I remember seeing pictures of those...very few people i know have heard Kharmas...how would you compare their 'voice' to your current 'voice'...ie, the 'voice' of the Kharma line vs the voice of the Evolutions. Obviously as one goes higher up the chain in either, i am sure the technical capabilities improve and improve...but i would think the designer's 'voice' remains intact throughout the line. Thanks for any insights...any comparison to Wilson or Magico also helpful as i am familiar with those.
the Kharma 'voice'/presentation/character was one of a relatively open window to the music. i owned the (at the time) top of the line Kharma Exquisite Reference 1D's following owning Wilson WP 3/2's, 5.1's, and 6's. and at the same time i switched from Mark Levinson #33 big ss mono blocks, to Tenor 75 watt tube OTL monoblocks. my perception was that the Wilson's were in contrast 'hifi' in the sense of highlighted highs, and a less than top to bottom coherence and one note bass. yet i liked the Wilson's but felt i needed to evolve myself to something that had less of it's own signature. at that time i also viewed the Kharma as a more natural sounding speaker than big Wilson's.....which while i liked them i felt they were not coherent like the Kharma and brought attention to themselves.
the Kharma's had a 1st order crossover, and was relatively an easier load than the Wilson's. the Tenor OTL's were a perfect match for the ceramic mid-range of the Kharma's.....also the Tenor's were very refined and stayed natural on the Kharma dome tweeter, which demanded great amplification. in fact, i would say that the Kharma was very demanding of the very best amplifiers and were not forgiving at all. they did not go particularly deep, but were very articulate in the bass. but my room was small, and so the bass extension, dynamics, and slam were perfectly suited to me room capabilites. it was a delightful and very synergistic sounding system.
after i sold the Kharma Exquisites and i was waiting for the VR9SE's i used Kharma Midi Exquistes for 3-4 months. these had the diamond tweeter and i preferred the bigger 1D's.
as far as the Evolutions, i prefer them to the Kharma and they are different in a few ways but have some things in common with the Kharma's (which is no accident). first; the execution of the ceramic mid-range is better in the Evolution, they have eliminated the slight tendancy to ring on less than stellar amplification. and the ribbon tweeter is much smoother and the whole mid-range-tweeter coherence is quite a bit better. obviously the bottom end is quite a ways more capable and room adjustable. to my ears MM3's run rings around the Kharma's i owned. they are more detailed and an even clearer window into the music while having even more naturalness and weight. i'm not comparing my current MM7's to the Kharma.
yet i could easily live out my days with the (see picture above) Kharma Exquiste Reference 1D's and Tenor OTL's (assuming the Tenors did not detonate on a regular basis as they tended to do) assuming a synergistic room size.
as far as comparing current Kharma to current Wilson and Magico....i've heard the big Kharma Grand Exquistes a few times but it's been a few years. knowing Charles Von Oostrum (the Kharma designer) i would expect that he is still designing a very coherent, very natural sounding speaker, that maybe is not the last word in deep bass extension or dynamics but very lively. i think that the Wilson's are certainly more like the big Kharma's than they were 10 years ago in terms of naturalness and coherence, although not quite all the way there maybe due to their much different crossover. i would say that the Kharma is more like the Evolution than the Wilson in that in a relative sense it does not draw attention to itself but to the music (my own opinion and viewpoint). this is not a criticizim of the big Wilsons more an acknowledgment to the strengths of the Kharma. Charles designs a very natural sounding speaker. some obviously prefer the typically more exciting Wilsons. and at this level maybe electronics might have alot to do with the ultimate result.
i cannot imagine that i would not like the big new Kharma's.
the newer Magico's i've heard (Q1, Q5 and maybe the S3?) are nothing like a Kharma and have their own view of the music.