Cables for Tenor/Kharma/Capitole MKI

Bob, my comment about the drivers in my Kharmas vis a vis Mike's was only to inform you that ALL of my drivers are different than those in Mike's not to insinuate in any way that mine are better than Mike's (since I know you have heard them lately with the same Tenor amps I have).

Hey whatever floats yer boat is what I always say when it comes to audio. Right now, my boat is floatin as well as I can ever ask it to. (I just hope I don't hit an iceberg!).

I hope to get by to see you at CES! Will Andy be showing with you (if so with what? Antares? Miras?) or are you just going to be using your Rockports?

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.

Avnut, the reason I have the Kharma/Tenor combo is that I listen to MANY different types of music and, to my ears, they do ALL genres exceptionally well. For example, last night I listened to large scale classical (Dallas Wind Symphony), blues (Muddy Waters), funky soul (Tower of Power and Liquid Soul), pop (Kenny Loggins new CD), jazz (Al DiMeola, Tom Harrell, Jeremy Pelt), folk (Mae Moore) and big band (GRP Big Band). How did it sound? Well, to me, it was HUGE, had an analog like physical "thereness", yet it was delicate, spacious, lifelike, tonally accurate, smooth, the list of superlatives TO ME goes on and on. But, YMMV.

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)

Bob, I guess we will have to agree to disagree. I never made any absolute statements about the Kharmas (or any other speaker) - just stated MY opinion. I am surprised you like the Rockports as I do too. But, as my post indicated, my post and the opinions stated therein are based on MY tastes and listening preferences. Also, your statement about the Kharmas is made without having heard the 30mm diamond tweeter, the new midrange driver and my woofer (which are different than Mikel's whose system you have heard with the Tenor 300s). Unless you want your ears to bleed, my Kharmas have as much pop as I could ever want.

As Brian noted, whatever speaker YOU like IS the best - period!