I assume you are asking this question out of genuine curiosity (as opposed to, say, trying to discredit Talon products by posting an improper implication out of some unstated and self-serving interest). So I will give you some of my thoughts on your question. Up front I will say I am not affiliated in any way with Talon or any Talon dealer. I too have been a little puzzled by the recent Khorus sale prices since this speaker lists for $12600-14000 new (depending on when they were bought, finish, etc.). There is, however, a very high mark-up on most high-end gear (Talon or otherwise), and I see a lot of different speakers, amps, etc. selling for 50% or so of MSR (even new stuff like Genesis speakers and SF preamps being offered here on Audiogon). Thus, the handful of recent Khorus prices don't strike me as that unusual, especially for used/demo gear. I haven't seen any Khorus selling for $5000 as you claim, but I have seen some pairs selling for between $5800(firm) and $7500 over the past few months. Two or three of these were dealer demos, presumably being sold cheap to clear out last year's stock. I think there was also a dealer's dutch auction for two pairs of Khorus a few weeks ago, but as you know auction prices are not good indicators of fair-market value (especially for esoteric hi-fi gear). A few other Khoruses appeared to be offered for sale by private owners. I bought one of those pairs after a 4 hour audition. The seller told me his wife had found out how much spent on the speakers and when she got PO'ed, he had to sell them quickly. I'll add that I originally went to audition this person's Talon Roc subs and wasn't interested in buying the Khorus. But after spending a few hours with the Khorus I found they were much better in almost every respect than the speakers I had been using (Martin Logan reQuests). Therefore, I bought the Khorus along with the Rocs. I can't explain the other Khorus prices since I don't have enough info about the condition of the speakers, seller's motives, etc. My guess would be Talon is a new company, and people are hesitant to lay out a lot of cash for a product that hasn't yet been reviewed by one of the major rags. Accordingly, the audio-nervosas who bought last year's "hot product" and want to move on to something else this year are probably having to sell them cheap because the demand for the Khorus hasn't grown that strong yet. When demand goes up, as I'm sure it will, the prices will surely rise. There is also the possibility that the .com crash has forced some people to sell some of their newly aquired gear at a loss. Another factor could be the Khorus' glacially slow break-in -- a few of the Khorus owners may not have had the patience to wait 500 hours for these speakers to get into their true form. I've also noticed the Khorus are very sensitive to what feeds them; perhaps one or two people selling their Khorus may have found these speakers didn't work well in their systems, so they decided to sell the speakers rather than swap-out other components. In any case, I've had my Khorus for several months now, they're broken-in, and I think they are exceptional. I haven't noticed anything "wrong" with them, but I have notice a lot that's "right" with them -- particularly their ability to resolve low-level details (far better than the electrostatic reQuests, touted to be a "high resolution transducer" by ML), their bass performance, their sound-stage width, depth and layering (even with casual speaker placement), and their overall "naturalness" (for lack of a better word). They have speed and detail without being aggressive or dry. I will say their top end sounds a little different from other high-end speakers I've spent time with (ML, Dunlavy, Theil, B&W,...), and it took me a little while to get used to this. To my ears, the Khorus AT FIRST sounded ever so slightly "damped" (again for lack of a better word) in the top end. They never sounded rolled-off or slow up top. In fact, the Khorus are more detailed across the spectrum than any speaker I've owned or auditioned. Instead, it seemed as if the Khorus was muting the very last ring of decaying cymbals (even though the cymbals sounded just right otherwise). This could be partly or wholey gear-related; I haven't tried changing cables or other gear yet from my ML setup. Even so, after a few weeks of intensive listening, I didn't notice this any more. In fact, now the Khorus' top end sounds very natural to me, and I've come to savor the silence they cast between notes. This seems to be an experience shared by some of the others who have owned or audutioned the Khorus. For instance, there were two reviews of the Khorus by people at StereoTimes.com, and I believe both reviewers noted what they called a slight lack of top end "air" (not exactly what I'd call it, but it gets at the same quality). I understand both reviewers ended up buying the Khoruses they reviewed to serve as their reference speakers. If there were anything "seriously" wrong with the Khorus, I think these skilled reviewers would have uncovered it (they certainly wouldn't have bought these speakers). Soundstage.com also reviewed the Khorus very favorably and found no short-comings. In addition, Harmonic Technologies used the Khorus to demonstrate their top-line cables (Magic?) at CES this year. HT cables are revealing, and HT surely would not have chosen to use the Khorus to promote HT products if these speakers had any short-comings. I also understand Jeff Rowland -- who makes some exquisite amps -- uses the Khorus as his reference speaker (I haven't confirmed this). All of these folks have high-trained ears, they have all undoubtedly auditioned many different high-end speakers, and they all surely have had the opporunity to buy other speakers in the Khorus' price range (and beyond). I doubt these people have all overlooked "something seriously wrong" with the Khorus. In any case, I think the Talon Khorus are wonderful, and in my humble opinion if you can buy a pair for $6k that would be a steal (no, mine aren't for sale). They're not perfect, but they are as close as I have gotten in my home. These days, I actually can't wait to get home from work so I can power them up. No speaker has had this effect on me before. And isn't this what it's all about? Of course, this is only my limited experience. I know everyone has a different set of ears and a different set of sound qualities they seek in audio gear. I too would like to hear from the handful of "former" Khorus owners to hear why they decided to sell. And maybe some of the other "still" Khorus owners can tell us what the like and don't like about these "supposedly fine speakers." Don
