Kharma Exquisite Extreme Grand install

[wizard]

Pictures from an installation at Kharma Center in China.

Each speaker weights 500kg and are around 225cm tall.

The start price is $410,000.

I've contacted Kharma about maybe buying a custom Extreme Grand pair - it will have an external crossover with Extreme Signature cabling and Diamond Stand.
They will also have the possibility to be quad amped, the crossover will also have an bypass mode to use an digital active external crossover.

 

[Bruce B]

at 1/2mil$$... I'd certainly hoped to have seen better shipping containers. My Alexia's at just $50k were packaged 10 times better.

Too bad the winch caused so much damage!

 

[rockitman]

impressive. Not very move friendly though, it appears.

 

[wizard]

impressive. Not very move friendly though, it appears.

View attachment 8606
EZ Moves is a great product to easily move heavy speakers.

 

[rockitman]

View attachment 8606
EZ Moves is a great product to easily move heavy speakers.

LOL, I meant moving to a new home....I like those sliders though.

 

[Bruce B]

LOL, I meant moving to a new home....I like those sliders though.

Those are the sliders I had under my MM3's

 

[LL21]

Two diamond tweeters and the rest is composite drivers.
The stand used is the standard one, not the diamond/tungsten type.

Two FMA 1811 amps drives them to perfection - I've heard them with FMA, Tidal, Gryphon, Kharma and Vitus amps.
My favorite with Extreme was amps from FMA, Gryphon and Vitus. Strangely I've never heard a Kharma speaker sound any good with the Kharma pre and amps.

They are picky about the amps used - Extreme goes under 2 ohms impedance so they need a powerful amp to perfectly control them.
Exquisite speakers are GIGO speakers - garbage in gives garbage out - they need the best source, pre and amps to get the best sound.

Thanks! very cool...how do they sound in comparison to Arrakis, Alexandria, Apogee Grands, IRS Beta Vs, ML Statements, etc?

 

[Steve williams]

Wizard

in the front left and right corners which model Kharma are these and what are they used for in this system

 

[Phelonious Ponk]

I'm still shaking my head that someone actually named speakers the Kharma Exquisite Extreme Grands. Isn't that kind of like calling them the Irrelevant Super Excellent Awesomes....Dude?

Tim

 

[LL21]

Wizard

in the front left and right corners which model Kharma are these and what are they used for in this system

I am going to guess they are superfluous. Early pictures pre-installation show Tidal Sunrays...he may have had several speakers in the room? Plus, if the place is called Kharma Center then perhaps it is a dealer?

 

[LL21]

I'm still shaking my head that someone actually named speakers the Kharma Exquisite Extreme Grands. Isn't that kind of like calling them the Irrelevant Super Excellent Awesomes....Dude?

Tim

How about Argento Flow Master Reference Speaker Cable?

 

[jazdoc]

Those are the biggest surround speakers I've ever seen!

 

[wizard]

Wizard

in the front left and right corners which model Kharma are these and what are they used for in this system

These are not Kharma speakers, don't know the brand.

 

[microstrip]

How about Argento Flow Master Reference Speaker Cable?

Loyd,
You should go to a "high-end" dog exposition - any dog having a reasonable pedigree will have a much fancier name!

 

[LL21]

Loyd,
You should go to a "high-end" dog exposition - any dog having a reasonable pedigree will have a much fancier name!

Yes, I have never been...but my dog is purebred and her 'sire' or whatever had some super long names...

 

[Mike Lavigne]

Wizard,

thanks for the pictures. reminds me of their (older) little brother my Kharma Exquisite Reference 1D's i owned back in the day which i loved. very natural sounding speaker with 75 watt Tenor OTL's.

the 1D's 'only' weighed 550 pounds and came in a coffin like these big boys. i could actually move them around by myself (on a pair of piano dollys) and set them up by myself. the stands came in a separate box. even though they weighed so much, all i needed to do was to remove one end of the coffin and scoot the bottom of the speaker out of the coffin a few inches. then raise that end of the coffin about 8 inches and slide something under it. then attach the stands to the bottom of the speaker and tip them up into place. it was easier with 2 people but doable with one. my listening rooms have always been on the main floor of my homes so no stairs.

overall very user friendly set-up.

in contrast my MM7's need -14- 300 pound very large crates....and require a minimum of 4 large people to install. although the individual pieces can be carried up or down stairs with 3-4 people....so at least a more flexible way to deal with hard install places.

 

[LL21]

Wizard,

thanks for the pictures. reminds me of their (older) little brother my Kharma Exquisite Reference 1D's i owned back in the day which i loved. very natural sounding speaker with 75 watt Tenor OTL's.

the 1D's 'only' weighed 550 pounds and came in a coffin like these big boys. i could actually move them around by myself (on a pair of piano dollys) and set them up by myself. the stands came in a separate box. even though they weighed so much, all i needed to do was to remove one end of the coffin and scoot the bottom of the speaker out of the coffin a few inches. then raise that end of the coffin about 8 inches and slide something under it. then attach the stands to the bottom of the speaker and tip them up into place. it was easier with 2 people but doable with one. my listening rooms have always been on the main floor of my homes so no stairs.

overall very user friendly set-up.

in contrast my MM7's need -14- 300 pound very large crates....and require a minimum of 4 large people to install. although the individual pieces can be carried up or down stairs with 3-4 people....so at least a more flexible way to deal with hard install places.

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.

 

[Mike Lavigne]

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.

 

[Steve williams]

Mike

I am not understanding what you mean when you say the big Wilson speakers draw attention to themselves

 

[edorr]

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.

Created some spectacular fireworks with Graaf OTL 200 amps myself. Have been avaoiding tubes for power amplification like the plague ever since...