Kharma Exquisite Reference vs Midi... opinions pls

I agree that the effortless aspect is a pursuit and just has to be heard to really appreciate. Makes me drool just thining about it!

It would have been great if the Reference with an external crossover had some volume controls on it. I have a friend who had a custom crossover built, although for a completely different speaker, with two volume controls (one for the bass and one for the mids and highs). It helped a lot to control the bass. The only downside is that recordings are equalized differently so depending how anal a person is will determine how often a person gets up an adjust the volume controls. :)

I think the bass in the reference is excellent. It was not an aspect that I really focused on when comparing the Midis vs the Reference. Mainly because they were in different environments and it would have been tough to make a fair comparison. But the next time I have the opportunity to hear both in the same room I will. Now that has me curious about it!

Hopefully you can get a chance to hear and and judge for yourself. If the bass is to your liking then maybe a little more room tweaking would address the boominess if it existed. Because if effortless is what you are seeking then the Reference can certainly do it.

Thanks for your response Bob. Scale and that ultimate effortlessness is _exactly_ what I'm after.

You raise a good point about the bass differences. In fact, its the one area that most concerns me about moving to the Refs.

The Midi's have an incredibly tight, articulate, yet low bass. I am concerned the bigger woofer on the Reference might not be as tight or articulate (though they'd probably go significantly lower considering the increased cabinet volume, albeit not so in the spec sheets).

You're probably right about the room having a bigger impact on the overall sound than anything else. With the Midi's I do currently enjoy a surprisingly flat frequency response from around 25Hz all the way to around 10kHz (where I start seeing a gentle roll off).

Outside of a potentially slightly more bloated bass with the Reference though, I don't think I'll see too much of a difference with respect to in-room frequency response considering both the ceramic mid-range and the diamond tweeter drivers are identical between the Midi and the Reference.

I also have the Exquisite Midis and have heard the Reference 1A & 1D in a couple of different settings. My room is approximately 14 x 22 and if I had a bigger room I would consider them also. There are a few aspects that I could think of off the top of head that provide insite to the major differences:

1) The 1A/1D have more of an ease of (effotless) presentation. The one aspect I really love about them.

2) The bass presentation is different. The bigger driver moves more air (in my mind) and thus creates a different/more of an impact.

3) Based on #2, the amp choices seem to be easier since the Midis would seem to benefit from having a didicated lower frequecy amp. (I am only speculating here as I am currently trying to determine if similar bass impact can be achieved by trying different configurations)

4) The room size and treatments will be a large aspect in dictating sonic differences and performance. Depending on how your room measures sonically now, it may (probably) will have to change.

These are just a few off the top of my head, and of course my own opinion (FWIW). Hopefuly someone else can provide some insight.