FWIW, I have a thread in which I give my quick impressions of many speakers I auditioned. Here's what I wrote about my Kharma audition:
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Back in the day when they became something of the new rage among well heeled audiophiles, I'd heard several models, including in one gentelman's super high end set up. They impressed me with a combination of transparency, smoothness, richness, soundstaging...almost the whole ballgame. But overall I found the tone just a bit too much toward the "dark" side to really warm up to them.
Nonetheless a dealer suggested I listen to a used pair of Kharma CRM 3.2 FE speakers that he had for sale. I researched Kharma again and got quite excited at the prospect of owning a pair - great looks, good size for my room, wonderful high end pedigree in terms of construction, reputation etc. And it was a newer model, so I wondered what the Kharma sound was at this point.
What I heard again was that recognizable Kharma sound. For the size, the 3.2 threw a huge, transparent soundstage with full-bodied, rich images. The transparency and detail was superbly natural and unforced - effortlessly untangling the layers of sparkling guitars on, for instance, Johnny Cash's Solitary Man and I Won't Back Down, and making each distinct. Never with ear fatigue.
Unfortunately I found it veered a bit too much in to the "polite" terrifory, and the sound lost some of the excitement I was familiar with. The tone was also, as before, a bit too into the darkish territory for me. Finally, the bass wasn't nearly as tonal and controlled as I'd like. It was a Big Fat Bottom of a sound, probably great for filling out a big room. Unfortunately they were played in a room that was no doubt too small for them.
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Back in the day when they became something of the new rage among well heeled audiophiles, I'd heard several models, including in one gentelman's super high end set up. They impressed me with a combination of transparency, smoothness, richness, soundstaging...almost the whole ballgame. But overall I found the tone just a bit too much toward the "dark" side to really warm up to them.
Nonetheless a dealer suggested I listen to a used pair of Kharma CRM 3.2 FE speakers that he had for sale. I researched Kharma again and got quite excited at the prospect of owning a pair - great looks, good size for my room, wonderful high end pedigree in terms of construction, reputation etc. And it was a newer model, so I wondered what the Kharma sound was at this point.
What I heard again was that recognizable Kharma sound. For the size, the 3.2 threw a huge, transparent soundstage with full-bodied, rich images. The transparency and detail was superbly natural and unforced - effortlessly untangling the layers of sparkling guitars on, for instance, Johnny Cash's Solitary Man and I Won't Back Down, and making each distinct. Never with ear fatigue.
Unfortunately I found it veered a bit too much in to the "polite" terrifory, and the sound lost some of the excitement I was familiar with. The tone was also, as before, a bit too into the darkish territory for me. Finally, the bass wasn't nearly as tonal and controlled as I'd like. It was a Big Fat Bottom of a sound, probably great for filling out a big room. Unfortunately they were played in a room that was no doubt too small for them.