[simon wagstaff]

I have a little time this morning, and feel like sharing my story. About 6 months ago I bought a Kismet in Khartago case amp from Klaus, and now that it is completely broken in I thought I would post about it.

I had been running a pair of Gallo Ref 3.5 along with a pair of smaller VMPS subs using an HK990 integrated amp. I was very happy with the system, it was able to generate goosebumps reliably, but there was just that little issue of image height that is related to the Gallos. I still was very happy with my system.

Then I had the opportunity to buy a pair of Raidho C1 for cheap, I thought. Actually, I made the minimum bid of $3K, for an auction that was coming out of South Africa, and I thought no way would I get them. Well, I did.

For some reason, they sounded like absolute crap. I couldn't coax any goosebumps or even listening interest out of them. First I sent them back to Raidho in Denmark, and upgraded them to C1.2 for about 2,000 euros. I had already sold my Gallos at this point in time.

I tried them with the HK, still no magic. I have an AVA U70 around, tried that, no joy, and definitely not enough juice, even with the subs, and crossed over at 120 hz.

Must be the electronics. Still somewhat of a surround guy, subwoofer guy, room correction guy so I picked up a Marantz AV7702MKII for $900 on close out. Nope.

New speaker cables, Morrow SP5.

Nope

Bought the Kismet in Khartago. Nice amp, not sure about the break in time. Still cannot get the Raidhos to sing, no matter what.

Luckily was able to sell the Raidhos for about what I had in them.

Since I am little bit of an iconoclast I had some specific ideas about the speakers I wanted. I wanted a non-traditional box, different tweeter types, not a basic box thing. The Gallos were very good, and I should have just stayed with them. But that's not how audiophila nervousa works.

Saw the review of the Parts Express Epique CBT24 kit. I wanted them. Right up my alley, different dispersion pattern, no crossover, unusual design, the price was right, $1,000 for the kit, I am marginally handy.

they are not for everybody, they do REQUIRE room correction, and subwoofers. I had just put in 500 watt plate amps into my VMPS subs.

Building the kits took a little time, but not a big effort. The kits are designed to be very hard to screw up.

So, I get it all hooked up and now I must say I am thrilled. The Odyssey amp throws a most impressive soundstage. Microdynamics are out of this world. Soundstage depth and detail are remarkable. I did a brief comparison with my U70 and in all ways the Odyssey beats it, especially in the areas of soundstage and detail and dynamics. The HK is in my second system now.

I upgraded from Morrow SP5 to SP6 and was really surprised at the big difference that made. I will be upgrading from MA4 to MA6 interconnects shortly.

And then I will be done, and happy.

For at least a little while. I will say I feel no need to upgrade the amplifier in my system. I have compared it to the HK 990 and the AVA U70 and there was no comparison.

Thanks for all the time you spent with me Klaus, I am now a big fan of your amps!

[artur9]

Nice!  Can you say more about how the Epique and the Kismet sound?  And how you do the DSP the Epique requires?

[simon wagstaff]

Here is the review from Sound and Vision. I think it is pretty accurate, and describes the sound of the speakers.

https://www.soundandvision.com/content/dayton-audio-epique-cbt24-speaker-system-review

I am using Audessey XT32 in the Marantz processor. It does a good job of EQ and integrating the subs. I use the "flat" setting, not the reference one that rolls off the highs a little bit. I am still playing with the crossover. I don't hear much difference between 120, 150 and 200, though the measurements give me the crossover at 150 hz. It seems fine.

To me the defining characteristics of the Kismets is the soundstage and the dynamics. There is no localization of the speakers, at all. The sound field is very well defined and very deep. Instruments are defined like no other speaker I have heard. Micro and macrodynamics are outstanding. I attribute that to the Kismet as well. I can't say anything about the bass, obviously, but there is more than enough power. Klaus would probably say I need to get another one and make them into mono-blocks, but that would likely be overkill.

There are recordings that I have listened to a million times, that I still can sit up and say "Whoa, I haven't heard that before"

After all the changes detailed above I have found a system that provides engagement, entertainment and can be completely engrossed by.

Remarkable.