Better Amps For Talon Khorus CAT JL2 or Tenor 75?


Anyone have experience: better Amps for Talon Khorus X MKII
CAT JL2 or TENOR OTL 75wi or wp.

Thanks.
razen

Showing 3 responses by justacoder

For what it is worth, I agree 100% with Mike at Father & Son Audio. I heard both Talon rooms at CES - and they more or less sounded exactly as he described them (I did not bother to report on the Joule Electra room in our trip report - the sound was neither remarkable nor overly dissapointing). Mike has much more experience than I with the Talons - and even though the 'Tenors and the Joules' (sounds like a hit TV show... :-) are two of the finest lines of tubed amplifiers in the whole blamed world - the Talon's bass was just not very present, detailed nor dynamic at CES and really did sound like it wanted something to drive it that can as tightly control the bass as, as... (I really wanted to put something humourous here but I just think it would get me into a lot of trouble - so use your imagination... :-) one of the better solid state amps.

- Mike (Audio Federation)
That is a pretty darn convincing argument, Mike - though one *could* point out that those solidstate amps (the Levinson 33 and Halcro) are two of the more laid back and boring (Oops, I mean neutral :-) monoblocks out there (compared to the sweet Accuphase A-50s, the natural Lamm M1.1s, the PRaTly Edge Signatures)... no wonder you liked the Tenors (one of the most liveliest amps of any genre/species) so much more on the Wilsons.

It must have been like walking out into the Spring sunshine after working a looooong Winter in a basement somewhere...

Sure would like to just hear the Talons driven to their fullest potential, or the Rockports for that matter. Hmmmmm... hope to see a lot of those 300 watt Tenors at the next show :-)

Sorry about all the parenthetical statements in that one sentence paragraph - I know it can be kind of challenging to the brains parsing skills (it was certainly easier for this old brain to write than to read :-)
Hey! I think those pyrimids are awesome looking! Anybody with ears can see, I mean anyone with eyes can see they are so modern and cool... :-) I really do think that are a work of art. I think it is easier to agree on what sounds good than what looks beautiful - esp. given the other threads on 'most beautiful...' and 'most ugly...'. Funny how that is.

I can offer up a number of explanations of why the sound in the Edge room did not show off the Signature monoblocks or the Reference monoblocks to their best effect (a number of the Shunyata Anacondas and the Audio Aero Capitole in that room were ours), but I think a more fruitful discussion might revolve around amp/speaker synergys:

It is my belief and experience that amp A will sound better with some speakers than amp B, and visa-versa, amps A and B both being of relative high-quality but different designs.

Now, one might argue that, on a hypothetical speaker presenting an infinitely easy load with a perfectly flat response curve, etc. - that one can rank amps and have one at the top that can be recognized as the very best.

Or, one can argue that on a particular speaker, amps can be ranked as better and best for that particular speaker.

But a single amp that ranks best for all possible speakers? That, my friend, is one helluva amp! :-)

I think you are saying that speakers presenting any kind of a decent impedance curve, like the Kharmas do (and the Talon is supposed to :-) will sound best with the Tenors. You may be right (the Kharmas sure sounded excellent!); I am not intimately familiar with the Tenors (tho I have heard them on pipedreams, churchills, hyperions, antares, talons, midi-grandes - but unfortunately missed them on the vandy 5s - all under show conditions).

Unfortunately some very nice speakers are hard to drive, and so on balance the Accuphase, Edge, Lamm etc. amps will sound better than the Tenor 75s.

The Acapella Campaniles, for example, are on the borderline drivability-wise - we love the Edge Signature monoblocks with them (I am not sure you have heard them in an optimal listening situation such as ours (if you are ever in Boulder, let us know) - they do sound better to our ears than the Tenor/Kharma at CES with respect to the attributes you mention, but I realize that your particular situation is likewise optimized to a high degree), but we will be trying the Lamm ML1.1s tomorrow and we have driven them and got excellent results with a 50 watt push-pull Audio Aero Capitole. You are making me think that if we get bored before we can get our hands on a Tenor 300 that we should try the 75s :-) Couldn't hurt, as they say :-) Uh, Neli...!

-Mike (Audio Federation)