Talon Khorus Speakers

I own the Khorus. It is a great speaker that seems to work well with a wide variety of amplifiers. They has a soundstaging and imaging ability that I have never heard in a speaker before. They are also able to produce inner detail like no other speaker I've heard. The combination makes this speaker incredibly holographic. And they do this while remaining extremely musical. I replaced Von Schweikert VR6s with them, and have never looked back. They have a very long break-in period, and don't sound good out-of-the-box. There are now two excellent reviews out on them at Stereotimes and Soundstage. There are also many posts about them on this site, so I'm not going to duplicate what has already been said. As far as the subs goes, I have never felt that I have needed it for bass in my room. I get floor and wall shaking bass out of them. A friend of mine has two subs. His room is larger. He says that the use of the subs improves the speakers because they no longer have to deal with the low frequency extension. When you use the subs, you have to block the rear port. This supposedly improves the performance of the Khorus from the mid- bass up. That is the only reason I might do it. I haven't tried it, but I probably will, given my friend's enthusiasm about them. The use of one or two is dependent on room size. He started with one, and bought a second.

Hi Plato! I also owned the Inner Sound Eros not long ago. I agree that they are a great speaker, and probably one of the best values in audio. I prefer the Talons, though. I don't like the "light" (you call it immediacy) that electrostats and ribbons portray. I also found the narrow listening window of the Eros difficult to live with. Your listening biases are very apparent, since all of your choices are those types of speakers. I drive my Talons with an Art Audio Jota, which seems to work really well. I tried a variety of amps with the Eros. The ones that worked really well were the Aronov 9100s and the ARC VT100 Mk2. The Spectron 1KW was okay, but too digital sounding. The Cary 805C (with the KR rectifier tube) was the worst combination with the Eros. Given your relationship with Stereotimes, you must have access to a good many amplifiers and equipment. Which amps have worked well with the Eros? Also, you always seem to respond to threads about the Khorus, but not much else. You have also responded in some cases very negatively. Is there something about Talon that bothers you? As far as the world's best speaker, is anybody really qualified to make that judgement? Comparing a $14,000 product to a $70,000 product is "a joke". The Talon Khorus, as with any speaker, is a going to appeal to some people and not to others. Some of the "rah rah" for certain types of equipment on this site sounds like high schoolers rooting for their home team, while throwing rocks and bottles at the opposition. Which brings up another point....it seems like nobody auditions much anymore. This used audio equipment market has generated a whole new customer base....those that buy products for thousands of dollars without ever hearing the equipment they are buying, and do so based on other people's opinions. What caused this to happen? The high price of audio equipment? The availability of exotic components via the internet? The limited number of dealers and market for this type of electronic gear? Given the subjectivity of people's opinions based on their own listening preferences, this seems like a risky way to invest in any particular component. Sounds like a topic for another thread.