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Talon Khorus with no soundstage?

Recently I've been auditioning a system that consists of all Electrocompaniet components and Talon Khorus speakers.
The amplifiers are a pair of AW180MBs.

It seemed that the sound was residing inside speaker cabinets and did not go outside. It's like you place one part of orchestra or band inside one speaker cabinet and another part into another cabinet and let them play.

The rest of auditioned components are: EMC-1, EC4.7
I did not pay attention to interconnects and tweaks but if my eye doesn't lie I saw Nordost Valhalla as a speaker cable.

I'm not a pro in accoustics but the only thing I know that original soud wave travels to our ear before the reflected one. That's why I think that soundstage in %$16k speaker must be present even in the wrong room.

Can it be other components?
Please, share your thoughts.
128x128marakanetz
perfectimage
406 posts
 
Dont underestimate the room. It is as important as the speakers themselves. Maybe even the placement of the speakers? I have never heard the speakers you have mentioned but I have never not been able to get a pair of speakers to image well.
rcprince
2,830 posts
 
While not having heard these speakers, I can relate to you that I heard a pair of the $22,000 Sonus Faber Amati Heritages sound worse than a boombox, thin and as though one speaker was not connected, being driven by top of the line Krell electronics at a local dealer. The sole culprit was a sonically terrible, small room which had reflections everywhere and could not hold any bass due to its flimsy construction. Possible that it was the culprit in your case? Sure sems like it to me from your description.
s2k_dude
78 posts
 
quote: I'm not a pro in accoustics but the only thing I know that original soud wave travels to our ear before the reflected one. That's why I think that soundstage in %$16k speaker must be present even in the wrong room.

i totally agree but speaker placement will make a huge difference regardless of the quality of the speakers. room acoustics are just a sad fact of life. otherwise, we'd all shove our high-end speakers into the back wall or some out of the way corner.

i would bet that the talons will image the hell out you if you get them broken in and set-up correctly.
garys
65 posts
 
The February 2001 stereotimes.com has a detailed (and entertaining!) article about break-in of the Talon Khorus... what you describe may be normal for the Khorus when it hasn't been broken-in.
glreno
223 posts
 
I owned the Talon Khorus. The imaging of that speaker is one of the best things they do. But they have a very long break-in period...up tp 500 hours of music playback. Until then, the sound is very closed in and boxy. Leave for a week or more and leave your stereo playing. That's what I had to do to accomplish the break in. I also owned the EMC-1, and I know it soundstages very well also. If there is a component in the chain that is suspect in performance, it would be your pre-amp. I have never heard the 4.7, but a dealer friend who sells Electrocompaniet has told me in the past that their pre-amps are not very good compared to others in the same price range.
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