Kipod II Signature passives arrived on Thursday morning from Kansas city all apparently unscathed and a few problems along the way which happily were not too serious and all resolved.
Deliverered into the hall which was greatly appreciated as it enabled me to slide the two 100lb bass unit cases and the two 50+lbs main unit cases into the lounge. Decided I could unpack them myself which took a bit of time as I was being very careful, but all went well as did assembling the two units. Visual inspection confirmed sellers description of excellent condition.
Moved the Carmels out of the room, fitted the supplied spikes as the Ultra 5s on the Carmels needed a different adaptor for fitting to the Kipods. Hooked them up and switched on the MD 109 tuner and everything working and sounding good. A few quick adjustements to placing and imaging well.
Couldn't do more at that stage as I had to go up to London to meet my son for a wine tasting - Portuguese.
Got back late and again sounding good but a bit of right wing speaker bias to the sound which I attributed to positioning and left for Friday as Fraser Robertson of Kog Audio was visiting to bring the Ultra 5 adaptors I needed and a fourth to add to the three under the Vitus SIA 025 amp,
Fraser arrived pm as arranged to be greeted by the sounds of Modern Cool through the Kipods.His initial impressions of the improvement over the Carmels confirmed mine so after a quick tea break sorted out the requisite adaptors and fitted the Ultra 5s from the Carmels, made some minor adjustments and we enjoyed the music. After about half an hour he without saying anything put his ear to the speakers and found that the tweeter in the left hand speaker was not working. Now what! Kipods not a speaker he is very familiar with, but felt the most likely cause was a broken connection but given his unfamiliarity with the speakers a bit cautious about opening them up. I had spoken earlier to Dick Diamond at YG so I suggested I call him. Happily Dick answered immediately and I explained the problem to him and asked him to have a word with Fraser. Dick was pretty sure it was not the tweeter itself and guided Fraser through opening up the back and the front of the speaker to check the connections to the crossover and the tweeter at the front. Fortune was with us, the plug cable connection to the tweeter at the front had become detached and just needed reconnecting.
Remounted on the bass unit, problem solved and improvement in sound immediately apparent thanks to two examples of outstanding customer service from Fraser and Dick Diamond.
I feel it is important to tell that story first because when you get that quality of help and assistance the least you can do is to publicise it to a wider audience.
The KII is a three way speaker about 41" high with a 1" tweeter, 6" mid and 9" woofer so a significant step up from the Carmels. YG say the character of the sound remains throughout the range but you get more of it as you progress up.Certainly borne out in this case. Same mini monitor like focus and discrimination of the Carmel but more bass with no downsides on the mid and high frequencies. More music to use Lloyds term and greater clarity of the vocals, Cymbals very clean and uncluttered with no hardness or splash and beautifully clear and musical decay on all the instruments. The overall sound is very natural and musical with no sacrifices to resolution, imaging and dynamics. Spot on timing and soundstaging and the additional scale and bass I was looking for.All coupled with a lounge friendly size and elegant looks which are enhanced by the six Ultra 5s, quite apart from their sonic benefits. The biggest improvement is obviously from the speakers but the fourth Ultra 5 under the amp has also made a positive difference.
So one very happy bunny and extremely grateful for the aforementioned support from Fraser and Dick Diamond at YG!