Kharma CRM 3.2F vs. Avalon Eidolon and Diamond

You tell them Frank. At least compare apples to apples. Frank, did you end up getting the Midi's?

I have been listening to the Midis that were at CES for about two months and they are incredible -- paired with these Tenor amps and the Meitner digital gear, FOR MY TASTES, it's hard to believe it can get any better. The importer is sending me a new pair of Midi-Grands with the Enigma upgrade (I know, it sounds silly, a "mystery" upgrade). My friends and colleagues who have heard this upgrade have all said it is worth the price of admission - we shall see (or hear as the case may be).

How is your system these days?

As a dealer for Kharma, I will not tell you my thoughts on the Eidolons. What I will share are the experiences of a customer who had the Eidolon's without the diamond tweeter and the Kharma 3.2 CRM's. He was never happy with the Eidolons. He felt the crossover points were very noticable and there was an extremely noticable bloat problem. He also noted that the midrange sounded thin, dry and lean in comparison to his 3.2's. He felt the 3.2s had a bigger soundstage side to side as well as front to back and even though the 3.2's are only a two way, they had superior bass to that of the Eidolons.

The diamond tweeter is quite a wonderful upgrade, but it cannot solve the problems he heard.

Personally, I do not think comparing the Eidolon Diamonds to the 3.2s is fair to the Eidolons. The 3.2s are in a class by themselves.

Now that Focal is touting the newer berylium dome tweeters, does anyone think that Kharma will re-engineer their speakers for the newer generation of tweeters? Also I heard that Focal will soon stop selling raw drivers and concentrate solely on JM labs. BTW, as a Diamond owner (anfd former Eidolon owner)- let me say that the Diamond is a completely new product- very different than the Eidolon. Different tweeter, woofer, internal wiring, bracing, crossover. Don't assume that the Diamond is simply an Eidolon with a diamond tweeter upgrade. Read the review of the Eidolon in the Feb. issue of HFNRR (Martin Colloms). The Diamond is the finest real world speaker I have heard.

Frank, I am in audio envy! I did order the Meitner and really looking forward to getting that in and comparing to the AA Capitole II. I have been concentrating on a turntable as that is what I have been told to buy from my wife. I guess I can live with those kind of demands. Finding out that the choice is as difficult as the other gear. After researching and hearing a couple more I am getting the options narrowed down. So for now I am just imagining that the speakers and amps are here for now.