Adventures in amplification

[Fran]

Well you may wear DaveF. Hope she gives you many happy hours!

[fergus]

Nice one Dave! Sit back and enjoy the music!

[Ciaran]

After such long deliberations the solution established itself very quickly! It'll be great to stop thinking hi-fi and start enjoying music!

[Rocker]

Nice one Dave, congrats and well done. Now just forget about the hardware and start enjoying the music.

[DaveF]

Thank you gents. It has been a frustrating experience but as someone else said to me, it's when it all clicks that we are reminded of why we do this silly hobby.

The Leben has a stonkingly good headphone jack on it also. The lads over on head-fi recommend it. Now I need to go looking for some good headphones.

/worf

[Seán]

Ah congratulatiuons Dave, now you can go back to enjoying music, well done.

[DaveF]

My quest continues in trying to find the right amplication for my Kharmas and today I took home a pair of Kharma MP150 monos. Now I do like the Leben CS300 a lot and with recordings that have smaller arrangements, accoustic and voices etc, it is superb in the midrange and very sweet sounding. It was such a better match for the Kharmas speakers compared to what I had before that I immediately snapped up the Leben. I dont regret it one bit and over the last few months it has given me immense enjoyment.
However due to the broad range in music that I listen to I have begun to be more and more aware of the 'limitations' of Leben. In particular the frequency extremes are a slight issue for me. The bass is obviously more rounded off and not extended and taut and the same with the treble. In big orchestral work is where I tend to notice this and with only 10watts the dynamics close in a bit too as you'd expect. Now dont get me wrong it still sounds lovely but you know this hifi game...........
The other issue I have and it's something I've rattled on before here is this treble resonance/shimmering or high frequency beaming ( I dont know what to call it actually) that Ive experienced ever since valves have entered my system, be it with the previous Ushers or the Kharmas. Every valve amp that has entered my system, and there has been a few, has yielded the same results. With the Leben this issue was drastically reduced but its still there on some recordings. It's important to note that these recordings where never an issue before with the Gamut and Krell amps.
So I began to ask myself, have I still not found the right amp for the Kharma's or is it the natural distortion that accompany valves just not agreeing with me?
When I heard that there was a pair of Kharma MP150 monos in Cloney's I decided to do a bit of research on them. Rated between 100-150watts per channel, dynamics surely would not be a problem and their frequency response is as flat as a pancake, in fact they measure flatter than anything else Ive seen. Now we know that measurements dont tell the full story of how something will sound but it was this aspect that caught my eye. I wanted to try something that was even handed across all the frequency range and doesnt emphasise and part of it. Certainly the reviews of these amps were glowing and in light of this and the issues above, it was a no brainer to take them home on trial.

First impressions are that despite their very small size they actually weigh a fair bit but you certainly wouldnt think that such little boxes are capable of outputing anything close to 100 watts and I was quite eager to find out what it would be like going from 10 to 100 watts. I dont have a preamp at home so I could only evaluate them with CD as my Opus21 has a variable output. I also borrowed a pair of Kharma XLR ICs since I've no XLR cables of my own (I was afraid to ask how much those cost!).
First test disc was just plucked at random from the shelf to warm up the system. Sibelius Symphony No.2 by Leonard Berstein/VPO. What was immediately apparent was that there was no evidence of a 100 Watt powerhouse at work here, the music was controlled with the right finese and delicacy where required. The sound was VERY even and VERY clean with oceans of detail. From the bass to the treble, nothing stood out, no party tricks, just as the reviews alluded to. When the big cresendos did come, they were executed with such speed and with little overhang. The dynamics that these monos are capable off are astounding. I went diving for the remote a few times to keep the volume down. I just hadnt experienced this extra headroom since the days of the Gamut and Krell.
Next up was the dreaded recording of some Italian Oboe Concertos, Naxos 8.554772. I knew this was the disc that would immediately tell me if the treble resonance was still there. I had intended to just listen to track 4 as it was the killer track before but without thinking about it I found myself listening to the entire recording. No evidence of any treble issues despite this being a bright recording anyway. All positive signs so far and to be honest I didnt expect these amps to sound this good.
Currently playing is Shelby Lynne's Just a Little Lovin. I didnt say it before but I couldnt listen to this in the past as I found her vocals far too dominant and forward in the mix. Not so with these Kharma monos. I'm enjoying this recording for the first time now.
Next up will be some of the big stuff from Mahler and Widor. Looking foward to that as will the neighbours no doubt.

I dont want to jump the gun as I've sometimes got my hopes up too early before when evaluating equipment but the signs are very positive so far. One important question will be do I miss the magic that the Leben had, and despite the talents of these Kharma mono's, will they ultimately leave me cold? They certainly dont come cheap and it would leave me the problem of sorting out a preamp for the TT but I'd settle for leaving that for another day I think.

To be continued.......

[cybot]

Lovely write up Dave. Sincerely hope it works out for you :)

[jaybee]

I think Si had those for a while with his Kharmas...

Perhaps it was the wadia-kharma-kharma combo, but I remember the sound as being impressive but cold, even brittle at times....

That said I do weigh in on the side of a little valve warmth being a good thing, for me it helps the hifi step back and the music forward...

Even with solid state I would take a little warmth in a trade off against outright technical supremacy... My old B&K pre/power was a great one for that!!! And I don't think I could live with a Cyrus (or at least not the last one I heard..!!)

That said those little monos if they suit your ear were mighty impressive...

[Diapason]

You're right JB, except I think you heard them on one of my 'bad' days (power/atmospheric conditions/angry gods/whatever) and brittleness was and is the problem on the bad days. When things were good and working properly they were great, although they certainly couldn't be considered warm. Open, clean and effortless, yes, but maybe slightly dry, and I can cheerfully imagine they wouldn't be for everyone. I kinda love that really clean and detailed sound when it's done right.