Talon khorus vs. Nola Viper iia

There is really only one Khorus speaker to own if you want to experience the full extent of what this speaker can do: the Khorus X mk II. I've owned no fewer than 7 pair of Talon speakers and until I owned this set with the CMRC crossover, it was a labor of love and persistence, not always rewarded. The crossover provides the magic. The speakers deliver everything you read about in descriptions of high quality, highly musical speakers including excellent bass, a smooth and extended high end, realistic, musical mid-range response, and a life-sized soundstage. Having owned this speaker since 2005, other brands have come and gone and I've spent some time in high end shops and I have yet to come away with the feeling that I need to trade or sell them or attempt an upgrade. The Khorus X mk II is really tough to beat considering what you might pay for a pair on the used speaker market, and especially considering what you'd have to pay for a new pair of high end speakers of similar quality.

"The Khorus is a mess of a speaker. No bass, a muffled and distant midrange. Serious phase issues. Everything sounds like a blanket was thrown over them. Have to be cranked to max to sound good and by then you are deaf."

Interesting, not what I hear. The Talons work well with SS like Sim Audio but my Pass Labs X-250 was not a good match at all so you just cannot make a blanket statement about them working better with SS. I also own the older Alon V MKII speakers and they sound better with tubes but I also do run a SS Museatex CAS-10 100wpc SS amp but with a fantastic preamp (I built it). It all comes down to system matching. The Talons are a excellent value but are also heavy so hard to resell. The Alons also seem to have a low resale value but set up correctly are fantastic speakers. I heard the newer Alons forget the model buy they list for around $25K. They were faster then my older Alons, a little softer sounding, more refined, less bass output.

Well as a long term Talon owner I can say the following. The original khorus is somewhat flawed in that it needs a good room, well damped and setup to sound good... not great but at least good. With some work via room correction you can get what I consider very good sound out of them. Better then most anything under 5k which is where they sell today. Yes I have owned a pair of the Alon's some years back but to be fair they were not the Vipers so I cannot make a direct comparison for you.

I have also owned the Talon Paragrin Mk II and can say first hand they did in fact improve the cross over, bass and mid-range with the upgraded version of that speaker (same basic drivers as the Kohrus without the super tweeter) so the comments are correct in that the speaker did improve over time. However from talking to other owners of various versions it seems that there was a very clear cut off point by which point more $ in did not get you a great deal more out of the speakers. Comparing the original Kohrus to the Paragrin Mk II, I would suggest the mk II is a good buy, but will cost you a good bit more then the original. You should also be aware that you can upgrade any of the Kohrus line to the current crossover and basically get to the last iteration of the speaker Mk II +. Its 1600.00 or so to buy the latest crossover but again the original speakers are selling between 2-4k these days while the Mk II seem to be going around 5-6k. If you can get them cheap and like them your all good. If not room correction or an upgrade to the cross over will help things along.

I have three systems in the house and can honestly say I have wanted to give up in these old birds and have put them up for sale more then once. Funny thing is I often find myself sitting in front of them tapping my feet to the music.

They are and or can be a chore to setup and the need some help with room correction or acoustic treatment... if not a bit of both. That being said they really are much better then what they get on the used market these days. And are hands down a bargain in terms of the used price the carry.

My Rel subwoofers have great bass, but that doesn't make them a good speaker, just good at bass.

What I can suggest is that anybody even considering this speaker is to listen and listen long and do your research. When the designer of the speaker admits all the mistakes with the design and implementation and reports that they are flawed speakers, that to me says a lot.

I have not heard them, and I also never said they didn't sound good, just reported what the designer admitted. There were many changes, apparently often haphazard and untested prior to unleashing the changes on existing and new owners - only requiring even more changes The one thing nice was they were designed by an individual who seemed very humble and open to admitting his mistakes and the major flaws he reported in the speakers. It would be nice to see this more often, and not just when it's time to sell a new and improved model.

The company has a storied past. If one loves the sound, they should buy them (if they keep speakers for many, many years), as is true with all equipment. Just don't complain to anybody when you can't re-sell them or can only get pennies on the dollar you paid for them, after already getting a 75% discount off of list price when you bought them.

The Khorus has some of the best bass i've ever heard, fast and deep. Have you ever owned the speaker, I have. For the price they are selling for now there a steal.

Funny thing is that there was a reveiw of the Khorus' when they came out, driven by class D amps. The "professional" reviewer gushed all over them and the amps.

Less than a year later both designers reported that the designs of these reviewed products were flawed and hence the poor performance that consumers were reporting. Seems funny the professional reviewed raved about both flawed products - makes one wonder if the "professional reviewers" have any integrity whatsoever or are just plain old deaf.

The Khorus is a mess of a speaker. No bass, a muffled and distant midrange. Serious phase issues. Everything sounds like a blanket was thrown over them. Have to be cranked to max to sound good and by then you are deaf.

I would do a lot of research on the Khorus. From what I recall, there were several iterations on this speaker and some had pretty significant flaws that were discussed by the original designer in published articles - hence so many iterations. I am not pointing this out to you to disuade looking at these speakers, just perhaps something you should be aware of.

Alon (now known as Nola) made some great speakers for many years. I am not 100% clear on the differences between the Alon speakers and the Nola speakers and whether they follow the same tradition.

It seems surprising to me that of the two speaker brands you seem to have it narrowed down to, they both have interesting and somewhat storied company backgrounds. But that may be why both products can be had at what seem like very good prices.