Kaiser Kawero or Raidho D3 or Vivid Giya G2?

FlexibleAudio said:
My listening room is in my basement and I have a utility room behind the wall my components will be on that holds the main power line into the house. I plan to tap into the power ahead of the main panel and run about 20 feet to my Torus which will be in the utility room about about ten feet from the equipment wall. Transformer hum only carries about 3 feet, even for a 75 amp unit. I am then running five 10 foot runs of Furutech Alph-3 cable to five GTX-R receptacles.
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Paul,

Wow, sounds excellent and well planned out. Your system is going to be a power champion!

Best of luck,
Ken
 
Alpinist said:
Thanks Mike. As always, you make some excellent points. A big part of the reason I purchased the Soulution 501's to begin with is their synergy with Raidho and their ability to tame the bass of the D3's. It almost seems silly not to get the Raidho's after making such a major change to my system. But I have to admit, the Salon 2's sound great with the 501's and it will only get better if I add the 520 preamp and some Kimber Select cables. It is a very tough call and I don't want to blow it.

As for my room, it is 21 feet long, 17 feet wide (at its widest point) and 8 feet high. My system resides on the narrower end of the room, a dedicated area 13 feet 8 inches wide and 6 feet 10 inches deep. As for my listening habits, I never ever listen above 90 db and usually at much lower volumes than that. I primarily listen to jazz vocals (both female and male), jazz piano, jazz guitar and small jazz combos. I do sometimes listen to rock (1965 to 1975) and classical (all types) but always well below 90 db.

Best,
Ken
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After reading what you just said, the D3's would most likely be a step up from the great Salon2's. If I never played my music louder than you are, I wouldn't have sold mine. And remember Ken, I went from Salon 2's to D3's.
 
MDP said:
After reading what you just said, the D3's would most likely be a step up from the great Salon2's. If I never played my music louder than you are, I wouldn't have sold mine. And remember Ken, I went from Salon 2's to D3's.
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Thanks Mark! Actually, you are the perfect person to ask, as you have owned both the Salon 2 and D3. Considering my music tastes, listening habits and room, do you think the D3 V2 will be a significant improvement over the Salon 2? Also, and this is a little tougher question, did you ever get the D3 to the point where you were fully satisfied with how they sounded in your room?

Thanks so much,
Ken
 
Alpinist said:
Thanks Mark! Actually, you are the perfect person to ask, as you have owned both the Salon 2 and D3. Considering my music tastes, listening habits and room, do you think the D3 V2 will be a significant improvement over the Salon 2? Also, and this is a little tougher question, did you ever get the D3 to the point where you were really content with how they sounded in your room?

Thanks so much,
Ken
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Yes, I had them sounding excellent , but when I went over 85-90db with Rock music the bass would be a little too much on some albums, but perfect with most.
With your volumes,and especially your music tastes, I think you would love them. And yes, I think they are an upgrade from Salon 2's in your case.

Ken, I loved the Salon 2's very much ! So much so, that whenever they come out with Salon 3's, I'm buying them.
 
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MDP said:
Yes, I had them sounding excellent , but when I went over 85-90db with Rock music the bass would be a little too much on some albums, but perfect with most.
With your volumes,and especially your music tastes, I think you would love them. And yes, I think they are an upgrade from Salon 2's in your case.
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Thanks Mark, your feedback is greatly appreciated. You have had some fine speakers grace your listening room with even more to come. :)

Ken
 
Ken,

I don't want to in any way indicate anything negative about Mark's Hegel (they are absolutely phenomenal), but I think your 501's will control the D3's bass even better than the H30's given the 501's voicing, damping factor, and slew rate. See if you can get David at Design Audio to opine, I believe he has directly compared the two extensively with Raidho. The amp decision with the Raidho is probably most critical IMO.
 
FlexibleAudio said:
Ken,

I don't want to in any way indicate anything negative about Mark's Hegel (they are absolutely phenomenal), but I think your 501's will control the D3's bass even better than the H30's given the 501's voicing, damping factor, and slew rate. See if you can get David at Design Audio to opine, I believe he has directly compared the two extensively with Raidho. The amp decision with the Raidho is probably most critical IMO.
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Thanks Paul,

I am very happy I purchased the 501's regardless of whether or not I ever purchase Raidho speakers. Their speed and bass control is absolutely stunning. And you make an excellent point, if I do purchase Raidho speakers, especially the D3's, I'll be way ahead of the game in tailoring the bass to my listening room with the 501's voicing, damping factor and slew rate. I really do appreciate your feedback and others who own or have owned these components. It is invaluable.

Best,
Ken
 
FlexibleAudio said:
Ken,

I don't want to in any way indicate anything negative about Mark's Hegel (they are absolutely phenomenal), but I think your 501's will control the D3's bass even better than the H30's given the 501's voicing, damping factor, and slew rate. See if you can get David at Design Audio to opine, I believe he has directly compared the two extensively with Raidho. The amp decision with the Raidho is probably most critical IMO.
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Paul, I couldn't agree more. On the D3's, the Solution gear is superior, no doubt about it.
 
Alpinist said:
Thanks Paul,

I am very happy I purchased the 501's regardless of whether or not I ever purchase Raidho speakers. Their speed and bass control is absolutely stunning. And you make an excellent point, if I do purchase Raidho speakers, especially the D3's, I'll be way ahead of the game in tailoring the bass to my listening room with the 501's voicing, damping factor and slew rate. I really do appreciate your feedback and others who own or have owned these components. It is invaluable.

Best,
Ken
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Soulution drove the YGs pretty well too. :)
 
Rhapsody said:
The Kaiser Kaweros will be here this week and the Chiaras will be here either later this week or next week as well.
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I Hope Socfan was able to get over there and hear these speakers.

A little birdie whispered and told me that Telos amps drive these exceptionally well, even without using the built in DSP tech like Proteus and Leonardo!

My buddy is about to get some 352 amps and I will follow up to hear what difference these techs make to his system...
 
The Kaweros have been here all week at Rhapsody, I think we did 15 demos. They were driven by the Kondo Kagura amps, the Absolare SET amps and a complete Goldmund system. We sold three pairs of Kaisers this week, one pair of Chiara and two pairs of Kaweros. The Kaweros that are here now are being packed up on Sunday and are leaving for their trip to CES, on Monday, along with the Kondo Kagura amps. All will be available to see/hear in our Kondo room at CES (30th floor/Venetian). The Kondo Ginga TT, which will be front ending the Kagura/Kawero combination will be coming back to Rhapsody post CES and will be our permanent demo TT. We have another pair of Kaweros and Chiaras coming in early next week, which will be our permanent demos as well.

Cheers Norman:)

For anyone that hasn't heard the Kaiser speakers whenever/wherever they do they are in for a treat!
 
We received the Kaiser Chiara speakers about two weeks ago. I'm just starting to get to know them, but I can tell you right now that these are very, very special. All together one of the most musically fulfilling speakers I've experienced so far. The tone colour/timbre is beautifully natural in the most organic way. Texture, body and density are all reference grade. I would put them in the same category as Nola and Raidho - all three offering a solid three dimensional presentation which is utterly convincing and realistic focusing on the hole rather than invidvidual bits and pieces. Some might find them a tad dark in balance and perhaps a bit soft in the treble compared to some dome equipped speakers. From my point of view, this is what real music sounds like on a good day...
 
The most significant aspect of having especially the Kaweros in our showroom is that they have a 92db sensitivity rating with a 6 ohm nominal impedance and don't dip below 4 ohms at any point in the frequency spectrum. We have had the Kondo 50 Watt SET's and the Absolare 52 Watt SET's in our studio for the last year and really never had a speaker that they were matched with properly. All I can say things have changed drastically!

Anyone that heard either either the Kagura amps or the Absolare SET's at Rhapsody prior to the Kaweros arrival have never really heard the Kaguras or the Absolare SET's properly. No need to say anything eles about the sound because the Kawero/Kagura combo will be at CES and available for audition at Rhapsody from now on and into the future. I will let other people discuss the sound once they hear it for themselves.
 
Yup Kaiser makes good speakers. Let me know what you think of them with full Goldmund regalia, ie with the DSP deployed. Dr Adam knows what she is doing!
 
We have one pair of Kaweros that are being delivered in mid January and Dr. Veronique (Vero) is going to be making a customer Leonardo/Proteus configuration for the Kaweros that will run on the Goldmund processor/amps. Will let you know in Feb. how it all sounds. Even without the Leonardo/Proteus room correction, the Goldmund electronics do sound especially good on the Kaweros. Several of our clients liked it as much as with the SET's....comes down to personal preference. The client that is doing the Goldmund with the Kaweros plays his system 12+ hours a day, everyday, so tubes really don't make a lot of sense.
 
Drooling! Let me know how that config sounds. I am imagining not just a home run, but the ball being hit out of the Park and landing 2 city blocks away! LoL

I saw a Chiara being primed up for special treatment...
 
wisnon said:
I Hope Socfan was able to get over there and hear these speakers.

A little birdie whispered and told me that Telos amps drive these exceptionally well, even without using the built in DSP tech like Proteus and Leonardo!

My buddy is about to get some 352 amps and I will follow up to hear what difference these techs make to his system...
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Hey Norman,

Unfortunately, no. I've been swamped at work. Maybe after the CES show in the new year I'll make it out to Bob's to give them a listen. I recently purchased a pair of S5s from Bob, so I'm actually worried about hearing the Kaiser speakers so soon! But I will definitely make a trip to hear them!
 
socfan12 said:
Hey Norman,

Unfortunately, no. I've been swamped at work. Maybe after the CES show in the new year I'll make it out to Bob's to give them a listen. I recently purchased a pair of S5s from Bob, so I'm actually worried about hearing the Kaiser speakers so soon! But I will definitely make a trip to hear them!
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I see…Given that, stay far away from temptation.
 
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