Listening at Suncoast

[Mike]

My crew is experienced. They’ve been with me since day one and I pay them more than double their normal hourly wage, including travel time and meals. You want people to do a good job? Train them and pay them well.


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[Bobvin]

My crew is experienced. They’ve been with me since day one and I pay them more than double their normal hourly wage, including travel time and meals. You want people to do a good job? Train them and pay them well.


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Helps with retention too!

I have not heard M6, but got to see them up close and personal @ Magico. Amazing construction!

 

[nc42acc]

Good grief!!! Just a light hearted comment with humor as the basis. I should have added a :snicker:. Hats off to your guys Mike for a great job. The caliber of houses these guys enter to deliver very heavy speakers they best be on their A game.

 

[Mike]

Good grief!!! Just a light hearted comment with humor as the basis. I should have added a :snicker:. Hats off to your guys Mike for a great job. The caliber of houses these guys enter to deliver very heavy speakers they best be on their A game.

Thanks!


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[Randy Myers]

The price of those speakers could purchase a decent little house in many parts of the country .... They must be amazing!

 

[brodricj]

Having been through that process a number of times by myself it's always a relief when the new speakers arrive via gravity at the bottom of the ramp in the same condition they were in at the top of the ramp. That short journey always gets the heart racing, no matter how many times you've done it before.

 

[Mike]

We will be investing in a tool to help transport items up and downstairs, up to 850 pounds with the touch of a button. It has many accessories for various shaped items.

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[brodricj]

Okay....850lbs.....so you're not contemplating M9 needing to travel up/down stairs. Just as well.

 

[Mike]

Okay....850lbs.....so you're not contemplating M9 needing to travel up/down stairs. Just as well.

If I’m not mistaken, the M9’s come in multiple pieces.


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[brodricj]

They would have to, otherwise they would exceed floor loading limits for air transport.

 

[KeithR]

We will be investing in a tool to help transport items up and downstairs, up to 850 pounds with the touch of a button. It has many accessories for various shaped items.

Very cool. Reminds me of a device used at a hotel in London to get wheelchairs up the "stoop" to the front door

 

[rrwmd]

Well, circling back around to the topic of Suncoast and Kharma...

A couple weeks ago I made my third trip to Suncoast in just over 2 years. As always Mike was an exceptional host and made my entire trip a great experience. I went specifically to hear Kharmas based on both Mike's and Mark's favorable impressions about them and the description of their sound. We spent most of a Friday listening to the Kharma dB9-S. In the afternoon Ritmo Mike came over to listen as well and it was great finally meeting him (hey buddy!). We listened to all kinds of stuff, both digital and vinyl.

The Kharmas have a very engaging sound: rich, bold and warm with plenty of detail and dynamics. There's also this great decay that gives them a nice liquid character. (I personally don't enjoy a tight dry sound.) They sound a lot bigger than you expect for their size. Mike paired them with my exact VAC gear for most of the time and it was a great match.

I joked with Mike that I've been trying my best to buy speakers from him for 2 years. Bought a bunch of other stuff during this time, but I guess I just hadn't landed on the right speakers...until now.

I ended up ordering a pair of the larger dB11-S as I have a largish listening room. So now Mark and I are both waiting for Kharmas. Will post some more impressions once I get them in my room and broken in...

 

[Ritmo]

Once again Rance, great to finally meet you. And, indeed, congratulations on your DB11-S. As I posted several months ago, these Kharmas are quite special. So, I'm not surprised both you and Mark have placed orders.

I hope the 9s and 11s get here soon!

 

[FDPDK]

Congratulations with your new speakers Rance.

 

[Kuoppis]

I don’t really understand all this rambling about the Kharmas. What’s so special about them?

But, I guess I forgot to tell that I also have a pair of DB9-S’s on order [emoji23]. Was also considering the DB-11-S’s, but I was worried they would overwhelm my not too large room.


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[Mike]

I don’t really understand all this rambling about the Kharmas. What’s so special about them?

But, I guess I forgot to tell that I also have a pair of DB9-S’s on order [emoji23]. Was also considering the DB-11-S’s, but I was worried they would overwhelm my not too large room.


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Curious what you heard them with in Germany.

 

[Kuoppis]

Curious what you heard them with in Germany.

Thanks Mike. It was with AVM electronics, they’re a quite popular brand in central Europe.


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[JGlacken]

Another super visit to Suncoast. This time it was Craig (crwilli) and I touring down to Bradenton to hear the Kharmas at Mike’s. We have spoken on the phone many times so great to finally meet the man! First we listened to the Kharmas through a full Naim system. Not to our liking. Very edgy and the BE tweeter was not a good match. But of course there were many more goodies to come with a two thousand series Boulder amp and pre with MSB Select 2
Dac, Taiko Extreme etc. Holy cow. Tried Pass 60.8 monoblocks only two days old. Same quality. Even tried the Vivid G2 speakers. Great imaging but not quite as much low end. Down graded (ha) to the MSB entry level Dac. Still great! Just not as much for 1/10 the price. Then compared same song using Roon vs Taiko beta software.
Boom, another curtain was drawn back.
At Suncoast, the longer you stay the better it gets.
Lunch at the Lucky Pelican was almost as good as the listening.
Nah, lunch was very good...
The audio was fabulous!
Thank you Mike.

 

[Mike]

Another super visit to Suncoast. This time it was Craig (crwilli) and I touring down to Bradenton to hear the Kharmas at Mike’s. We have spoken on the phone many times so great to finally meet the man! First we listened to the Kharmas through a full Naim system. Not to our liking. Very edgy and the BE tweeter was not a good match. But of course there were many more goodies to come with a two thousand series Boulder amp and pre with MSB Select 2
Dac, Taiko Extreme etc. Holy cow. Tried Pass 60.8 monoblocks only two days old. Same quality. Even tried the Vivid G2 speakers. Great imaging but not quite as much low end. Down graded (ha) to the MSB entry level Dac. Still great! Just not as much for 1/10 the price. Then compared same song using Roon vs Taiko beta software.
Boom, another curtain was drawn back.
At Suncoast, the longer you stay the better it gets.
Lunch at the Lucky Pelican was almost as good as the listening.
Nah, lunch was very good...
The audio was fabulous!
Thank you Mike.

Jerry, it was great seeing you guys! We all had a blast and heard some great music.


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[Ritmo]

Another super visit to Suncoast. This time it was Craig (crwilli) and I touring down to Bradenton to hear the Kharmas at Mike’s. We have spoken on the phone many times so great to finally meet the man! First we listened to the Kharmas through a full Naim system. Not to our liking. Very edgy and the BE tweeter was not a good match. But of course there were many more goodies to come with a two thousand series Boulder amp and pre with MSB Select 2
Dac, Taiko Extreme etc. Holy cow. Tried Pass 60.8 monoblocks only two days old. Same quality. Even tried the Vivid G2 speakers. Great imaging but not quite as much low end. Down graded (ha) to the MSB entry level Dac. Still great! Just not as much for 1/10 the price. Then compared same song using Roon vs Taiko beta software.
Boom, another curtain was drawn back.
At Suncoast, the longer you stay the better it gets.
Lunch at the Lucky Pelican was almost as good as the listening.
Nah, lunch was very good...
The audio was fabulous!
Thank you Mike.

Jeff -

Glad you enjoyed the visit with Mike. His place is a candy store. Mike goes out of his way to offer different options and to please his customers. I wished I new you guys were in town. I would have stopped by to meet you.

So, any decisions or just browsing? opcorn: