic of these speakers - which look like they are in motion whether they are playing music or not - there is something about the midrange. It was not really noticeable, by these ears, when I was just spacing out, unlike most other superlative midranges I have encountered which drag you in unless you forcibly maintain discipline. But with just a little focus the sound just drew one into the music with a force that was unusually powerful. Like Neli said to me "you just want to jump into the music". And that was exactly what I was feeling.

I remember feeling this desire to 'jump into the music' much more often when I was younger and wasteful of brain cells. One of the things I personally strive for in systems I design is to recreate some of those intense feelings of musical enjoyment that came so easily back then. So the sound in this room was one of delightful discovery - though I have no idea what components contributed the most to this, shall I say it? drug-like effect. But knowing most of the components in this room, except the turntable, and knowing what good analog can do - I'd say it was the entire systems fault.

Legalize it! Oh, wait, it already is. But perhaps use it in a larger room.