{"id":16189,"date":"2018-10-28T09:13:26","date_gmt":"2018-10-28T07:13:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.hifi-advice.com\/blog\/?p=16189"},"modified":"2022-11-11T16:50:33","modified_gmt":"2022-11-11T14:50:33","slug":"kroma_audio-carmen-part-1","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hifi-advice.com\/blog\/review\/loudspeaker-reviews\/loudspeakers-passive-reviews\/kroma_audio-carmen-part-1\/","title":{"rendered":"Kroma Audio Carmen"},"content":{"rendered":"

No Way Back!<\/h2>\n

Review samples supplied by Chattelin Audio Systems<\/a>
\nRetail price in the Netherlands: 57.950 euro<\/h4>\n

Company<\/h3>\n

When planning my trip to the EnoSound show in Bilbao early in 2018, Cayetano Castellano, Manager of Artesania and international representative as well as the organizer of the EnoSound shows<\/a>,\u00a0revealed to me that he became co-owner and export manager for a new brand of high-end Spanish loudspeakers by the name of Kroma Audio. He said that they were really something special and that they would be one of the highlights of the upcoming EnoSound show.<\/p>\n

The creators of the Kroma Audio products are Miguel Castro and Javier Mill\u00e1n. Miguel is the designer of the cabinets and Javier designs the crossovers and the fine-tuning is done together during long listening sessions\u00a0because they believe that our ears are still the best adjustment tools. I have met these gentlemen several times and they are always very friendly and also extremely modest.<\/p>\n

Indeed when I first heard these speakers, I noted some qualities that were really outstanding but because the rooms were far from perfect, I could not hear them in their full glory at that time. It wasn\u2019t until after the guys gave an overwhelming demo later that year in Munich as part of the HiFi Deluxe show that I could hear that these speakers truly are world-class. Clearly, I wasn\u2019t alone in thinking this as the orders rolled in and before they knew it Kroma Audio had representation in 10 countries!<\/p>\n

This collaboration turned out to be advantageous for all involved: Miguel developed the new Organic Line for Artesania and Cayetano has enabled new business development for Kroma Audio, allowing them to grow from an accessories manufacturer to an important player on the loudspeaker market.<\/p>\n

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Company Philosophy<\/h3>\n

Kroma Audio was created out of a desire to combine the highest level of High Fidelity with the naturalness and realism of a live performance. According to Kroma Audio, there are too many loudspeakers with artificial colorations that harm the natural timbres of the instruments and prevent the listener from forgetting that they are listening to a recording. It is their aim to suspend disbelief and to reproduce recorded music with an overwhelming, realistic live-performance-like fidelity.<\/p>\n

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Techniques<\/h3>\n

The cabinets are fully made from white Krion, with carbon fiber inlays on the sides. Krion is a Spanish variant of Corian, both a sort of \u201cartificial stone\u201d and this material that is responsible for a very large chunk of the speakers’ cost.<\/span> The Krion website<\/a> provides the following info: \u201cKrion is a material that is warm to the touch and similar to natural stone. It is made of two-thirds natural minerals (ATH \u2013 aluminum trihydrate) and a low percentage of high-resistance resins\u201d.<\/span><\/p>\n

The speakers are coupled to the ground via included specially manufactured feet made of non-metallic components such as Panzerholz\/Tigerwood and Krion. There are as few as possible metal parts inside and even the drivers are mounted using thermoplastic screws.<\/span><\/p>\n

The passive crossover is comprised of ultra-high-quality components from Duelund, Mundorf and very special NOS components and is isolated in a hermetically separated chamber. The tweeter is made by Hiquphone, a relatively new company headed by the former designer of Scan-Speak drivers. The two Mid-woofers are Scan-Speak Revelator 6,5\u201d made under Kroma Audio specifications. Nominal impedance is 8 ohms and combined with a 91dB sensitivity this makes for a very amplifier-friendly speaker: officially minimum recommended amplifier power is only 15W. The speakers weigh 100kg each and come standard in white Krion with Carbon Fiber but are also optionally available in true 24 Karat Gold Leaf finish.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Inside the Krion speaker cabinets, different kinds of wood are used in carefully selected places. Evident from the outside are the two bass-reflex ports, machined from solid wood and of a different sort and thickness for each port: cedarwood for the medium frequencies and spruce wood for the bass frequencies. Finally, there are some small wood pieces in very critical places inside the cabinet to control the energy and to achieve the final part of the fine-tuning with the most natural tonality.<\/span><\/p>\n

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System Context<\/h3>\n

The setup in which these loudspeakers will be reviewed normally consists of the CH Precision C1<\/a> DAC\/Streamer\/Controller and A1 stereo amp, two music servers: the Melco N1ZH<\/a> and the Antipodes EX<\/a> and Wilson Audio Watt\/Puppy 8 speakers. For this review, the Wilsons were moved out of sight near the left wall, with their inputs shorted. As a starting point, the Kroma Audio Carmens were set up in the exact same positions as the Wilsons.<\/p>\n

Speaker cables are the Jorma no.3 and analog interlinks the Cardas Clear XLR<\/a>. All power cables are Belden 19364 with Oyaide 004<\/a> IECs, except for the ones for the power amps which in this case both used Belden cables with the warmer-sounding Oyaide 079 IECs. I also tried Transparent Super Gen 5 and AudioQuest Water<\/a> cinch interlinks and the CH Precision Balanced Link XLR cables and while all had their specific benefits I found the balance best with the Cardas Clear XLR. See the Zanden review<\/a> for a detailed report of the relative differences between these cables.<\/p>\n

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Preparations<\/h3>\n

Ben van Leliveld and Peter Chattelin delivered the speakers together with a Zanden 3100 preamp and Zanden 8120 power amp<\/a> and they helped unpack and set up. This was no superfluous luxury, as these speakers are very heavy. They come in very sturdy and luxurious flight cases with embedded wheels so they can be transported by a single person with ease but the unpacking should really not be undertaken without help. Maybe two people could have done the job but I was glad that both Peter and Ben were here to help. When the case was upright with its lid removed, one person held the case while two others wiggled the speaker out of its enclosure. Once the speakers are set up, they move about very easily on my laminate floor and moving them around on carpeting should also be easy, as long as their feet are added only after the speakers are in their final positions.<\/p>\n

When all was connected up, Ben made only very minor adjustments to the speakers’ positions and pretty soon we were good to go. To start off, first, we listened to the Carmens using the CH Precision A1 amplifier. The Carmens are very easy to drive and sound much more controlled than the Wilsons and so I found that the A1 could be used best with its feedback adjustment control at its lowest setting, meaning zero global feedback and only local feedback. For the most articulate and precise bass I found that a setting of 20% was ideal but on balance, for the most pleasing overall presentation with a good balance between precision and organic flow, I preferred the zero percent setting.<\/p>\n

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Listening – CH Precision A1<\/h3>\n

These speakers have superb bass. They are exceptionally linear and even-handed, much more so than my Wilson WP8’s. By comparison, the latter are a little bumpy, in spite of exhaustive room treatment. Maybe, in a perfect room and with enough distance to the listening position, the Wilsons can have a perfectly flat output but not in my room. The Kroma’s, however, simply perform sublimely in the same positions as the Wilsons. They reach as low as the Wilsons do, but because they are so accurate, they may not give this impression until you play a track with truly deep bass. These speakers do not add any heft to create a feeling of fullness, they simply reproduce what is on the recording. All the bass notes come out with perfect articulation and equal pressure. Regular readers may have noted how I tend to emphasize the importance of bass quality. I am admittedly a “Grundton-Mensch”, in other words, I have a preference for the fundamentals of music, more so than for the overtones, although I really couldn’t choose between the two as both are important. It is the bass, however, that forms the foundation of the music. You can have superb communicative powers in the midrange but if the bass can’t keep up, the combined sound will still be slow and non-realistic. It is the bass where the rhythm originates. For me, bass needs to be articulate, fast, dynamic and reach deep, too. Alas, all too often, depth is achieved at the expense of many other aspects, or vice versa. I don’t know how they do it, but the Kroma Carmen simply does it all.<\/p>\n

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These speakers are also very dynamic and precise. Their precision is especially evident in the midrange but that area does not stand on its own. Midrange sounds have their fundamentals in the bass and although I’m sure that the mid\/treble driver is something special, it truly is the incredible coherence with which the three drivers operate that makes these speakers’ midrange stand out. Regardless of their high precision, the Carmens never sound clean or cool. Their enclosure may be resonance-free but this does not lead to a thin or cold sound. On the contrary: these speakers sound richly colorful and full of life.<\/p>\n

Piano and vocals sound utterly realistic, even more so than with the Wilsons. From the very first notes of any instrument, you instantly suspend your disbelief and succumb to the music. This is an aspect that literally everyone who visited picks up on – from ribbon-die-hards to small-speaker convicts to music lovers who have no ties with high end whatsoever. All it takes is three piano notes to convince.<\/p>\n

The treble is also superb, not by standing out in any one aspect but because of the complete absence of any detractors. Like the bass, it is utterly linear. There is no harshness or edge nor any softening or blurring and there is certainly no dampening of dynamics but absolutely also never any edge or peakiness. Off-axis listening turned out to be another strong area, the speakers sounding extremely even, regardless of where you are seated. Even right next to the speakers, the output is still very linear. They are not ribbon-like in that they do not sound super-airy or super-refined but on the other hand they have incredible resolution and refinement, making me realize that the typical ribbon aspects that I used to chase after for so long may be nice to have but don’t have so much to do with accuracy or relaying the musical message.<\/p>\n

I mentioned their coherence – I’m not exaggerating when I say that it is as if the speakers’ three drivers work as a single driver. There is absolutely no perceptible crossover between the drivers, no phase issues and no highlighting of any frequency range. They make the Wilsons, one of the most coherent systems that I have heard so far, seem disjointed from driver to driver. The Wilsons have great PRaT and they sound very fast indeed but in my room and at a 3-meter listening distance, they’re just not as linear as the Carmens.<\/p>\n

In a direct comparison when switching back to the Wilsons, it became clear that they are not only bumpy and more forward in the upper midrange, their treble is actually tilted up a little. Although this may be welcome for some systems, and I also liked this aspect of the Wilsons after having lived with various Ribbon speakers, this kind of delivery is not really natural. The Kroma\u2019s sound harmonically richer than the Wilsons and have more saturated colors in the lower midrange but they are extremely linear and they definitely do not have Wilson-like spotlighting. The Wilsons sound more direct but are also more uneven and hard and even edgy at times. Their treble units tend to emphasize leading edges which can sometimes work out well, enhancing the perceived level of detail or openness, but other times this can be overbearing. I would say that the Wilsons have more of a technical approach and the Kroma Carmens are more of a music lover\u2019s product. They make it easy to relax and enjoy the music.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

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Listening – Zanden 8120<\/h3>\n

I was already prepped for the Zanden experience after having heard the Zanden\/Kroma combination at the last Xfi audio show<\/a> but in the context of my own listening environment, it can always be a little different. Although the Carmens have a nominal 8-ohm impedance and it would seem obvious to use the 8-ohm taps on the Zanden 8120<\/a> (as Ben also recommended), I felt compelled to experiment with this nonetheless. While the 4-ohm taps may work well for people who prefer a more relaxed and more romantic touch, I feel that those 8-ohm taps provide a more powerful, more transparent and more articulate delivery while still being superbly emotionally involving. The\u00a08-ohm tap was clearly the technically correct option and also the one that I preferred.<\/p>\n

So far,\u00a0having listened with the CH Precision A1, I was already in awe with the Carmens’ performance but with the Zanden 8120, the Carmens stepped up the game even further. The CH Precision is extremely neutral (hey, it’s Swiss!) and also extremely fast and while it worked beautifully, technically perfect and with all the above-mentioned disbelief-suspending abilities, the\u00a0Zanden 8120 managed to retain nearly all of the A1’s the technical excellence, while adding an even more emotionally engaging aspect, more so than probably any<\/em> transistor amp can provide. It does this not with coloration or added thickness but by better fleshing out the sounds and projecting them more freely in a soundstage that is not only more room-filling but also better layered and more 3D and therefore, more involving. While it made the Carmens sound a little fuller and sweeter, and a tiny bit darker, the delivery was just as speedy, dynamic, and lively as the A1, and very articulate.<\/p>\n

Revealing yet forgiving<\/h3>\n

The Carmens are very efficient which means that they can be partnered with a wide array of amplifiers, the proof of which can be read further below. They don’t necessarily need a high amount of watts but they certainly do reveal the quality of the amplification as well as the recordings. The beauty is that although they are revealing they also have a forgiving nature that makes good recordings sound amazing and lesser recordings sound, well, less amazing, but never unlistenable. That’s a very important point: they always make music in an entertaining fashion, even with mediocre recordings. The spirit of the music always shines through.<\/p>\n

I no longer use an analog preamp because the super-refined C1 doesn’t need this and also because I want to hear precisely what the components and speakers are doing. I did carry out extensive experiments using Zanden 3100<\/a> and Audio Research Ref5<\/a> preamps and a detailed report of this can be read in the Zanden review<\/a>. Suffice to say that the Carmens perform absolutely splendidly either with or without a preamp in the chain. Especially with a tubed preamp they sound even more organic, with even more richly saturated textures while still sounding more dynamic than any other speakers I used, without a preamp, they sound most articulate and direct, most vibrant and most lifelike.<\/p>\n

With the Carmens, it proved very difficult to keep my critical mind switched on. All I wanted was to listen to more music and the same happened with anyone who came to visit. Reluctantly shaking off the urge to simply revel in the music, I re-enabled the critical reviewer mode and connected some more amplifiers.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Audio Research Ref75 SE<\/h3>\n

The Ref75 SE is a long-standing favorite of mine. This amp sounds remarkably transparent and refined and very finely detailed and it can challenge my CH Precision A1 on these aspects. This amp’s Achilles heel is its bass, which can lack power, propulsion,\u00a0and body depending on the speakers. With the Carmens, it actually has the best bass I heard from it so far and its free-flowing, yet pure, intimate and direct-coupled presentation works really well with the Carmens. In terms of timbre, resolution,\u00a0and refinement the ARC performs similarly well as the Zanden and depending on the music played, the preference could be swung either way. The Zanden is considerably more sonorous and solid in the bass and it has more power, too. Perhaps partly because of this, rhythm, percussion instruments,\u00a0and piano sounded best with this amp, while certain soulful arrangements could sound purer, more informative and more emotional, with the ARC.<\/p>\n

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PrimaLuna DiaLogue Premium<\/h3>\n

The PrimaLuna has a very modest power rating (only 20 watts in triode mode) but has a very solid power supply and beefy output transformers which in practice means that it never had any issues driving large speakers and the Carmens are no exception. With this amp, they sound bold and powerful, well-timed and with bass solidity and fullness approaching the Zanden in that aspect (not in others!), with strong dynamics and natural, convincing timbre. Sonority\u00a0and power remain this amp’s strongest assets and it drives the Carmens with authority indeed but in this exalted company, the PrimaLuna lags behind in all other aspects, mainly resolution, refinement,\u00a0and soundstage layering. It is just a bit too rough, painting with very broad strokes. Probably no-one will ever pair these speakers with a 3000 euro, 20-watt amp, but at least we now know that you could.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Ayon Scorpio<\/h3>\n

The Ayon Scorpio<\/a> is also on a visit for review, really only supplied,\u00a0because the higher model up, the Spirit III, was not available on short notice. The Scorpio’s retail price is 3.895 euro, still small change relatively speaking. Not suspecting much I connected it and… I was amazed!\u00a0This amp sounds just as solid, sonorous, upbeat and dynamic as the PrimaLuna but much more transparent and much more refined. Also, it is faster and more articulate and has a natural, lifelike timbre to die for. It does all this and adds to it a purity and directness that reminded me of the Ayon Crossfire III SET-amp that I had on loan a while ago.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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The Ayon’s presentation is not too far removed from the Audio Research Ref75 SE and although that amp is more refined, more fluid and airier, it lags behind the Ayon in terms of bass control and overall\u00a0dynamics and slam, which, for me is very important. Some people may well find the Ayon a little bit too direct and they may prefer a warmer, gentler or smoother presentation but for me, it provided a very lifelike experience.<\/p>\n

This made for a highly communicative presentation that I find quite attractive, even if the Zanden is more organic, smoother, more richly textured and overall more luxurious and liquid. It would be interesting to see what the models higher up in the Ayon range can accomplish but what the Scorpio achieves at its modest cost is truly commendable. The Carmens, in turn, have impressed me even more deeply.<\/span><\/p>\n

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December 2019 update – Running In<\/h3>\n

The Carmens have turned out to need much more running in than I anticipated. In the first weeks, they could sometimes sound very lively and dynamic and other times they could sound overly warm and shut-in. My demo samples were supposed to already have been fully on-song but as I learned now (5 months later), much more time was needed. Looking back, I think the turning point was around 3-4 months of normal use.<\/p>\n

Conclusion<\/h2>\n

The Kroma Audio Carmens excel with acoustic instruments, percussion, and vocals but they sound equally impressive with Christina Aguilera and Lady Gaga. Azymuth’s samba doido (jazz-samba-fusion) sounds absolutely infectious and even gritty Dub-techno is delivered precisely as it should. They always turn in a dynamic, vibrant, and lifelike performance and they never get confused, no matter the complexity or the amount of subterranean bass present in the recording. Their bass is not only fast, well-timed, and utterly coherent, it is also supremely linear from the lowest to the highest notes, plumbing to subwoofer-like depths and remaining ruler-like linear right up into their upper treble.<\/p>\n

While I found the Carmens to match particularly well with the Zanden 8210 power amp, they work superbly well with high-quality transistor amps as well. They are great all-around but truly excel in the fields of linearity, coherence, organic textures and natural timbre. These qualities stand out not only with the slightly smooth Zanden but also with the very neutral CH Precision A1, the open and airy Audio Research Ref75 SE, the pure and direct-coupled Ayon Scorpio and even the very affordable PrimaLuna DiaLogue Premium. All of these amps drive the Carmens perfectly, while ticking more or fewer audiophile boxes but always producing pure, vibrant, and involving music. It seems that they work well with pretty much any amplifier.<\/p>\n

Don’t take only my word for it – each and every person who visited to hear these speakers commented on how utterly realistic and totally engaging they sound. Several of my audio friends vowed that this is the absolute best sound they heard, period – either in my room or elsewhere, adding that they would gladly trade their systems for this, myself included. Even audio buddy JW, a die-hard ribbon fanatic, agrees that the Kroma Audio Carmens are exemplary. <\/span> They are technically superb and highly revealing. They tick each and every one of the audiophile boxes but more importantly, they never fail to make soul-stirring music in its purest form. Yes, they cost an arm and a leg. But if you can afford them, these may be the last speakers you need.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Associated Equipment<\/a><\/p>\n

Read Also<\/h3>\n

Zanden 8120 and 3100<\/a><\/p>\n

External Links<\/h3>\n

Available from:\u00a0Chattelin Audio Systems<\/a>
\nDistributor for the Netherlands: Harmony Audio Import<\/a>
\nManufacturer: Kroma Audio<\/a>
\nKrion website: Krion<\/a><\/p>\n

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