Big Karan amps

I will start off saying I am completely biased as we are the North American distributor for Karan Acoustics but I have been a audiophile for over 30 years, long before this ever became a business. I was looking for a new line of solid state amps to audition and the Karan intrigued me as they had outstanding reviews.

I have had most of them in my system (not the KA M 1200s) and am currently breaking in a set of KA M 650s on a pair of ribbon speakers as well (Piega). I have compared them to a number of other amps and thought very highly of them (no big surprise I liked them enough to want to carry them). They sound much different than class D and that would be a matter of personal preference. They are very musical and not overly analytical, useful when powering ribbons in my opinion. They have huge amounts of power, which translates into great bass control. The other amplifiers you suggest are wonderful, and I have heard some in comparison but certainly not all (and you should be cautious about anything I have to say). The build quality and fit and finish is superb, as long as you are ok with black. As Rtn1 notes they run very cool, I can't really get them to run even warm to touch.

I would add at this level I would never buy an amp of this cost without auditioning it my system.

One final note is that unfortunately, depending on the model, the age of the amp may be older than you think and thus you may not be hearing the most up to date sound Karan Acoustics has to offer.

If anyone has any questions drop me a note or I will try to respond on the post.

All the best

Gary

As always, the disclaimer that I am a dealer and the distributor for Karan Acoustics in North America.

Dev and Husk01

For what its worth I think there are two points to raise. The first is that, at least on the 650s, the posts are fairly substantial and I have had to sets of spades on them. I realize this is not optimal but possible. I also don't know for sure the size of spades you are talking about. The other consideration is that some cable companies make biwired cables where the amp side has only single ends and then split to biwire (crystal cable ultra and dreamline do for sure - I am not advocating anything just making you aware of this). Unfortunately this would not help you with the current cables. By the way Dev, it has been great chatting with you. Good luck with whatever way things go.

Brian (Essential Audio) Though I think I made it clear above, Westside Music and Cinema is now the distributor, not Avatar. We are looking into CES next year.

Finally Cappuccino, I am sorry to hear that no one ever contacted you. If you still have any interest I would be happy to try and make sure this happens but from the sounds of it you have already resolved your dilemma.

All the best

Gary

Dev

I will have to look into this and get back to you about it. I have measured the binding post widths (WBT) and it is 5-6 mm. I tried again and can get two spades in without an issue but that of course depends on the size of the spades. I will be in touch with Karan Acoustics as to any possible options.

I understand what you say about not changing wires but I have done the comparisson of separate sets of cables versus the single (still true biwire but not separate cables) crystal ultra and I could discern no difference. I suspect it has to do with the type of insulation used. I did look up the stealth and understand their take on the topic. I too look forward to you listening and garnering your thoughts.

Simon

The Bocchino spades I am not familiar with, but did look them up. They look very impressive, is the sound commensurate? Depending on the model they are 3.5 to 4.5 mm thick so this would definitely be an issue. I am going to see what options there are, as the KA M1200s are custom built.

I will post again when I know. If you have any questions drop me a note.

Thanks to all for their interest in Karan Acoustics

Gary

Simon

You are very welcome. The Karan will accept bananas. There is no option for a second set of binding posts.

Take care

Gary