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Tenor or Lamm hybrids for alternative rock ?

Am I barking up the wrong tree ?

I am looking for a new 2 channel system for a dedicated audio room that is 23Lx13Wx9H. My musical tastes are primarily alternative rock and alt-country with artists such as Radiohead, Ryan Adams, Muse, Wilco, Beck, White Stripes, Strokes, U2, Aimee Mann, PJ Harvey, Lucinda Williams, REM, Air, Stereolab etc ... monopolizing my CD player. Importantly, you see many are not "loud", head-banging types and I definitely don't listen to metal !

I have gone from looking at solid state equipment (Simaudio) to a sudden fascintation with hybrids: e.g. Tenor 150 Hps or 300 HP vs. Lamm M1.1, or M1.2, or M2.1 or 2.2. I guess that evolved as on this forum suggested I look at Kharma speakers and then I started reading a lot about these hybrid amps. The trouble is you rarely read about these being used for my tastes in music ... I have yet to had the opportunity to hear either the Tenor or Lamm equipment as there is no local dealer. (I live in an isolated small Canadian city). I am also still waiting to hear the Kharma speakers, as there are no Canadian dealers. I am hoping to get to NJ and MA this summer to get a chance to finally audition these hybrid amps. I was considering pairing these amps with some of the "lower" models of Kharma e.g. either the 2.2 or 3.2F. Yet, some have suggested that these Kharmas will not be appropriate for rock ... the thing is I feel people tend to lump rock, Metallica, and AC/DC together. You can see that I don't listen to that kind of stuff. So my real question is am I completely out to lunch and is this the wrong place to look for my musical interests ? If so, I could save a plane trip or two.

Thanks,

confused
thom_y

Showing 1 response by thom_y

thom_y OP
195 posts
 

Thanks for all of your responses ...

right now I don't have any of the components for this new system. In fact, I have resisted buying a high-end system until I could get a dedicated room. I saw no point in spending this kind of money and then not having a room with good acoustics or that was isolated to avoid disturbing the rest of the house. Hopefully, we will start construction on our reno this month and by three months I should have my audio room.

I agree some recordings are painful, but I am amazed how many alternative discs are very well recorded. In fact, of my collection of recent discs, I would say only a few are truly painful to listen to. On the other hand, some of the intentional distortion/noise etc can be at times too much for even me - regardless of the system.

In terms of front end, if I go the Tenor/Kharma route, I was considering the emm labs transport + DACC2 as a possibility.

Finally, I tried to find some info on the VR9's and curiously I can't find anything on the internet yet. It is listed on chambersaudio, but the Von Schweikert webpage doesn't have any news on it yet. Can you give me any details about the speaker ?
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