Kora Amps

The Kora Cosmos Monos (100W) drove the B/W801s at CES 01 and left me with one of the most memorable system auditions so-far.
What struck most was the musicality - these amps really have emotion (even on digital material). Everything sounds so spot on, I forgot to dissect what was happening in the midrange, base, soundstage,etc. If that's not enough, these amps are visually stunning and are dirt-cheap by comparison to any of the competion. These products are jewels.

I just got a Kora Mercury and actually attached it to my second system thinking that my Mono-block SETs would sound better with the 93dB Sonatas. This weekend, I got curious and hooked the Mercury (40 PP-EL84) to the Sonatas. Wow, much greater bass control, smooth mid-range, and much better soundstage/imaging. So, I highly recommend!

I had the top of the line Kora pre and monoblock although I only had them for a short time so I can't comment on reliability issue. I too bought from Steve Davis at HiFi Farm. Briefly, I can only second what Jadem6 posted about Steve. There is nobody I have done business with in 15 years of this (habit?) in whom I trust more than Mr. Davis.

When I upgraded speakers from Von Schweikert VR6s I mentioned some very slight problems I was experiencing with my set up and Steve said was my Krell ksa300s that I was hearing. He recommended the Kora's and the problems cleared immediately. I know these two amps have very very different design approaches, however, the specific problems I was hearing were cleared up by the Koras and I got a glorious midrange and an even more liquid sound too boot.

I moved fairly soon after (and I have a tendency to change equipment) and to a much larger room. I required more power than the Kora's could produce and thus traded them in to Steve and received a very fair credit on them.

The Kora's were very pleasing and I cannot recommend Steve Davis highly enough.

mwb@tranquility.net

I have some experience with a Kora amp. The Mercury 40 watt integrated. I feel the sound of the amp is very good for the price. It is very flexible and functional with its preamp outs and processer inputs. I drive a pair of Acoustic Energy Aegis One's and can't believe how good the sound is. I even hooked the amp up in my home theater system to a pair of Duntech Princess speakers which are similar to the Dunlavy SC-IV's and it literally trashed a Bryston 4B-ST in imaging, soundstage and it's ability to let the music come through. Of course it wasn't as powerful or dynamic but it's sonic attributes are right up there with the best. Since most of their amps, except for the triodes are based on multiples of EL-84's, I'm sure they would all sound similar, which I think is exceptional. Hope this helps. Don't know anything about the dealers.

I've had the Kora Eclipes pre-amp for three years now. I realize your looking for information on the amp, but my experience has been great. A very well built unit, I've experienced no problems at all. I would suggest talking to Steve Davis at Hi-Fi Farm, yes he's a dealer of Kora, but I value his opinion more than anyone I know in the bussiness. I think he'll give you the staight scoop. If Kora isn't right for you he'll be sure to honestly tell you. If you ask he would give you other ideas. Kora and Steve, they work well for me. J.D.