Talon Loudspeakers

Mike at Talon Audio: Thanks for your post. Although you thing my post was “getting personal” and have called me “uncouth” I take no offense, and hope you have taken no offense either. Being personal or offensive was not my intention. Being accurate was. I don’t think that there is anything uncouth about posting my honest opinion on the web, especially when I “shared all the facts” I had. Nothing injurious was intended by the reference in my 9/19 post to an audition in your home. I thought that mentioning that I heard them in your home would merely illustrate that I heard the speakers under fine listening conditions through an excellent system. (I thought your downstairs large listening room was rather good for how wide and very deep it is – essentially a dead back end. It’s an enviable sound room, as is the amplification in your system.) You obviously don’t recall that I called you only after having heard the speakers playing in one of the model homes at a metropolitan are home show. I asked where I could hear them since the local dealer listed on the web site has or had a disconnected telephone number listed. You invited me to your home and it seemed to me like that was a regular occurrence. I didn’t asked for and didn’t think I was getting any special treatment. I accepted the gracious invitation and we made an appointment. At the appointment, I also accepted your encouragement to stay longer for a home theater demonstration. (An impressive one, I might add – better than home theater systems I’ve heard with Wilson Cubs, and in some ways than all Meridian systems.) After an audition of nearly an hour and a half where you guarded the remote control carefully and even played several tracks off CD’s I’d brought, you asked as I was leaving what I thought of the speakers. I was at something of a loss of what to say because, frankly, I had been “under-whelmed” after what I’d read about them. I told you that for 6 months or more I had been actively searching for new speakers and up grading my system and was hoping that my search for speakers might end with Talons. I indicated expressly that I did not think that the Khorus’ sound staged anywhere near as well as the Wilson Watt Puppy 6s, IMO. That they didn’t surprised me since you’d told me that the speaker designer had spent some years working at Wilson Audio before you found him and started Talon Audio. I mentioned the Chesnokov: Spaseniye sodelal by the Turtle Creek Chorale (track 3 of Reference Recording’s Sampler Volume 2 HDCD) and how the choir and hall ambiance didn’t spread out to either side of the speakers or in any degree of depth or height with defined positions of choir members as they did with the Wilson’s and some other speakers. I’ve heard that track and others we listened to through many well thought of speakers recently. I also compared the Khorus’ to the Maggies, questioned the Khorus’ midrange, and praised the bass, especially that of the Talon sub woofer. That was your chance. Why didn’t you tell to me that you had some new cables? (you did indicate that you loved your power cables, by PS Audio, I believe they were, and you kindly offered to loan me one, to which I politely declined since my quest is for speakers right now.) Why didn’t you say that the Marantz was a day old? Or especially why didn’t you tell me that the speakers were not broken in? Honest, until I say your post, I’d assumed they were broken in and that there were no bugs in your systems as you describe in your post above. What else could I expect? Surely the President of the company would have a well oiled pair of the flag ship speakers all broken in, right in his own home. Unfortunately my ears do not have the ability to detect whether or not something is broken in or not, or that components are a day old, or that cable is new, especially if the implication or assumption is that they are. As I was leaving I mentioned, and you encouraged, that I should hear the speakers again. In spite of being disappointed, frankly, in what I’d heard, I said I’d like to hear them again. You mentioned that you’d have a bigger manufacturing facility opening soon that would even have an audition room. I said I’d be happy to have another listen there when that facility opened. And that is still true. You need not “challenge” me to a second audition. Please let me know when and where you have a properly broken in pair and system to audition, hopefully with a good analogue source. (Yes, I still love the big black disks.) Mike, if you’re trying to sell these speakers on patents, reviews, reputation or pedigree of designers and hype, you may have significant success. (The cabinets nearly sell the whole thing themselves. I expect my wife would love them.) But I’ll buy them only if they sound great, and better than anything else within my budget. (Besides hearing Talon’s again, there are a couple of speakers I want to hear yet before I make a final decision.) In conclusion, it appears, all Audiogon readers, that anything I’ve said about the Talon Khorus speakers should be completely discounted. Preston.

Trelja: Which Concident speaker did you buy? I love their interconnects. I'd really like to hear the Mellenium, Total Eclipse and Super Eclipse. I'm surprised you didn't have anything good to say for the Legacy Whisper. What kind of electronics backed them up when you've heard them?

Dear Bookner, Thank you for your kind and complete response to my post. You went out of your way explaining the occurrences. It may have been my mistake, but I thought that I was very clear in letting you know that you were listening to the Khorus' at less than ideal conditions. One would assume that the President of Talon would have a well conditioned pair of speakers. I tend to be very accomodating to my customers and dealers demands and I am often left without speakers. I am,however, very insistent that my designer's speakers remain in place so we can have consistent R&D. I appreciate your willingness to listen to the Khorus' again under better circumstances. We will have a showroom available to customers at the end of October for auditioning. We will offer assistance with the system and allow the customer to play the music they choose and the volume levels they wish. At this time you will be able to listen at your leisure and offer comments under proper conditions. I would like you to post them whether good or bad, everyone has a right to their opinion. Audio is exciting because we can decide for ourselves what we feel is right. Happy Listening, Mike

I'll agree with you that they sound remarkable on the Rowlands and the designer Tierry informs me they work wonderfully on the Electocompaniet. I however most enjoy them on My 3Watt Bottlehead Paraglows with Vaic Meshplate 2A3's. While I am limited in absolute SPL's I am not in sheer enjoyment. On most of what I listen to, smaller baroque ensembles, Irish & Scottish Folk, Alternative Female Vocalists and such the volume in just fine. A bit more efficiency or power would be nice on larger scale stuff. However I do not find any solid state or push pull design has the kind of air and timbral interity that these little amps posses. And talk about emotion in my room it is absolutely palpable. The combination of triodes and talons is superlative beyond description. I have had more than one friend comment on how amazingly good my sound is even in the lower frequencies. Yes 3Watts with these gives me solid extended bass with a sense of upper harmonics beyond anything I have heard including the Rowland of these. Db for DB I'll put this combo up against anything. The new cobalt alloy output trannies from Magnequest(They are all sold now) should take these qualities significantly further. I have mine on order. I have been toying with the idea of running Bottleheads best 300B with the soon to be meshplate 300B's on a passive Roc to increase my headroom and dynamics. After a discussion with Tierry I may instead simply go with a powere Roc. Clements discussion concerning the Roc with the Khorus was quite convincing and has me stocking up the piggy bank again. Wow what a hotbed of controvesy this thread has and is creating here. Too bad some of the respondents have not heard the Khorus in a proper setting or under the right conditions. To hear them is to love them. To live with them is to eschew all else. jgw(James W. on the Assylum and Soundstage)

All I can say is that with a well designed 2A3 running the meshplate Vaic that you can breathe the air of the recording venue. Much better than even the Vaic Monoplates and I suspect even the legendary Cunningham Monoplates. Talk about liquidity, flow, and emotion. And the bass will still be solid, extended and even more airy in the upper bass. You will hear a sense of harmonic that you have never experienced. I suspect 95 or 96 db is the maximum SPL but it will sound so good you won't care. The Khorus are equally resolving at low levels. The combo with good low powered SET's is the most musically satifying experience I have had short of hearing Mrs Anthony Rooley (Emma Kirkby) and the Academy of Ancient Music live at the Ambassador auditorium a few years back. Try it, James W.