my Talon Khorus sounds bad

I listened to Talon speakers that were broken in and thought that they sounded the same as your desciption,compressed.Their sound reminded me of the portable transistor radios that were popular back in the 60's. I was not impressed and cannot understand what all the hype is about!

You may want to think about dumping the Krell. A $14k (retail) pair of speakers deserve better than that integrated amp.

Don't know about the Talons, but with your equipment, I would certainly move up from the Nordost Blue Heaven. If you want to stay with Nordost (very "quick" cable, but perhaps not the best for bass fullness) I would try SPM or Red Dawn Rev. 2 (not the original). This may open up the sound. Also, if you listen at high levels, does your amp have enough power to drive the Talons without "running out of steam"? Happy Tunes!

300i is great as a Rock'n'roll amp and good enough to drive Khorus. Rega Planet seems to be lifeless for any kind of music either electronic or acoustic imo. It's got plastic body and pocket CD-player mechanism besides. I still do not know how you can tweak plastic bodies. You can literally "downgrade" Planet to a better source.

Have you tried repositioning your speakers? As previous poster had implied with suggesting the room correction devices, your room has more influences in the way your whole system sounds than changing any part of your amplification chain, IMHO. It is my belief that properly positioned average speaker system will sound better than the top end speakers in a poor room, improperly positioned.

Before you give up on the speakers, try moving them out away from your walls.