Taken From David Robinson's (Editor of Positive-Feedback) Show Report in which he gives both of our rooms the coveted Audio Oasis Award!
www.positive-feedback.com/issue34/rmaf_dr2.htm
Rocky Mountain Audio Fest 2007: The Audio Oasis! Awards, a photo essay - Page 2
Yet another Audio Oasis! winner was the Kubala-Sosna Research/GTT Audio & Video/Kharma/Tenor Audio/VYGER room (Room 537).
Some of the rum gang running the show in this room (left to right): Howard Sosna, Joe Kubala, Tom Moynihan, and Jim Fairhead.
Now here's a source stack for you: a Tascam open reel, VYGER Baltic turntable, and Meridian CD player feeding an mbl 6010-D Reference stereo preamp, then on to the new Tenor 350M "Ultimate Reference" monoblocks (350 WPC) and from thence to the new Kharma Mini Grande Ceramiques, all via Kubala-Sosna cabling. Truly amazing sound, amigos: I kept looking for a hidden subwoofer. Too bad they had trouble with the Tascam …a problem with the drive mechanism …but the rest of the demo was a real pleasure. A definite winner here.
The VYGER Baltic is a turntable that I was not familiar with, but I enjoyed the sound quite a lot. Very solid, very clean sound. By the way, that's an SME Model 312 tonearm; the cartridge is an Air-Tight PC1. I would want to spend more time with the combination, but my first impression of this tandem was quite favorable.
Here's a closer view of the new Tenor 350M monoblock. Looks like a Tenor, all right! The Kharmas certainly appreciated the feed.
Here's something that rarely happens: Right next door in Room 535 was another PFO Audio Oasis! award. GTT Audio & Video/Kharma/mbl/VYGER one-upped the display in Room 537 with an even more impressive room. The VYGER Indian Signature turntable was certainly an eyeful, with its carbon fiber tonearm and Air-Tight PC-1 phono cartridge…
…as was the component stack. At the top is an mbl 1621 A CD player feeding an mbl 1611E D/A converter; on the analog side, the VYGER Indian Signature was fed to a LAMM LP2 phono amp. All sources then went to the mbl 6010-D Reference stereo preamp…
…which then tumbled downstream to the mbl 9011 monoblocks (440 WPC @ 8 Ohms—pleasant, that), and finally to the new Kharma Midi Exquisites. Note that all cabling was by Kharma, as well, via their Enigma cables. The form of the new Midis reminded me of the Kharma Grande Ceramiques that I gave a PFO Brutus Award to several years ago, and the sound was likewise excellent, even at first pass. Clear, authoritative, effortless, and quite pleasing; I confess that I could have stayed in this room for quite a while longer. Obviously the combination of mbl and Kharma has a lot of magic going for it …I am going to have to try to get some mbl gear in the door sometime in 2008.
Bill Parish of GTT Audio & Video poses with the new Kharma Midi Exquisites. He'll be receiving a PFO Audio Oasis! award for all his trouble.
Taken from Dave and Carol Clark's of Positive Feedback's Show Report....
Danny Kaey, always on the lookout for the best sound. Hey I can hear Joe spinning some reel-to-reel tapes in that there room!
V.Y.G.E.R. Baltic turntable. We have a review in this issue. Really nice and not at all that pricey for what you get.
Kharma loudspeakers ($33.5 US) with Tenor amplifiers ($90K CDN) and Kubala-Sosna cabling. This room was a great place to sit and listen ...sorry we had so little time to do so. The KS cables and Kharma are a great match. Nice to see Tenor back in town. We meet Francois Lemay on our way out to dinner and he informed us that Tenor is back strong.
V.Y.G.E.R. Indian Signature Turntable with Carbon Arm $42,000.
The Indian turntable is a work of art!
Kharma Midi Exquisites $80,000 pr with MBL 9011 Mono amps $76,000.
Taken From Adam Goldfine of Positive Feedback's Show Report
Kharma/V.Y.G.E.R./mbl
We were treated to some exquisite vinyl playback courtesy of Italian manufacturer V.Y.G.E.R.'s Indian Signature turntable with linear tracking, air bearing carbon arm. $42,000 including the arm. The cartridge was an Air Tight PC1 $5500, phono stage was the LAMM LP2 deluxe feeding mbl's 6010D line stage and 9011 monoblocks, $20,000 and $76,000 respectively. The speakers were Kharma's gorgeous and retro styled Midi Exquisites, $80,000/pair. Joan Baez's "Diamonds and Rust" was delicate and sweet.
Jonathan Valin of The Absolute Sound Comments.....
October 18th, 2007 — By The Absolute Sound
After successful reorganization, the Canadian electronics company is back—with a vengeance.
Its new 350Wpc hybrid monoblock sounded…fantastic!
Unlike virtually every other piece of solid-state gear at the show, this amp wasn’t at all dark-sounding. If anything it was on the bright and airy side (think ARC or Spectral or, for that matter, a gigantic 75Wp), full of lifelike tone color and sparkling low-level detail.
Its reproduction of Nadia Salerno-Sonnerberg’s spiccato bowing in the Prokofiev First Violin Concerto [MusicMasters] was phenomenally realistic.
Although the MBL 9011 monoblocks that Parish was using in his other room are scarcely chopped liver, the Tenors struck me as having the more neutral balance (though perhaps not as much liquidity—a quality the 9011s simply own, along with unlimited power).
In any event, I will find out how the two compare as I am going to review the 350Ms in the not-too-distant future. If they show as well in my home as they did in Denver, Tenor may have turned out another sonic masterpiece