Congratulations on the Carmel 2s.
I was tempted but was able to find a pair of Kipod II Studio Signature passives which I bought recently to replace my Carmel 1s. Delighted with them. Needed more scale and the 9" woofers have made all the difference and the character of the sound is the same but more of it and better, but for their size I am sure the Carmel IIs will be very difficult to beat.
My amp is an integrated Vitus SIA 025 which is a wonderful amp and although rated only 25w in Class A it drives my Kipods with no problems and worked equally well with the Carmels. Can't recommend it highly enough.
Both but Class A for serious listening.
Class A benefits from a bit more volume but is no problem for the amp.
The room is 21x12x7.5 and the YGs are firing across the room in virtually the same placing as the Carmels.
The character of the sound is the same, but the Kipods deliver more of everything - transparency, scale, bass and dynamics in particular. A natural and coherent sound which is revealing but never etched or overly analytic.
The Entreq negative speaker terminal grounding to two Entreq Silver Minimus has given a significant improvement for a relatively modest outlay.
The cables must be more than the speakers
I attended a demo of Carmel2, Soulution sacd player+Int amp and the Taralabs Grand Master Evolution cable series in Hong Kong a few weeks ago.
Very impressive performance! Allrounded but the bass quantity & quality are beyond compare for such a small enclosure size.
IMHO it's one of the best small floorstanders in the market.
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Carmel 2 with FMA and dCS in Japan.
I've heard Hailey with FMA 155 and 411 II - the best sound I've ever heard from YG.
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What is that base the Carmel 2s are on? Is it something for vibration control or just used to increase the height of speaker?
Is it me?
I'm normally tolerant and laid back about reviewers and their views, but I am really struggling with John Atkinson's review of the YG Carmel 2s in the latest issue of Stereophile.
His conclusions are so at odds with every other review/comments on the Carmel 2 that I am really sceptical about it and more than a tad suspicious.
Now let me declare an interest as a former owner of Carmel 1s and now Kipod Signature passives, but even with what I believe is a generally open and tolerant approach to others' views I really am struggling with this review.
No, he's not correct, as every single other reviewer (and everybody else's ears too) can attest.
His choice of amps were questionable at best. You just can't pair a moderate-to-hard to drive $24000 speaker with a $2000 tube amp. That's basic stuff.
I still can't believe that review. Now, more than ever, if JA ever likes a product, I'll run away in the other direction.
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