Kharma, Magico, King Sound, B&W, Art Deco

 

We move now to the 30th floor, where the two-and-a-half-way Kharma Exquisite Galileo ($87k), with diamond tweet and two ceramic mid/woofs in Kharma’s superb “Exquisite-grade� cabinet, made its debut, driven by Tenor electronics. On the Lutoslawski, the Galileo reproduced both harp and bass pizzicatos in the Passacaglia with excellent transient speed and astonishing detail, albeit without the full weight of the basses (or later, in the chorale, of the bass drum). String tone was bright but lovely, although flute and piccolo were a touch too bright to my ear. Having said this, the Galileo was nearly peerless on Bredemeyer’s highly percussive “Schlagstück 5,� making very instrument from piano to scraper sound spine-tinglingly realistic. The speaker was a bit of an enigma. Clearly, the fastest, most dynamic, most detailed, most transparent Kharma I’ve ever auditioned, it was also just the slightest bit canted toward the treble (perhaps because it was not yet fully broken in).

Which brings us to another Best of Show contender, the three-way, floorstanding Magico V3 ($25k), reviewed by Robert Harley in Issue 179. Before I discuss this superb speaker, I have to confess (or re-affirm) that I am not wild about the Boulder electronics that were used to drive it. To me they sound too flat and controlled, too solid-state. As a result, Captain Luke’s voice on “Rainy Night in Georgia� didn’t have all the depth, bloom, and whisker-chinned detail I know it has. That said, his rumbling basso still sounded superbly lifelike, as did Guitar Gabriel’s cracked, gravelly, old man’s baritone. Even the electronics couldn’t disguise the realism of timbre and dynamic, the sheer coherence and cohesiveness of Alon Wolf’s newest marvel. Though, to my ear, the V3 is not quite as “there� as the Mini II in the midband, it was certainly a very close call between these two superb speakers on every cut I listened to (allowing for the differences in electronics and source), with the advantage in dynamic range and power and extension in the bass clearly going to the less-expensive V3.

Great Britain’s KingSound King System ($16k), a tall floorstanding electrostat with a line array of cone woofers in a separate enclosure, was very dynamic on “Ghost Train� and other cuts, with excellent density of color in the midband, It was, however, slightly thumpy in the low bass and a bit dry overall. Not my cup of Earl Grey.

Another British import, the venerable B&W 800 D ($20k), sounded (as it usually does) bright, lively, highly detailed, and just a bit aggressive. This is the kind of loudspeaker that will give you a superb sense of the stickwork on drumkits and the fingerwork on bass guitar. Transient response is its forte.

The Art Deco 10 ($23k), a ported floor-standing two-way using a 10-inch SEAS woof and a SEAS soft-dome tweet with ultra-pricey Jensen caps in its crossover, appeared to be another in the long parade of would-be Magico Mini killers. In the same room were Audio Teckne electronics and the beautiful DaVinci AAS Gabriel turntable ($37k) with Nobile arm ($6200), which gave me the chance to listen to vinyl on a first-rate source. On the Prokofiev First Violin Sonata, the Art Deco got the violin harmonics at the close of the third movement just right; the piano was also excellent. This speaker (or this ’table and arm) had very full bass for a two-way. On top, the fiddle was a bit wiry though still lovely. On “Schlagstück 5,� the high-pitched percussion was also a tad bright. The speaker was very interesting, the ’table and arm way cool.

Next: Nola, Revolver, Usher, Kharma, Siltech

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