Speakers for Kondo Ongaku... Please Help
- Thread starter Uwiik
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Thank you for the best wishes …
With the right speakers I think Kondo is very special. Same design since 80’ and still have a huge following and still very expensive, cannot be on reputation/sentiment alone. Today I talked with the gentleman who sat next to me during the audition, he welcomed me if I want to bring my Kondo to his home to test with his AA but he did say what he heard with the WVL was next level. I think I sort of narrowed down my choice already.
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Air Tight ATM-2211 and Kondo Overture, both compares well to each other with slight edge on the Overture. They also tried Pilium, Audionet and Accuphase but WVL Berlin seems to thrive with tube amp. Ongaku alone still significantly faster, authoritative and transparent compared to both ATM-2211 and Overture but Ongaku alone being only 26 watt is straining a lot under load/high volume.
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Kondo would sound phenomenal on Aries Cerat Symphonia speakers. Another choice that I have heard that sounded really amazing was the Diesis Audio Roma Triode speakers. Those really surprised me with how life-like they sounded. Haven't heard the big WVL Berlin speakers though...hard to imagine that they are much better though..
I would say at that price level one would not significantly better than the other, it will come down to personal taste, although the Symphonia have caught my eyes before unfortunately there is no way I can audition it. Diesis Roma Triode is on another price level altogether IMO though.
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That’s exactly why I can’t decide yet on the WVL, the WVL only sounded perfect with bi amplification/more power than Ongaku alone. Both Diesis Roma Triode and WVL Berlin are below 100 db sensitivity, as demonstrated over and over again by myself I believe anything below 100db will still be affected greatly by amp power and Ongaku alone doesn’t have that grunt, naturally Absolare with its 52 watt will drive Diesis Roma Triode better compared to Ongaku at 26 watt because Diesis Roma Triode is ‘only’ 98.5 db sensitive, wondering if the same test would be conducted between Absolare vs Kagura with comparable watt between the two. The same happened to the WVL Berlin when I auditioned it, due to drive power factor if I have to pick one amp only to drive the WVL Berlin I would’ve picked ATM-2211 or Kondo Overture against Kondo Ongaku despite the clear superiority of Ongaku’s sound quality. I don’t think the same rules applies to Avantgarde due to its 107 db sensitivity hence my consideration for AA Trio LE 26, unfortunately there is no way I can audition AA Trio LE 26 in the country. I can audition the old Trio and Duo Mezzo in a friend’s house but that will require coordinated effort and I just do not have the time nor energy right now due to family emergency.
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The trios with bass horns are quite superior to all the speakers you mentioned. The duo is a joke. Yes the amp drive matters less because of that crappy out of sync bass unit
My friend who were there all along during the 6 hrs audition told me that although he is willing and very keen to accommodate me testing my Ongaku with his AAs he also suggested me to regard the test as for curiosity sake (not comparison) as he reckon his AAs will never compete with the WVL Berlin in term of transparency, speed, precision and most importantly bass. He told me the bass he is getting from his AA is WAY inferior than the WVL‘s OB drivers. He do not have the LE26 nor basshorn though.
The bass of AG especially duo is inferior without the bass horn. It is not that WVL Berlin bass is anything special. These are totally different in terms of size and price so you are looking at very different speakers.
If LE26 basshorn is better than WVL Berlin then I’ll be very very impressed. What I heard last week on the WVL was definitely not something that I would call ‘not special’, in fact the first thing that drew my attention was the bass and don’t think something else can be significantly better but off course my exposure to upper tier high end is somewhat limited here compared to you, I never ever seen a basshorn unit in my life, let alone listen to one. I just inquired to my dealer about LE26 again, I think I should just narrow things down between the two, LE26 Vs WVL Berlin + extra amp, the former is less expensive, potentially better, better resale value but it will be buying sight unseen/unheard. The later cost more, more complicated, worse resale value but I know what I am getting.
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I have heard the London and Chicago, not the Berlin. But the Berlin is a cone boxed bass with a horn loaded midrange.
What kind of music do you use to audition
The Berlin is open baffle field coil woofers with compression driver horns for mid and high. We used Jazz at The Pawnshop Vol 1, Diana Krall — Live in Paris, Rare Earth - Get Ready, Judah Priest - Stained Class & Better by You Better Than Me and many other tracks but those are the main focus. WVL Berlin with the Kondo on bi amp setup was totally agnostic, handled everything from Rock & Roll, Jazz to Female Vocal perfectly, my chest was definitely thumping inside with lightning fast speed rhythm and I could feel the fingers of the guitarist plucking the tones.
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I would go with devore orangutans instead, or vintage tannoy, unless you can go up in budget and size vto horns universum, tune audio Anima, or trios with bass horns. Or custom built horns.
Even Wilson and Magico sound better than duo mezzo. Apart from Raidho all speakers do
Did you ever bring your Kondo over to the Classic Audio dealer in your area? I can't help but wonder if their Hartsfield reproduction might not be perfect for this system ( based on how you originally described the system goal that is...)
Nice suggestion. I do believe Hartsfield as well as Vitavox repros would not be the same as their true origins… but given the viability of what’s obtainium it would still be good to hear either of these. These designs are trialled by time and even if the changes in materiality with the new iterations makes them still not exactly the same as their originals that they could likely still share much of the spirit and nature of their vintage forbears.
The Hartsfields do have just a bit more of an injection of Flash Gordon in the styling (which is a bit sexy) but like the Vitas completely have that mid century magic going on.
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I definitely want horn speakers, my apology for not being clear but the reason I asked about the comparison of London Vs Duo was not that I want to get the Duo, that model I don’t consider anymore, I asked because I wanted to know your preference when comparing WVL Vs. AA on the same price range since you haven’t heard Berlin in person.
Right now I am leaning towards something that I can audition and buy locally, no sense in spending 70-100K++ EUR on something I haven’t even seen nor heard. I also noticed that Trio LE26 is also using XD/DSP technology on its Basshorn while WVL is using Field Coil for all 6 pieces of 38 cm woofers, not sure if I prefer the former. I don’t think it’s easy to better the bass quality from what I heard from the WVL Berlin last week, I swear I could feel (not only hear) every micro/macro details from the musician interaction with the equipments.
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Planning to if @Phantom-Audio allows, after I can find some free time, right now I am just head over heel.
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