hi Guys; this looks like a fun discussion......so i'll give my Tenor-lovin 2 cents.......
it may be interesting how the Firebirds do when they are completely mature as a design.....in a proper room. i was in the Firebird room at CES early on Friday morning and Mike had still been tweaking with the Firebirds.....trying to get the bass to behave and integrate.
then on Sunday the bass was much better. turns out that Rives Audio (www.rivesaudio.com) installed a mid and low bass equalizer called a PARC in the room to reduce/eliminate the bass nodes. the bass was still possibly not perfect.....but these Firebirds are still prototypes.....so it is hard to fix any specific cause for that. in my experience with other speakers.....lots of ss current will possibly tighten bass but at a critical loss of bass texture and nuance compared to the Tenor......and to me live acoustic bass sounds more like what the Tenors do than what ss current might do.
so 'can' the Tenors be the ideal amp for the Khorus X or Firebird?
i'll answer that by describing my experience with my previous speakers, the Wilson Watt/Puppy 6s. i had a few very well respected ss 'muscle' amps on the WP6's.....the Levinson #33 and the Halcro DM-58.....and another couple of relatively high-current tube amps....the Atmasphere MA2 MkII.2 and the Red Rose Amp 1. after trying the Tenor on the WP6, it was crystal clear that none of those very nice amps were in any way close to how the Tenors did bass with the WP6....i heard texture and definition that made things sound real. did the bass performance move as much air.....maybe not.....but it sounded more like what i would hear live. the speed and 'jump' factor were there on the Tenors.....but not with quite the 'hifi' impact of other higher current amps. the Tenors presented an overall believable picture compared to pieces here and there.
so in comparing the WP6 to the Khorus X or Firebird......the Khorus speakers are certainly much more OTL friendly and should be less likely to benefit from ss amps than the WP6. the WP6 is notorius for liking lots of current.....which i certainly had with the amps i tried.....yet the Tenors were the best that i had heard on the WP6.
this may come down to taste.....what flavor of bass do you want? if you are looking for "Rock Show" bass.....ss might be a good choice.
personally, i'll choose naturalness over impact every time.
when you add in the fact that the top to bottom natural clarity of the Tenor is simply not availible in any other amp i have heard it becomes an easy choice.
my point here is not that any of the choices of the above posters aren't excellent or that they might not do certain things that that poster might prefer with the Khorus speakers......but if the question is what amp is the overall best amp with the Khorus X speakers......IMHO it is the Tenor.
it may be interesting how the Firebirds do when they are completely mature as a design.....in a proper room. i was in the Firebird room at CES early on Friday morning and Mike had still been tweaking with the Firebirds.....trying to get the bass to behave and integrate.
then on Sunday the bass was much better. turns out that Rives Audio (www.rivesaudio.com) installed a mid and low bass equalizer called a PARC in the room to reduce/eliminate the bass nodes. the bass was still possibly not perfect.....but these Firebirds are still prototypes.....so it is hard to fix any specific cause for that. in my experience with other speakers.....lots of ss current will possibly tighten bass but at a critical loss of bass texture and nuance compared to the Tenor......and to me live acoustic bass sounds more like what the Tenors do than what ss current might do.
so 'can' the Tenors be the ideal amp for the Khorus X or Firebird?
i'll answer that by describing my experience with my previous speakers, the Wilson Watt/Puppy 6s. i had a few very well respected ss 'muscle' amps on the WP6's.....the Levinson #33 and the Halcro DM-58.....and another couple of relatively high-current tube amps....the Atmasphere MA2 MkII.2 and the Red Rose Amp 1. after trying the Tenor on the WP6, it was crystal clear that none of those very nice amps were in any way close to how the Tenors did bass with the WP6....i heard texture and definition that made things sound real. did the bass performance move as much air.....maybe not.....but it sounded more like what i would hear live. the speed and 'jump' factor were there on the Tenors.....but not with quite the 'hifi' impact of other higher current amps. the Tenors presented an overall believable picture compared to pieces here and there.
so in comparing the WP6 to the Khorus X or Firebird......the Khorus speakers are certainly much more OTL friendly and should be less likely to benefit from ss amps than the WP6. the WP6 is notorius for liking lots of current.....which i certainly had with the amps i tried.....yet the Tenors were the best that i had heard on the WP6.
this may come down to taste.....what flavor of bass do you want? if you are looking for "Rock Show" bass.....ss might be a good choice.
personally, i'll choose naturalness over impact every time.
when you add in the fact that the top to bottom natural clarity of the Tenor is simply not availible in any other amp i have heard it becomes an easy choice.
my point here is not that any of the choices of the above posters aren't excellent or that they might not do certain things that that poster might prefer with the Khorus speakers......but if the question is what amp is the overall best amp with the Khorus X speakers......IMHO it is the Tenor.